Tamil Nadu’s Deputy Chief Minister O Pannerselvam went to the Election Commission on Friday to find a resolution to the problem of both AIADMK factions trying to retain the party’s two-leaves election symbol.
I am going to the Election Commission. I have full confidence that we will get the two-leaves poll symbol.
AIADMK(Amma) leader TTV Dhinakaran’s lawyers also went to the EC’s office to discuss the issue.
The Supreme Court on Friday granted time till 10 November to the Election Commission to decide the claims over AIADMK's two-leaves election symbol by rival factions of the party.
The apex court also said that the poll panel can go ahead with its scheduled hearing on Friday at 4pm itself.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra disposed off the petition filed by TTV Dhinakaran, the deputy general secretary of a faction of the AIADMK party, challenging a Madras High Court order asking the poll panel to decide the election symbol row by 31 October.
Dhinakaran had sought at least four months more on some grounds, including that the rival factions have filed affidavits running into 10,000 pages and he needed time to respond to them.
Senior advocate Ashok Desai, appearing for Dhinakaran, assailed the order passed by the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court that he has not been given reasonable time to put forth his case before the poll panel.
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the rival AIADMK faction, claimed Dhinakaran had very few MPs and MLAs in his support and wanted to prolong the proceedings.
The apex court disposed the petition, saying the poll panel was a high constitutional body which was competent to deal with the question as per the provisions of the law.
The Election Commission was to hear the dispute over the 'two leaves' symbol of the AIADMK on Friday, six months after it was frozen when the two warring factions of the party had staked claim to it.
The commission directed all involved in the dispute to submit the list of general council members and central executive committee members of the party as on 5 December 2016.
The two factions have so far submitted around 10 lakh affidavits staking claim to the symbol and the title of the party.
The Madras High Court last week directed the Election Commission to decide before 31 October the matter related to the AIADMK symbol.
It had directed the EC to decide which faction enjoyed majority in the ruling party in Tamil Nadu and allot the 'two leaves' symbol to it before 31 October.
Prior to the merger, the two factions led by Panneerselvam and Sasikala had staked claim to the symbol. The poll panel had frozen it, pending decision on their pleas.
Later, a large group of legislators led by Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami revolted against Sasikala, who is in jail in a graft case, and announced merger of the two factions.
Resolutions ousting Sasikala as interim general secretary and her nephew Dinakaran as her deputy were also adopted at the party's general council meeting held on 12 September.
On 14 September, representatives of Dinakaran had approached the EC urging it to declare as invalid the general council meeting, citing a high court order that said any decision taken at the impugned meeting will be subject to the final outcome in the appeal.
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