Madras HC issues notice to ECI on Ramadoss’ plea over mango symbol

Chennai: The power tussle between PMK founder S Ramadoss and his son and party president Anbumani Ramadoss has now reached the Madras High Court with the former seeking a direction to the Election Commission of India (ECI) to allot mango symbol to his faction.

While hearing the petition on Monday, the first bench comprising Chief Justice M M Shrivastava and Justice G Arul Murugan issued a notice to the ECI, returnable within three weeks. The court witnessed some dramatic scenes with advocate N L Rajah, representing Anbumani, making an attempt to make his submission, which was disallowed by the bench, which remarked that his client was not even a party to the case.

Rajah said Anbumani represents the PMK legally and that Ramadoss does not control the party anymore as his faction contains only a handful of leaders.

"We will not hear you since you are not even a party to the litigation,” the Chief Justice said and asked Rajah to move a formal application to implead in the case.

Ramadoss’ advocate K Arul said that the ECI inadvertently sent a communication allotting the mango symbol to the address of former President Anbumani who was not even a member of the party as he was expelled by the founder.

In his petition, Ramadoss alleged that Anbumani, by creating forged documents, had committed fraud on the EC and that these forged documents were challenged before the Delhi High Court on December 4, 2025.

The court battle adds yet another layer to the tussle between the father and son who have been fighting in the public. With majority support of party functionaries, Anbumani has taken over the PMK leaving Ramadoss with a handful of loyalists.

Anbumani’s faction has already joined the AIADMK-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and efforts are on by the BJP to bring the father’s faction also to the combine; Ramadoss has been trying to ally with the DMK or actor Vijay’s TVK but in vain. The BJP believes any move that ends in freezing of the mango symbol will be a setback to the alliance as the PMK has been synonymous with the election symbol.

PMK wields considerable influence among Vanniyars, a dominant community spread across northern and central parts of Tamil Nadu. The party’s vote bank is crucial for the NDA to take on the formidable DMK front in the northern region.