Chennai: Election Commission of India on Wednesday adjourned the hearing in the Two Leaves symbol case to Monday following demands from the T.T.V. Dhinakaran camp, which said it needed more time to go through the affidavits filed by the rival side and hence sought an adjournment.
As speculation mounted that the Election Commission was planning to wrap up arguments in the case, the TTV camp sought adjournment since they needed to further argue the case. While the EPS-OPS camp contended that it should be allotted the “Two Leaves” symbol since it has the support of the majority of legislators and parliamentarians, the TTV camp accused its rival camp of submitting fake affidavits from party’s general council members.
Lawyers from the TTV camp requested more time to go through the affidavits to ascertain their authenticity. The TTV camp had already sought three adjournments on the issue prompting the EPS-OPS faction to accuse it of seeking adjournments only to delay the case.
“Lawyer representing Dhinakaran finished his arguments and Sasikala’s lawyer began his arguments and since he wanted to make some points, the EC adjourned the case. They are trying to delay the verdict by seeking repeated adjournments since they feel they will not get a favourable order,” EPS-OPS camp leader K.P. Munusamy told reporters. He also accused the TTV camp of trying to keep the Two Leaves symbol frozen.
O. Panneerselvam and E. Madhusudhanan had filed the case after they rebelled against the then interim general secretary V.K. Sasikala staking a claim for the Two Leaves symbol. As the EPS and OPS factions merged, Dhinakaran knocked at the doors of the Election Commission asking it not to pass any orders without hearing their side.
Both factions have staked claim to the ‘Two Leaves’ symbol, which holds sway over people from different generations since it is associated with the charisma of late M.G. Ramachandran.
