india

Updated: Mar 01, 2019 08:13 IST

Rebel AIADMK leader and Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) general secretary TTV Dhinakaran is all set to challenge the Delhi high court verdict upholding the Election Commission’s order, granting the iconic ‘two-leaves’ symbol of the AIADMK to the faction led by chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami.

“We will go in for an appeal against the high court verdict,” Dhinakaran’s counsel, Raja Senthoor Pandian told the media.

A bench of justices GS Sistani and Sangita Dhingra Sehgal upheld the EC’s decision of November 23, 2017, saying that none of the grounds of challenge raised by the Dhinakaran-Sasikala faction were made out and there was “no infirmity” in the poll panel’s order allotting the party name and symbol to the group led by Palaniswami and his deputy O Panneerselvam.

After the order was pronounced, senior advocate Abhishek M Singhvi, appearing for Dhinakaran and Sasikala, urged the bench to direct the EC not to allot the pressure cooker symbol to anyone during the next 15 days so that they have time to move the apex court and seek an appropriate relief from there.

Dhinakaran, a claimant for the legacy of former CM Jayalalithaa, had launched the AMMK after being ousted from the AIADMK along with Sasikala in September 2017.

AIADMK claimed that the HC verdict was a moral victory for the party. “Truth had triumphed. The verdict is a reiteration of the fact that we are the real AIADMK,” was the reaction of chief minister EPS. “It is a huge setback for Dhinakaran and it is a victory for AIADMK worker,” said fisheries minister D Jayakumar. However, putting up a brave face, Dhinakaran loyalist Thanga Tamilselvan said: “More than the symbol, it is the people whose verdict will be the final one. Symbol alone could not ensure victory was proved in the RK Nagar bypoll,” he told the media.