'Two leaves' symbol case: Dhinakaran alleges Centre's hand in EC order

The sidelined All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) leader TTV Dhinakaran has objected to the decision of the Election Commission (EC) of allotting the "two leaves" party symbol to EPS-OPS faction, and accused it of conducting inquiry in an unfair manner.

Dhinakaran also alleged that the Centre influenced the poll watchdog's decision in the case.

"Election Commission did not conduct inquiry in a fair manner. I believe there is Centre's hand in today's EC order," Dhinakaran told media here, on Thursday.

Refusing to accept the EC's decision as final, Dhinakaran said that his faction will move the Supreme Court challenging the order.

"We'll go to Supreme Court and retrieve the symbol," he said.

Earlier in the day, Chief Minister E Palaniswamy told that the EC had allotted the two leaves party symbol of AIADMK to the party faction led by him and his deputy O Panneerselvam (EPS-OPS faction).

Palaniswamy also said, "We had facts on our side and majority of MLAs, MPs and party workers were with us. All this was taken into consideration."

Dhinakaran on the other hand claimed that "90 percent of the cadres were with [him]."

Both the merged EPS-OPS faction and the Dhinakaran-led faction had laid claim over the party symbol, which led the EC to freeze the "two leaves" symbol.

Following the demise of former Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa in December last year, a tug of war had broken out between the warring faction to retrieve the official party symbol.

Both claimants to the symbol had filed a written submission in the Election Commission on November 13.

In a general council meeting on September 12, the merged factions of EPS and OPS had passed a resolution stating that the AIADMK would be a unified faction and shall retrieve the two leaves symbol and the AIADMK name.