Two leaves symbol case: unified AIADMK submits fresh affidavits to Election Commission

MLA CV Shanmugam, who was part of a delegation that made the submissions at the EC, said affidavits from 95 per cent of party cadres supporting the merged faction have been submitted.

According to a source in the party, affidavits of 115 MLAs, 44 MPs, 52 district secretaries, 126 town secretaries and over 1,200 village secretaries from Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Maharashtra and Puducherry, have been submitted.

KP Munuswami, senior leader of the unified AIADMK, while speaking to reporters, said decisions taken in the party's general council meeting on September 12 after the merger of the factions led by O Panneerselvam and Edappadi K Palaniswami have also been submitted apart from the affidavits.

"All the numbers required to secure the party symbol have been reflected in the number of affidavits we have submitted.

We are confident that we will get the symbol," he said.

The Election Commission had asked all parties in the party symbol dispute case to submit their documents on or before September 29 and scheduled a hearing on October 6.

The poll panel's move had come following the Madras High Court's directive to it to settle the issue before October 31.

The unified AIADMK delegation included D Jayakumar, RB Udayakumar, CV Shanmugam, Manoj Pandian and MP V Maitreyan.

The EC had yesterday rejected the plea of rival faction, headed by ousted party interim General Secretary VK Sasikala and her nephew TTV Dinakaran, seeking more time and maintained that the hearing would take place as scheduled on October 6.