Ousted All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader TTV Dinakaran on Thursday said that his faction would move the Supreme Court against the Election Commission’s ruling in the two-leaves symbol case, PTI reported.
Earlier in the day, the Election Commission had restored the two-leaves symbol to the AIADMK faction led by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and his deputy O Panneerselvam. The poll panel had said that the faction has the support of the majority of members, both in the organisational and legislature wings of the party.
Dinakaran, however, alleged that the Election Commission was not neutral in its decision. “The ruling confirms that the Election Commission functioned in accordance with the Centre’s wish. The Centre’s hand can be seen, Centre’s intervention is there,” he said. “Victory will be ours...party cadres and people are with us.”
Observing that the Palaniswami-Panneerselvam faction got the symbol on the grounds that they had the support of 111 MLAs and 42 MPs, Dinakaran on Thursday asked why the Election Commission did not allot the symbol to the Sasikala group in March, when it was backed by 122 MLAs and 37 MPs.
The poll panel was keen on blocking the symbol then. There can be “no better example to show that the Election Commission did not act neutrally in the matter,” he said.
End of a months-long fight
The Election Commission’s decision ends a months-long fight for the symbol between the two factions that emerged after former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa’s death in 2016 – the Palaniswami-Panneerselvam group and the one led by ousted member VK Sasikala and her nephew TTV Dinakaran.
In March, before a bye-election to Tamil Nadu’s RK Nagar constituency, the Election Commission had frozen the party’s two-leaves symbol, and issued new ones to the warring factions of the party – at that time led by Palaniswami and O Panneerselvam. Later, a large group of legislators led by Palaniswami revolted against Sasikala – who is now serving four years in jail in a corruption case – and announced the merger of the two factions.
Sasikala and her nephew TTV Dinakaran were removed from all party posts, resulting in the two warring factions being led by Dinakaran and Palaniswami.
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