take action against the party General Secretary VKS and chief minister EPS .He also made a point to them that he needs the two leaf party symbol to contest in RK Nagar election. Also, Edappadi K. Palaniswami and supporters appealed against him, but the election commission rejected both the appeals and allotted two different symbols to each party. In August 2017 Edappadi K. Palaniswami and O. Panneerselvam Faction merged. He was made Deputy Chief Minister and was also given finance Ministry. First Term as Deputy Chief Minister, 2017-2021 On 21 August 2017, Panneerselvam took oath as Deputy Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu on the same day of the Party Merger with then Chief Minister EPS faction. Leadership Tussle with Edappadi K. Palaniswami, 2022 On 14 June 2022, Citing the party's troubles in the polls, AIADMK district secretaries and other senior party members spoke out to shun the “dual leadership” system and came out publicly in favor of strong unitary leader to strengthen the organisation. Palaniswami supporters pushed for the change in the party's leadership structure by staging a political coup against AIADMK Coordinator Panneerselvam, who had become weak within the party. According to many sources, of the AIADMK's 75 district secretaries, hardly 10 supported him. Of the party's 66 MLAs, only five MLAs were reportedly on Panneerselvam side and less than 20 percent of the party's general council members behind him ahead of crucial general council meeting on 23 June 2022, which was expected to elect the single leadership to the party. On 30 June 2022, Palaniswami wrote a letter to Panneerselvam asserting the latter ceased to be the party coordinator as the amendments made to the party's bylaw in the 2020 December executive committee meeting were not recognised in the general council meeting held on June 23. On 11 July 2022, The Party General Council abolished the dual leadership model and empowered Palaniswami to be the Party Supremo. Expulsion from AIADMK On 11 July 2022, Panneerselvam was expelled as Party Treasurer and primary member of the party for "anti-party" activities by the AIADMK General Council. Dindigul Sreenivasan was made Party Treasurer succeeding him. On 17 August, Justice G. Jayachandran of the Madras High Court ruled the expulsion of Panneerselvam and the decisions of the AIADMK General Council as invalid. On 2 September 2022, a division bench of the High Court upheld the decisions of the AIADMK general council meeting