Sidelined AIADMK leader T.T.V. Dhinakaran on Thursday asked the Delhi High Court to allot his faction a party symbol and a name till his main petition staking claim over the ‘two leaves’ symbol is decided by the court.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Mr. Dhinakaran, told the court that the opposite party was already using the ‘two leaves’ symbol, and assigning a name and symbol to him will not affect them.
Mr. Dhinakaran has pleaded to be allotted the ‘pressure cooker’ symbol, under which he contested and won the R.K. Nagar bypolls last December, for the upcoming local body elections.
He suggested three alternative names for his faction – All India Amma Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, MGR Amma Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and MGR Amma Dravida Kazhagam.
He contended that without the allotment of a symbol, they were being denied their fundamental rights.
EC response
Justice Rekha Palli posted the case for further hearing on Friday.
Earlier, the Election Commission’s lawyer said it had nothing to do with the local body elections when the court asked whether it had any objection to allotting the ‘pressure cooker’ symbol to Mr. Dhinakaran’s faction. He has challenged the EC order allotting the ‘two leaves’ symbol to the AIADMK faction led by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister E.K. Palaniswami and O. Panneerselvam.
The High Court had in December last year rejected his plea seeking to grant the ‘hat’ symbol for the R.K. Nagar bypoll, a seat that fell vacant after former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa passed away on December 5, 2016 following prolonged illness.
Mr. Dhinakaran won the bypoll with a margin of over 40,000 votes from his nearest rival.
