CHENNAI: The Madras High Court refused to pass orders to the ECI to allot the 'Top' symbol to MDMK for contesting in the general elections while disposing of a petition filed by General Secretary Vaiko on Wednesday.
When the petition came up for hearing before the first bench consisting of Chief Justice SV Gangapurwala and Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy, advocate Niranjan Rajagopalan, representing the ECI, submitted that the application for allocation of the 'Top' symbol was rejected.
Advocate Niranjan said the symbol could be allotted to the party only if it is contesting in two seats in the state as per Section 10B (i) of the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968, and the petitioner’s party is contesting in only one seat as per documents submitted before the ECI. Moreover, since MDMK is an unrecognised party, it cannot claim a particular symbol, he added and noted that the 'Top' is neither in the reserved nor free symbol category.
When the bench asked whether the party would contest in two seats, senior counsel M Ajmal Khan, appearing for Vaiko, replied in the affirmative. However, the ECI counsel pointed out that both the seats should be in Tamil Nadu if it is to consider the allotment of the symbol. Even if they are contesting in two seats at this juncture, they cannot file the nomination papers because the time for filing the papers ends at 3 pm, counsel noted.
Recording the submission of the ECI and taking into account the fact that MDMK has run out of time to file nominations, the bench disposed of the petition.