TTV Dhinakaran faction challenges veracity of affidavits filed by the counterpart

NEW DELHI: Hearing on the ‘Two Leaves’ symbol case with lawyers from both factions in the Election commission began on Monday afternoon in which TTV Dinakaran faction on Monday challenged the veracity and authenticity of the huge documents submitted by their counterpart.

Battery of lawyers from both the side reached the poll panel’s office on Monday afternoon including C S Vishwanathan and KV Vishwanathan from OPS faction and Ashwini Kumar and Vijay Hansaria from Dinakaran side.

Sources said that on Monday, lawyers of Dinakaran faction challenged the affidavits filed by the other side and for this, they also brought some witnesses. However, the Commission did not allow any cross-examination as it said that only written submissions will be considered.

“There is no material to actually decide the matter of the majority unless the authenticity of the affidavits can be determined by the EC,” said senior lawyer and former law minister Ashwini Kumar adding that 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.

“Even if all our arguments fail, even then symbol cannot be granted to one faction and it has to be frozen,” he added.

OPS camp said that they have submitted 1877 General Council members affidavits and nothing is forged and they stand by affidavits.

“If the other team feels the affidavits are forged why haven’t they filed a police complaint, it’s just a delay tactics from their side,” said a lawyer from the OPS camp.

Counsel for OPS-EPS side and former MP Manoj Pandian said that the other faction is only trying to delay the matter by questioning the authenticity of the affidavits. “Despite their efforts to delay, we shall get the symbol, he said after the hearing on Monday.

Next hearing in the case has been fixed on October 23, said an official.

Earlier, the Supreme Court on October 6 directed the EC to settle the dispute before November 10 and allowed it to proceed with the scheduled hearing in the case on the same day.

Last month, the Madras High Court had directed the Commission to decide before October 31 the matter relating to the AIADMK symbol. After scrutinizing the documents, the poll panel has to decide which faction enjoyed majority in the ruling party in Tamil Nadu.

The poll watchdog had in March issued an interim order freezing the ’Two leaves’ symbol of the AIADMK. It had said that the rival factions cannot use the party symbol as well as its name for the R K Nagar assembly bypoll. Thereafter, the EPS and OPS factions ended their differences even as the Sasikala camp is still opposed to the merger.