Panneerselvam, Palaniswamy submit fresh affidavits to restore AIADMK's 'two leaves' symbol

New Delhi: The unified AIADMK on Friday submitted fresh affidavits to the Election Commission (EC), claiming that it has the support of the majority of the party’s lawmakers as well as office bearers and should be given the ’two leaves’ poll symbol. MLA CV Shanmugam, who was part of a delegation that made the submissions at the EC, said affidavits from 95 percent of party cadres supporting the merged faction have been submitted. According to a source in the party, affidavits of 115 MLAs, 44 MPs, 52 district secretaries, 126 town secretaries and over 1,200 village secretaries from Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Maharashtra and Puducherry, have been submitted. [caption id=“attachment_4071289” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] The two leaves symbol. Image Courtesy@ electadmk.com[/caption] KP Munuswami, senior leader of the unified AIADMK, while speaking to reporters, said decisions taken in the party’s general council meeting on 12 September after the merger of the factions led by O Panneerselvam and E Palaniswamy have also been submitted apart from the affidavits. “All the numbers required to secure the party symbol have been reflected in the number of affidavits we have submitted. We are confident that we will get the symbol,” he said. The Election Commission had asked all parties in the party symbol dispute case to submit their documents on or before 29 September and scheduled a hearing on 6 October . The poll panel’s move had come following the Madras High Court’s directive to it to settle the issue before 31 October. The unified AIADMK delegation included D Jayakumar, RB Udayakumar, CV Shanmugam, Manoj Pandian and MPV Maitreyan. The EC had on Thursday rejected the plea of rival faction, headed by ousted party interim general secretary VK Sasikala and her nephew TTV Dhinakaran, seeking more time and maintained that the hearing would take place as scheduled on 6 October.