Dinakaran faction approaches Delhi HC over EC's 'two leaves' ruling

The T.T.V. Dinakaran faction of AIADMK on Thursday approached the Delhi High Court challenging the Election Commission's order allotting the "two leaves" symbol to the faction led by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K. Palaniswami and Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam.

The plea was mentioned before the court for urgent hearing, which posted it for Friday.

On November 23, the Commission had said that the Panneerselvam-Palaniswami faction "enjoys support of majority of members, both in the organisational and legislature wings" of the AIADMK, and was entitled to use the party name and its 'two leaves' symbol.

After the death of former Chief Minister J.Jayalalithaa in December last year, the AIADMK split into two factions -- one led by Panneerselvam and the other by her aide, now jailed V.K. Sasikala.

Subsequently, the Sasikala faction broke up again, with Chief Minister Palaniswami branching away and forming a government with the backing of Panneerselvam. The two factions also started sidelining the AIADMK group led by Sasikala and her nephew Dinakaran.

Later, the Panneerselvam and Palaniswami factions merged, annulled the appointment of Sasikala as the General Secretary and struck down the appointments made by her before she went to jail for corruption.

--IANS

gt/rn