EPS camp moves SC AIADMK party symbol ahead of bypoll | Latest News India - Hindustan Times
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EPS camp moves SC AIADMK party symbol ahead of bypoll

Jan 28, 2023 12:40 AM IST

The petition also sought for a direction to the poll body to recognise EPS as the sole leader of Tamil Nadu’s principal opposition party.

Chennai: The fight for AIADMK’s two-leaves party symbol intensified on Friday as the faction led by former chief minister Edappadi Palaniswami (EPS) filed a petition in the Supreme Court, seeking a direction to the Election Commission of India (ECI) to allot it the symbol, people familiar with the development said.

Edappadi Palaniswami (PTI)
Edappadi Palaniswami (PTI)

The petition also sought for a direction to the poll body to recognise EPS as the sole leader of Tamil Nadu’s principal opposition party.

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The petition came weeks after the apex court reserved its judgment on a batch of petitions relating to the tussle between the two factions —led by EPS and O Panneerselvam (OPS) — over the leadership of the AIADMK on January 11. Both factions have claimed their rights to the two-leaves party symbol ahead of the by-election to the Erode East assembly seat on February 27.

Among the petitions includes OPS’s plea challenging the Madras high court’s order allowing EPS to continue as the party’s interim general secretary.

“As of date, the prevailing situation is that the party is led by EPS. The division bench’s order (of the Madras high court) is clear about the election of EPS as interim general secretary and the expulsion of OPS and his supporters,” senior AIADMK leader and former state minister D Jayakumar told reporters. “We are 1000% confident that the two-leaves (symbol) will be allotted to us. There is no doubt about that.”

Decision on the party symbol has become crucial after the OPS faction last week announced that it will also field a candidate for the upcoming bypoll. According to the ECI earlier order, an AIADMK candidate needs to procure a nomination letter with signatures of both EPS and OPS — who were joint coordinator and coordinator of the party, respectively — before their split.

The OPS group maintains that since he is the “coordinator”, the party’s symbol should be allotted to him.

The AIADMK’s general council on July 11, 2022 elected EPS as the interim general secretary and expelled OPS, following which the Palaniswami asked the poll panel to recognise him as the sole party leader. The EC has not taken a final decision on the EPS’s plea, which has been opposed by OPS.

Earlier this month, Tamil Nadu chief electoral officer Satyabrata Sahoo invited both EPS and OPS as joint-coordinator and coordinator for a meeting in Chennai on January 16 on the proposal for use of remote electronic voting machine to help migrants cast their votes outside their constituency. At the time Sahoo had said he was only following what was in the records of the ECI.

AIADMK leaders close to EPS maintain that if they do not contest for the party’s symbol now, the OPS faction might get it.

Besides the party symbol, the EPS camp in its plea before the top court also sought a direction for the ECI to record Palaniswami as the interim general secretary.

“The court has informed us that if there is a delay in the judgment, they would pass orders on our prayer on the symbol,” said a senior AIADMK leader from the EPS faction.

A week ago, OPS released a statement announcing he would field a candidate for the bypoll in Erode East. He also decided to back the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), an ally of the AIADMK, if it wanted to contest the poll.

The BJP, which has stayed clear of the internal tussle in the AIADMK, said they are yet to take a call on contesting the bypoll.

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  • ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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    Divya Chandrababu is an award-winning political and human rights journalist based in Chennai, India. Divya is presently Assistant Editor of the Hindustan Times where she covers Tamil Nadu & Puducherry. She started her career as a broadcast journalist at NDTV-Hindu where she anchored and wrote prime time news bulletins. Later, she covered politics, development, mental health, child and disability rights for The Times of India. Divya has been a journalism fellow for several programs including the Asia Journalism Fellowship at Singapore and the KAS Media Asia- The Caravan for narrative journalism. Divya has a master's in politics and international studies from the University of Warwick, UK. As an independent journalist Divya has written for Indian and foreign publications on domestic and international affairs.

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