Election Commission’s opposition for common symbol puts TTV in a spot

The Election Commission in its petition to the Delhi High Court had pointed out that the State Election Commission alone could allocate symbol for the RK Nagar MLA’s supporters. This was in response to Dinakaran’s plea seeking ‘Pressure cooker’ symbol for his supporters, besides permission to use AIADMK (Amma) as the party name in the local body elections. 

The EC in its petition in the Delhi High Court had pointed out that Dinakaran did not have a recognised party and a separate symbol could not be given to his followers. Besides, it also stated that the EC did not have powers to allocate symbol in a local body election and the power for doing so is vested in the State Election Commission which conducts the civic polls. The commission had also refused to accept the request of Dinakaran to use the party name AIADMK (Amma) and sought the dismissal of his plea in the Delhi High Court. If the EC stand is accepted, Dinakaran will have to file a petition with the SEC to get a common symbol. Thousands of his supporters had been removed from the ruling AIADMK and they are without a party at the moment. The Madras High Court had reserved its order in an appeal by 18 MLAs supporting Dinakaran against their disqualification by Speaker P Dhanapal. The legislators could not join a new party floated by Dinakaran since they would risk losing the disqualification case as they had been elected on the AIADMK ticket. Besides, Dinakaran had filed a plea in the Delhi High Court against the verdict of the Election Commission allocating ‘Two Leaves’ symbol to the party headed by presidium chairman E Madhusudhanan and treasurer O Panneerselvam. 

RK Nagar MLA TTV Dinakaran on Monday urged the Union and state governments to properly implement the works under the MGNREGA to provide livelihood to the landless labourers and urged to make delta as agriculture protected zone.  On his fourth day of meet-the-people tour on Monday, he met the public at Palliagraharam and interacted with the women who gathered there. They complained about the Public Distribution System (PDS) and the non-provision of work under the MGNREGA. Dinakaran said in the name of implementing the Food Security Act, the state government already discontinued supply of black gram in the PDS shops and also the price of the sugar had been increased.  “There is a fear that the PDS shops would be closed by this government,” he added. He took a dig at Food Minister R Kamaraj for the sorry state of PDS. Dinakaran insisted that there should not be any projects other than agriculture in the Cauvery Delta districts.