Chennai: The Election Commission of India has approved the 'two leaves' symbol for All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), in what seemed to be a mild victory for Edappadi Palaniswami (EPS) faction. ECI also approved the AIADMK presidium chairman Tamilmagan Hussain to sign in forms A and B and also authorised candidates to contest on behalf of AIADMK on the two-leaves symbol.
Tamilmagan Hussain said that this is the first step towards winning the Erode East by-elections, and also expressed hope that AIADMK would be winning the seat.
However, Tamilmagan Hussain denied answering any questions regarding what would be the next legal action in the matter. Earlier, the Supreme Court ordered the AIADMK party General Council to pass a resolution related to a candidate who will represent the party in the upcoming by-elections of Erode (East) constituency in Tamil Nadu.
Following this AIADMK Presidium Chairman Tamilmagan Hussain sent affidavit forms to all General Council members of AIADMK. This brought criticism from the O Pannerselvam (OPS) faction who called the action as one-sided. The OPS faction also withdrew their candidate Senthil Murugan from Erode east by-election.
The faction said that they don't want to be the reason for the freezing of the 'two leaves' symbol. But, they said that they will campaign for the symbol but not for the candidate.
However, the solution can be termed temporary as the Supreme Court clearly mentioned the verdict as interim arrangements only in relation to the forthcoming by-elections. AIADMK candidate Thennarasu will be filing his nomination for the by-election.
Earlier, Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS) faction of the AIADMK circulated forms to gather support for its candidate, former MLA Thiru KS Thennarasu, among the General Council members for the upcoming Erode by-polls.