HC reserves verdict on Dhinakaran plea for interim name, symbol

T T V Dhinakaran, leader of the AIADMK (Amma) faction, today told the Delhi High 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 held before his claim to the party's symbol is decided.

The contention on behalf of Dhinakaran was made before Justice Rekha Palli who reserved judgement on his application seeking temporary allocation of the 'pressure cooker' symbol to his faction which also includes V K Sasikala. The Sasikala-Dhinakaran faction has also given a list of three names -- All India Amma Anna Dhravidar Munnetra Kazhagam, MGR Amma Dravidar Munnetra Kazhagam and MGR Amma Dhravidar Kazhagam -- seeking that one of them be temporarily allotted to them.

The court has already heard the arguments on behalf of the Election Commission (EC) and the AIADMK faction of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister E K Palaniswami and his deputy O Panneerselvam, who have opposed the plea for interim relief. During the day's proceedings, senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for the Sasikala-Dhinakaran faction, told the court that it, as well as the EC, had the power to grant them the interim relief. The Palaniswami-Panneerselvam faction and EC had earlier argued that the high court cannot grant any such interim order.

The Sasikala-Dhinakaran faction also contended that if it was granted a temporary name and symbol, no prejudice would be caused to the other side as they already have a name - AIADMK - and a symbol - 'two leaves' - and therefore, they have "no locus" to oppose the plea for interim relief. It has argued that not granting them a temporary name or symbol, to enable it to "associate" and interact with the people and engage in political activities, would result in denial of a level-playing field to it.

It's lawyers also said there was no need to wait for the announcement of an election to grant a name and symbol to the faction as by then it would be too late and "irreversible damage" would have already been done to its political prospects. "We should not be hounded out. We also enjoy the support of some members of the state legislative assembly and some Members of Parliament," Sibal argued. The EC and the Palaniswami-Panneerselvam faction had earlier argued that there was no urgency for grant of any temporary relief to the Sasikala-Dhinakaran faction as no elections have been announced till date. The application for using a suitable name and symbol was moved in Sasikala-Dhinakaran faction's main petitions challenging the poll panel's November 23, 2017, decision holding the Palaniswami-Panneerselvam faction as the real AIADMK and allotting them the 'two-leaves' symbol.

The application has sought the allocation of a suitable name and symbol only till the pendency of the main petition, claiming that otherwise, the EC might declare it as a separate party. Dhinakaran had won the bye-elections held in Radha Krishnan Nagar Assembly constituency in December last year under the 'pressure cooker' symbol with a margin of over 40,000 votes. On December 4 last year, the high court had declined to grant any interim relief to V K Sasikala-Dhinakaran faction of the AIADMK by dismissing their plea to use the 'hat' symbol in the by-poll to the R K Nagar assembly constituency.

The court had left the decision to the Returning Officer who had allotted the 'pressure cooker' symbol to Dhinakaran for the by-poll held on December 21, 2017. The 'hat' symbol was given to the Sasikala-Dhinakaran group by the EC in March 2017 after it froze the use of the 'two-leaves' symbol to which the group led by Palaniswami and Panneerselvam had also laid claim. The Palaniswami-Panneerselvam faction had at the same time been granted the 'electric pole' symbol. However, on November 23, 2017, the poll panel had ruled in favour of Palaniswami-Panneerselvam faction by allotting the 'two-leaves' symbol to them.

The symbol issue has been lingering since April in the aftermath of the announcement of by-poll to Radha Krishnan Nagar constituency in Tamil Nadu following the death of AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa in December 2016. Earlier, rival factions led by Sasikala and Panneerselvam had staked claim over the symbol. Palaniswami was then in the Sasikala camp. Later, a large number of legislators led by Palaniswami revolted against Sasikala.