EPS-OPS faction gets AIADMK symbol

Chennai/New Delhi, Nov 23

The Election Commission today allotted the ‘two leaves’ symbol to the unified AIADMK led by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister EK Palaniswami and his deputy O Panneerselvam, dealing a blow to the Sasikala faction.

The EC said the EPS-OPS group “enjoys the support of majority of members, both in the organisational and legislature wings of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam”.

The order is a setback to deposed party leader VK Sasikala, who is currently serving a four-year sentence in a Bengaluru jail in a disproportionate assets case, and her nephew and sidelined deputy general secretary TTV Dhinakaran.

The EC said the “said group led by E Madhusudhanan and others is hereby recognised... as the AIADMK, which is a recognised state party in Tamil Nadu and in the UT of Puducherry, for whom the symbol ‘two leaves’ is reserved in the said state and UT.”

In Chennai, Palaniswami described the development as the happiest day for the party. Celebrations broke out at the party headquarters with AIADMK workers bursting crackers and distributing sweets.

The issue has been lingering since April in the aftermath of the announcement of bypoll to RK Nagar Assembly constituency here following the death of AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa in December last year. Rival factions then led by Sasikala and Panneerselvam had staked claim over the symbol. Edappadi K Palaniswami was then in the Sasikala camp.

In an interim order in March this year, the EC barred the two factions from using the party’s name or its symbol in the bypoll. The EC today said its interim order freezing the symbol stands “withdrawn and rescinded”. — PTI