A delegation of AIADMK leaders on Friday met Election Commission officials to seek the de-freezing of the party’s ‘two leaves’ symbol, saying the party was now ‘unified’. The Election Commission, meanwhile, deferred the hearing in the case to October 6 instead of October 5, as was originally fixed on Thursday.
“The AIADMK is now functioning as one party with the unification of the two groups. Therefore, there can be no embargo now on the use of the ‘two leaves’ symbol allotted to the AIADMK,” the memorandum, signed by Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami, and Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam said. The two are now the co-coordinator and the coordinator of the unified party respectively.
The delegation was led by senior party leader K. P. Munusamy and comprised Ministers D. Jayakumar, R.B. Udayakumar, C. Ve. Shanmugam, advocate Manoj Pandian and Rajya Sabha MP V. Maitreyan.
The memorandum said that any affidavits opposing Mr. Palaniswami, submitted to the poll body during the division in the party, will be withdrawn.
‘Unanimous decision’
In their memorandum, the leaders said that the party general council, which is the “true representative body” of all members of the party, had ‘unanimously’ decided to annul Sasikala’s appointment as interim general secretary, and instead, have the late Chief Minister Jayalalithaa as the AIADMK’s eternal general secretary.
“The Election Commission has been informed about all these changes in party rules and regulations,” Mr. Munusamy told reporters later.
On September 14, representatives of Mr. Dhinakaran approached the EC, urging it to declare as invalid the party’s general council meeting, citing a Madras High Court order that said any decision taken at the impugned meeting will be subject to the final outcome in the appeal.
The EC has given the rival factions time till September 29 to file fresh submissions.
