New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday held that the claim of Tamil Nadu strongman T.T.V. Dhinakaran to the symbol of “pressure cooker” in an exclusive manner cannot be accepted as his group, Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK), is not a registered political party. However, to ensure a level-playing field for the group which is giving up the claim to “two leaves” symbol of AIADMK, the court directed the Election Commission to consider allotting any other common symbol to Mr Dhinakaran’s candidates who are likely to be fielded in 40 Lok Sabha seats and 19 Assembly seat in by-elections in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.
A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi made it clear that its order suggesting a common symbol should not be interpreted as a judicial recognition of Mr Dhinakaran’s group, which has neither been registered nor recognised as a political party under Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.
The bench, including Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna, made it clear that if candidates fielded by Mr Dhinakaran-led group win “they will be treated as Independent candidates”.
After hearing arguments from senior counsel Kapil Sibal and Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Mr Dhinakaran, and senior counsel Aryama Sundaram for the Election Commission, senior counsel Mukul Rohatgi, Guru Krishna Kumar and K.V. Viswanathan for the AIADMK group led by chief minister Edappaadi K. Palaniswami, the bench said, “We are not inclined to grant any recognition to the appellant (Dhinakaran) or his group to the symbol of pressure cooker.”
As Mr Sibal insisted that a common symbol be allotted to Mr Dhinakaran’s candidates, the CJI pointed out that the group had never applied for registration as a political party.
“This anarchy you have brought upon yourself. You should have applied on March 15 when we refused your SLP. You could have applied under Section 29A yesterday. Why do you think we adjourned the case yesterday?”
Chief Justice said, “The (Dhinakaran) group considered itself heir to AIADMK. They missed the bus. But they are still a group. Giving different symbols to his candidates will ruin his career.”
The court took on record a list of 59 candidates, marked as “X”, to be fielded by Mr Dhinakaran-led group.
Offering partial relief to Mr Dhinakaran’s group on the last day for filing nominations for the second phase of Lok Sabha polls on Tuesday, the bench said, “The EC on proper satisfaction that the candidates named in the document marked with the letter ‘X’ (list of names) want to contest the election under any one common symbol, will make all endeavour to ensure that in the forthcoming elections... the aforesaid candidates be allotted any one particular free symbol.”
The bench disposed of the appeal filed by Mr Dhinakaran against the Delhi high court order confirming the Election Commission’s order allotting “two leaves” symbol to the AIADMK group led by EPS.
Mr Rohatgi countered Mr Dhinakaran’s plea for a common symbol for all his candidates. “Mr. Dhinakaran says he will not register his group. He says I will not comply with Section 29A... Now he wants the pressure cooker symbol. How can this be entertained by the court?”
Mr Dhinakaran had floated AMMK after he and V.K. Sasikala were expelled from the Palaniswami-led AIADMK.
On March 15, the apex court had agreed to hear a plea of Mr Dhinakaran challenging a Delhi high court order granting the “two leaves” symbol to the AIADMK faction led by EPS on the limited aspect of allowing use of “pressure cooker” as a common symbol by all its candidates.
