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Friday, March 29, 2024
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HomePoliticsJayalalithaa niece beats EC deadline to stake claim on AIADMK symbol

Jayalalithaa niece beats EC deadline to stake claim on AIADMK symbol

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Election Commission has already rejected Sasikala-Dinakaran faction’s plea for more time to prove its claim for ‘two-leaves’ symbol; to hear the matter on 5 October.

New Delhi: The race to claim the AIADMK’s ‘two leaves’ party symbol has got hotter with former Tamil Nadu CM J. Jayalalithaa’s niece Deepa Jayakumar entering the fray at the last minute to stake her claim.

The Election Commission of India has already rejected the request of the Sasikala-Dinakaran faction for more time to prove its claim for the much-coveted party symbol and is set to begin its final hearing on the matter on 5 October.

Friday (29 September) is the last day for making all representations related to the party symbol. The EC had frozen the ‘two leaves’ symbol in March, ahead of the R.K. Nagar bypolls in Tamil Nadu.

Deepa, who now heads the MGR Amma Deepa Peravai, has written to the EC on 27 September staking her claim to the ‘two leaves’ symbol and calling herself the rightful heiress and successor to the Jayalalithaa and the AIADMK legacy, sources told ThePrint.

Deepa, however, has not backed her claim with much evidence in the form of duly signed affidavits of MLAs. Nor has she proposed to send any of them to the EC headquarters, sources added. Although not seen as a serious contender, Deepa has thrown her hat into the ring.

Deepa was one of the first to allege a conspiracy behind Jayalalithaa’s death and stepped into the political scene soon after. She, however, has not been able to mobilise much support from party MLAs to bolster her case as a successor to her aunt.

Nearly a million affidavits related to the ‘two leaves’ symbol are currently with the EC, of which about 6.5 lakh are from the Palanisamy faction, sources said. Soon after the controversy erupted, Deepa had also sent in a few hundreds of affidavits but she has not renewed that effort this time.

Tamil Nadu politics has been on the boil ever since the death of AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa last December. Her death was followed by considerable dissent and factionalism in the party with two warring groups at play — one led by O. Panneerselvam and another by Jayalalithaa’s close aide Sasikala, who is now jail in a corruption case.

The two factions have been at loggerheads and have been staking claim to the party symbol since Jayalalithaa’s demise. Sidelined party general secretary T.T.V. Dinakaran represents the Sasikala faction and had in August 2017 sought time from the EC to make his representation on the party symbol issue.

Ahead of the R.K. Nagar by-election, the poll panel of India froze the ‘two leaves’ symbol as part of its interim order. Both factions were, however, permitted to keep a party name showing their links to the AIDMK.

According to the EC order, “Neither of the aforesaid two groups shall also be permitted to use the symbol ‘Two Leaves’, reserved for All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam but both groups can, if they do desire, show ‘linkage with their parent party’.” (sic)

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