Two leaves: HC seeks reply of leaders, EC

The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Thursday directed the Election Commission and four AIADMK leaders, including Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, presidium chairman E Madhusudhanan, AIADMK general secretary VK Sasikala and deputy general secretary TTV Dinakaran, to file counter affidavits in the plea which sought to appoint a retired judge to prove majority within the party and to recover the lost party symbol. 

Judges KK Sasidharan and GR Swaminathan directed them to file the same by September 13 and adjourned the hearing.

When a similar situation arose in the Congress and the Samajwadi Party, the party symbol was allotted to the faction with the largest number of MLAs, MPs and members of General Body and Executive Committee of the respective parties. 

The EC should act in a similar way and must allot the party symbol to the faction supported by the largest number of party functionaries in this case too. 

In order to recover the party symbol all the 3,100 functionaries present in the party should be brought to a single place and they must be made to vote under the supervision of a retired judge to determine the majority, prayed the petitioner. 

In the previous hearing, the court had directed the concerned AIADMK leaders to be included as respondents in the case.