CHENNAI: The DMDK, the X factor that almost everyone wooed before the Tamil Nadu Assembly polls, is all set to lose its status as a State party, and perhaps even its symbol, murasu. Sources in the Election Commission told Express that a formal order will be issued in this regard in the coming days.
Election Commission rules mandate that a party must get at least six per cent of the vote or win three per cent of the total number of seats in an Assembly. The DMDK managed neither. It took 2.4 per cent of the vote. In fact, such was the poor performance by the six-party Third Front that their combined voteshare was a meagre 6.1 per cent.
Without the status of a ‘recognised State party’, the DMDK will be just another outfit. The rules say that the party will be allowed to use the symbol and thus a chance to win back the recognition, but not the other privileges.
Having no permanent symbol is a huge disadvantage while facing the established parties. The best example of this came from the Third Front camp itself, that of VCK leader Thol Thirumavalavan. Fighting a tough three-cornered contest, Thirumavalavan lost by a whisker, just 87 votes, while a namesake candidate Thirumavalavan T collected 289 crucial votes.
Beating a retreat?
Conditions
To be treated as a recognised political party, a party has to secure a minimum of 8 per cent vote share, or 6 per cent votes and two Assembly seats, or 3 per cent of seats in the Assembly, or one out of 25 Lok Sabha seats
Advantages
If recognised as a State party, the party is entitled for exclusive allotment of reserved symbol. Such parties need only one proposer for filing nomination papers, get broadcast/telecast facilities over Akashvani/Doordarshan