EC adjourns Two Leaves case to Oct 23, TTV camp wants freezing of symbol

The Election Commission adjourned till October 23 the hearing on the AIADMK's two leaves symbol case.

Earlier, the AIADMK delegation met Election Commission officials and submitted documents regarding the case.

The Election Commission, at its second hearing on Monday over the AIADMK symbol war, rejected the plea from the Sasikala faction for permanent freezing of the ‘Two Leaves’ symbol and posted the matter to October 23.

The Supreme Court has directed the EC to settle the dispute by November 10 after the TTV group challenged the order by the Madurai bench of the Madras high court that the EC verdict must be out by October 31.

The Madras High Court bench on 4 October reserved its order on an impleading petition by AIADMK (Amma) faction leader TTV Dhinakaran, seeking an extension of its 31 October deadline on the party symbol dispute case to 28 February, 2018.

Dhinakaran in his petition had pleaded for an extension of the deadline, saying the EC had sought fresh submissions and it would only expand the scope of the dispute.

T T V Dhinakaran-led faction of AIADMK moved the Election Commission on Monday to freeze its two-leaves symbol permanently and also verify all affidavits filed by every AIADMK functionary backing Chief Minister E K Palaniswami and O Pannerselvam.

However, the poll panel said it was not possible to examine every AIADMK functionary individually. The panel would go by affidavits filed before it. It put off till October 23 further arguments on the two-leaves symbol dispute between the AIADMK factions.