Chennai: Crucial decision on which faction of the AIADMK – V. K. Sasikala or O. Panneerselvam – gets the party’s two leaves symbol is expected on Wednesday, when the Election Commission will conduct a hearing.

This is the second time in nearly 29 years the battle over the two leaves symbol, which holds sway over people from different generation since it is associated with the charisma of late M.G. Ramachandran, has reached the Election Commission.
In the aftermath of MGR’s death in 1987, the AIADMK split into two factions – J. Jayalalithaa and V. N. Janaki – and since both the groups staked claim over the symbol, the Election Commission kept it under freeze and allotted new symbol for both factions. Later, the symbol was defreezed after the party was united.
Highly-placed sources in the Election Commission told DC that a formal communication has been sent to factions of Ms Sasikala and Mr Panneerselvam seeking personal appearance of their representatives for the hearing on Wednesday morning in New Delhi.

“A decision on who gets the symbol is expected the same day evening. The EC will gave a patient hearing to representatives from both factions and take the final decision,” the source said.

The hearing was necessitated after Mr Panneerselvam sought allocation of “Two Leaves” symbol to his candidate E Madhusudhanan in the Dr R K Nagar by-election scheduled on April 12.

The decision on Wednesday night is crucial since nomination for the April 12 by-election ends on March 23. Separately, a notice has been sent to Sasikala to reply by Tuesday evening on the claim by Mr Panneerselvam and his faction that they are the “original AIADMK” and the two leaves symbol should be allotted to them in the by-election.

The former chief minister, who rebelled against Sasikala on February 7, has been claiming he and leaders owing allegiance to him represent the real AIADMK since late Jayalalithaa appointed them to their respective posts.
His faction has also been demanding that the appointment of Ms Sasikala as general secretary of AIADMK be declared “null and void” since only cadres can elect the leader.