TTV Dhinakaran and party unlikely to get symbol soon

CHENNAI: In an interesting development, Chief Electoral Officer Satyabrata Sahoo has instructed Returning Officers of all 39 constituencies and the 18 Assembly constituencies not to allot a symbol to AMMK candidates until further orders from the Election Commission.

On Tuesday, Supreme Court rejected AMMK chief TTV Dhinakaran’s plea requesting ‘pressure cooker’ symbol for the upcoming polls. The court, however, suggested that the poll panel could allot a common symbol for AMMK candidates. It is expected that allotment of the symbol for AMMK will be done only on Friday since the party’s candidates are being considered as independents, as per the apex court’s ruling on Tuesday.

FOLLOW OUR ELECTION COVERAGE HERE

This means, Dhinakaran has to run his election campaign, at least on the first two days, without a party symbol. However, despite the odds, TTV Dhinakaran launched his campaign from Chennai on Wednesday. Since the EC is yet to allot a common symbol, the CEO has instructed the ROs not to allot any symbol to the AMMK candidates, said sources. Officials said this would affect allotment of symbols for all other independent candidates as it can be done only after a common available symbol is identified and allocated to AMMK.