Delhi High court tells Election Commission to allot symbol to Dhinakaran

NEW DELHI/CHENNAI: The Delhi High Court on Friday allowed T T V Dhinakaran's plea for allotment of a common symbol, preferably 'pressure cooker,' and a suitable name of his choice for the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) faction led by him.
Justice Rekha Palli directed the Election Commission to do the needful within three weeks after giving Dhinakaran's faction an appropriate hearing.

The court order came on an interim application filed by the Dhinakaran-V K Sasikala faction in their main petition challenging the November 23, 2017 order of the EC, which had allotted the 'two leaves' symbol to the group headed by Tamil Nadu chief minister E K Palaniswami and his deputy O Panneerselvam.

Elated over the verdict, Dhinakaran said the legal battle for the ‘two leaves’ symbol would continue. “The new party will be launched after the name is allocated. The new party will face all elections in the state under the new party symbol, till the ‘two leaves’ symbol becomes a reality,” he said. Dhinakaran had submitted to the court that it could temporarily allot any of the following — the All India Amma Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, MGR Amma Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and MGR Amma Dravida Kazhagam — to them.

Dhinakaran had earlier told the court that he needed a temporary name and symbol for his group to interact with the electorate in the eventuality of elections to local bodies or any other polls being held before his claim to the party’s symbol was decided. The application sought the allocation of the name and symbol only till the pendency of the main petition, claiming that otherwise the Election Commission might declare it a separate party.