CHENNAI:
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edapaddi K Palaniswamy on Thursday confirmed that the Election Commission had awarded the AIADMK rettai ellai (two-leaves) symbol to the unified faction of the party led by him and his deputy O Panneerselvam.
Ownership of the symbol was being disputed by the ruling party and the faction led by sidelined AIADMK leader TTV Dinakaran, the nephew of sacked interim party general secretary Sasikala Natarajan.
“EC has given judgment in our favour, we are very happy. Majority of party workers supported us,” Palaniswamy tweeted. “It is a fair verdict by EC. We submitted affidavits to prove that majority of cadres are with us. Based on this, EC has delivered a fair decision.”
Earlier, the EPS-OPS faction had told the poll body that the symbol cannot be allocated to the faction led by Sasikala and Dinakaran as they had been removed from the party. The Madras High Court had given the EC time till October 31 to allocate the symbol to the faction of the party which enjoys majority support. Dinakaran, who had moved the court over its decision, sought an extension of the deadline to February 28 next year.
The EC had frozen the symbol back in March when the warring factions were contesting the R K Nagar by-polls, necessitated by the death of former chief minister J Jayalalithaa. The by-polls were later cancelled over allegations of of ‘payoffs to voters’. The polls will be held before the end of the year.
