New Delhi: The Election Commission, at its second hearing on Monday over the AIADMK symbol war, rejected the plea from the Sasikala faction for permanent freezing of the ‘Two Leaves’ symbol and posted the matter to October 23.
The Supreme Court has directed the EC to settle the dispute by November 10 after the TTV group challenged the order by the Madurai bench of the Madras high court that the EC verdict must be out by October 31.
Former law minister Ashwani Kumar, representing Sasikala and her deposed nephew TTV Dhinakaran, argued the majority in the AIADMK is on their side. He also disputed the authenticity of the affidavits filed by the other side — the O Panneerselvam and E.K. Palaniswami camp.
“Unless the authenticity of the affidavits can be determined by the EC, there is no material before the commission to actually decide the matter of the majority support,” he later told reporters.
He said the majority support under the party constitution can also be considered on the basis of the support of the primary members not only on the basis of general council members. “At the worst, even if all our arguments fail, even then symbol cannot be granted to one faction and it has to be frozen,” he said.
Senior AIADMK leader and supporter of the OPS-EPS camp, K.P. Munuswamy slammed the Sasikala group for demanding the permanent freezing of the symbol and said they were doing so “only because they are losing the legal battle”.
Counsel for OPS-EPS side and former MP Manoj Pandian said, “It is their attempts to delay the hearing process by questioning the authenticity of the affidavits. Despite all this, we are sure to get the symbol,” he said after the EC hearing.
During the last hearing on October 6, the OPS-EPS camp staked claim over the AIADMK and its ‘Two Leaves’ election symbol, claiming support of a majority of MLAs and party cadre consequent on the coming together of the two leaders. In an interim order in March this year, the EC had barred the then rivals -- Palaniswami and Panneerselvam -- from using the party’s name or its symbol in the RK Nagar assembly bypoll necessitated due to the demise of Jayalalithaa.
Post-merger, the AIADMK general council on September 12 adopted resolutions ousting Sasikala as interim general secretary and Dhinakaran as her deputy. TTV camp approached EC on September 14 urging it to declare as invalid the general council meeting, citing a high court order that said any decision taken at the impugned meeting will be subject to final outcome in the appeal pending before court.
