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Both factions use ‘Amma’ in their party names
Following the Election Commission (EC) freezing the popular Two Leaves symbol on Wednesday evening, warring AIADMK factions will fight the April 12 RK Nagar by-poll to claim former chief minister J Jayalalithaa’s legacy under different symbols and party names.
By
migrator
migrator
Chennai
The Sasikala faction has been allotted ‘hat’ symbol and will be called ‘AIADMK Amma’ party while the rival O Panneerselvam faction was allotted ‘electric pole’ symbol and will be called ‘AIADMK Purathchi Thalaivi Amma’ party.
There was some confusion as the Sasikala faction was first allotted ‘bat’ symbol, which then changed to ‘autorickshaw’ before finally settling on the ‘hat’.
Following this, all candidates filed their nominations before returning officer Pravin P Nair on the concluding day.
Dinakaran came to the election office wearing a hat, his election symbol and after filing his nomination, told media that he was sure of a thumping victory as locals would support him, despite contesting on a different symbol.
Similarly, OPS faction candidate and presidium chairman E Madhusudhanan filed his nomination and said that as a person who knew both MGR and Jayalalithaa well, he was sure of the people’s support.
MGR Amma Deepa (MAD) Peravai secretary and Jayalalithaa’s niece Deepa Jayakumar filed her nomination in the afternoon and said that she was in the fray as the residents wanted her to contest.
EC freezing the symbol was considered as a victory of sorts for the OPS faction. Additional police presence at the AIADMK headquarters on Avvai Shanmugam road revealed that the Sasikala faction felt the rivals might also lay claim to this edifice.
Asked about this, a senior functionary from OPS faction said, “The issue of moving the court to prevent the Sasikala group from continuing to use of the party HQ will be discussed on Friday evening.”
The general feeling was that the EC, which had prevented the numerically dominant Sasikala faction from using the two leaves symbol, could also stop them from using the party HQ.
Sources revealed that the OPS faction had approached the EC seeking to ban the Sasikala group from the HQ but as the poll body refused to intervene into intra party issues, they have planned to move the court.
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