CHENNAI: The Election Commission will begin its hearing on the dispute over the ‘Two Leaves’ symbol of the ruling AIADMK from October 5. It had frozen the symbol six months ago following a rebellion in the party.
The commission has directed all involved in the dispute to submit the list of general council members and central executive committee members of the party as on December 5, 2016.
The EC issued notices to E Madhusudhanan, O Panneerselvam, V K Sasikala and T T V Dhinakaran. The notice to Sasikala, now in Parappana Agrahara prison, will be served through the Chief Electoral Officer of Karnataka.
The EC hearing on the party symbol follows the order of the Madras High Court on September 15 directing the commission to take a decision by October 31. In March, after the two factions of the AIADMK staked claim to the symbol, the EC froze it.
The EC in its notice said if the parties involved in the dispute wished to file any fresh submission, they could do so by September 29 .
These submissions should be supported by duly sworn affidavit and filed with six spare copies. Copies of the submissions should be served in advance directly by the parties on the other group, and proof of such service should be submitted to the commission.
The two factions had submitted around 10 lakh affidavits which are yet to be verified by the commission.
Perhaps, learning from the experience, the commission has now directed as following: “Affidavits should be filed in original along with a soft copy (in pen drive), with separate sets for different categories of members.
An index of the affidavits shall also be filed. Copies of all affidavits duly indexed shall also be served on the other group, in soft or hard form.” If any individual affidavit of support was being filed, it should be limited to the MPs and MLAs, and the apex level representative bodies in the organisational wing of the party – general council and central executive committee.
Meanwhile, a team of functionaries from the ruling faction of the AIADMK including Ministers CVe Shanmugam and RB Udhayakumar, KP Munusamy, Manoj Pandian and V Maitreyan will reach Delhi on Friday to submit the resolutions adopted at the September 12 general council meeting to the EC.
Electricity Minister P Thangamani is already in Delhi.