TTV Dhinakaran to contest 40 Parliament seats and 19 Assembly bypoll seats in TN and Puducherry on a common election symbol.
In a fresh twist to the election battle in Tamil Nadu, the Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed a faction of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) led by TTV Dhinakaran to contest 40 Parliament seats and 19 Assembly bypoll seats in TN and Puducherry on a common election symbol.
This is unprecedented since a common symbol is allotted to a registered political party. After the death of former TN Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, Dhinakaran formed a political front Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam claiming to be the heir of Jayalalithaa's political legacy but failed to apply for its registration with the Election Commission.
With a list of 59 candidates, Dhinakaran approached the apex court for a common symbol 'pressure cooker' to be allotted to each candidate. Dhinakaran, who is currently a MLA of Tamil Nadu Assembly, had contested and won in the RK Nagar Assembly constituency in December 2017 on the cooker symbol. Then, the dispute over Dhinakaran's claim of AIADMK symbol of 'two leaves' was pending. In March this year, Dhinakaran lost his claim in Supreme Court.
Getting two legal stalwarts Kapil Sibal and Abhishek Manu Singhvi to argue his case, Dhinakaran failed to get 'cooker'. Instead, the Court agreed to give him a common symbol among any one of the free symbols available with EC.
This order from Court will now be a precedent for all times allowing any political front or group of individuals to come to Court during the election process and make similar claim for a common symbol pending the process of getting registered as a political party.
EC's Principal Secretary KF Wilfred who was present in Court explained that the process of registration normally can take up to six months. But during elections, the process can be fast-tracked to end within a week. But in the case of Dhinakaran, EC was helpless as he never applied for registration. Moreover, Section 29A of Representation of Peoples Act clearly provides that common symbol is meant for registered, recognized political parties.
The bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna told Dhinakaran, "You have missed the bus. This situation you have got upon yourself." But Singhvi stepped in and made the difference. He argued that elections must follow "fair play" and to allow 59 candidates fight on 50 symbols is as good as losing elections before it starts. He urged to get any common symbol other than cooker.
The Court said, "The reality in our country is, however strong a party's name may be, it is known by a symbol." It directed EC to allot any one particular free symbol to the 59 candidates after ascertaining their wish. If elected, these candidates will function as independent MPs or MLAs, clarifying that its order does not amount to "recognition of the group or any part thereof as a political party".
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