DMK files miscellaneous plea slamming Election Commission

Chennai: DMK on Thursday filed a petition in the Madras High Court slamming the Election Commission for not responding to its representation on use of symbols by ruling AIADMK on government buses and photos of Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on water bottles. [caption id=“attachment_1423127” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Firstpost image[/caption] The petition was filed by DMK Treasurer MK Stalin, son of party chief M Karunanidhi, a day after the EC took a tough stand against the DMK chief’s plea in the court to quash an election complaint against him saying the former Chief Minister has to prove his innocence during the trial. Stalin in his petition flayed the silence of the EC on the representation made by DMK with regard to the usage of symbols by AIADMK on all government buses and photos of Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on water bottles. Stalin alleged that the display of symbols and photographs of a political party and its leader on government property will amount to publicity at the cost of public money. He further alleged in the petition that all 13 respondents, including AIADMK and government officials, have already filed counters to his main petition on the issue and “it is sad and alarming that in spite of notices served on them, the Election Commission and the Chief Electoral officer have not filed the counter affidavit.” He sought a direction from the court to seal/remove/ the photographs and the symbols of the ruling party on government-owned properties. The miscellaneous petition and the main plea is going to come up before Justice T Raja on Monday. PTI