CHENNAI: Despite the Election Commission of India twice rejecting the VCK’s request for a common ‘Pot’ symbol to contest in 22 Lok Sabha seats across six states in the upcoming election, the party leaders remain optimistic that an outcome favourable to them will be announced while the returning officers release the final list of candidates and their symbols.
Elected representatives from the VCK exuded confidence with regard to the symbol allocation citing VCK’s status as a registered party and that it had four MLAs and an MP who were elected under the ‘Pot’ symbol.
The parties in the DMK-led alliance have been criticising the ECI for allegedly allocating symbols in a biased manner. They claimed the poll panel rejected requests by VCK, MDMK, and NTK, but approved pleas from parties in the NDA bloc.
The VCK had sought recourse through the Delhi HC, which directed the ECI to reconsider the petition. However, the ECI maintained its rejection, citing the party’s failure to meet the minimum requirement of 1% of total valid votes.
The party’s general secretary and Villupuram candidate D Ravikumar charged that the ECI had provided inaccurate information regarding the VCK’s vote share. He expressed confidence that the Delhi HC’s final ruling will be in favour of the VCK.
A district-level election official told TNIE if any registered party requested a symbol from the list of free symbols, they would be given preference. If the same symbol was requested by more than one party, it would be allocated to the party with more elected representatives.
“In case both the parties don’t have elected representatives, then a draw of lots will be held to decide who gets the symbol. Since the VCK has MLAs and MP, and is a registered party, as per rules, there should not be any hurdle in allocating it the ‘Pot’ symbol,” the official added.