While approving their new names, the Election Commission also decided that the OPS faction will use the "electric pole" as its polls symbol and team Sasikala will use the "hat" symbol.

Voting will take place on April 12 for the RK Nagar seat left vacant after the death of Jayalalithaa in December. Winning the seat holds enormous significance for the various groups fighting for Jayalalithaa's political legacy.

Mr Panneerselvam, the fierce Jayalalithaa loyalist who turned rebel after being forced to quit as Chief Minister by the AIADMK matriarch's long-time friend Sasikala, has fielded veteran partyman E Madhusudhanan for RK Nagar.

Sasikala's group will be represented by her nephew TTV Dinakaran. Before going to jail to serve a four-year sentence for corruption, Ms Sasikala appointed Mr Dinakaran as her deputy, placing the party in his charge, and her proxy, E Palaniswamy, as chief minister.

A third major candidate is Deepa Jayakumar, who claims to be the true successor of her aunt Jayalalithaa's political legacy.

Gangai Amaran of the BJP is the fourth candidate for the seat. After his visit to Rajinikanth's Poes Garden home set off intense speculation, the superstar tweeted today, "My support is for no one in the coming elections."

Mr Panneerselvam paid tribute at the beachside memorial of Jayalalithaa this morning and said he was "disappointed" that the Election Commission did not decide in his favour "despite strong evidence".

The Election Commission held a six-hour-long marathon hearing on Wednesday, after which it said it did not want to rush to a conclusion that might be "erroneous".

"No one would grudge the fact that it is almost humanly impossible to study all the aforesaid records running into more than 20,000 pages (submitted just a day earlier)," the commission said.