The Election Commission has rejected TTV Dhinakaran’s request for more time to submit documents supporting his bid for the AIADMK’s ‘two leaves’ symbol.
“The hearing will be conducted on October 6 as scheduled earlier,” sources in the Commission said.
The Commission had set a deadline of September 29 for fresh submissions in the dispute between the two factions of Tamil Nadu’s ruling party. The AIADMK is riven between a faction led by Dhinakaran’s aunt VK Sasikala, and the ‘official’ camp jointly headed by Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and his deputy O Panneerselvam.
Both the factions claim to be the ‘true AIADMK’ and had approached the Commission for the official symbol. Tamil Nadu’s ruling party witnessed factionalism after the death of the former Tamil Nadu CM and party chief J Jayalalithaa in December 2016.
In February this year, Dhinakaran was named Deputy General Secretary of the party soon after Sasikala surrendered to a Bengaluru court to serve a sentence in a disproportionate assets case.
While Palaniswami was chosen to be Chief Minister by Sasikala, he rebelled later, and joined hands with former CM Panneerselvam in August.
However, the rift in the ruling party did not end as Dhinakaran claims the support of nearly 20 MLAs.