Ruling AIADMK gets 'two leaves' symbol

Chennai: The Election Commission on Thursday decided to allot the contentious "two leaves" election symbol to the ruling AIADMK faction, Chief Minister K. Palaniswami announced.

"We have got the symbol only now. We will decide on the candidate for R.K. Nagar Assembly constituency after discussing with party leaders," a visibly pleased Palaniswami told the media here.

"The Election Commission has given a just decision. We are happy and the party's 1.5 crore members will be happy. We have a majority of officer bearers, MLAs and MPs (with us)."

After the death of Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa in December last year, the AIADMK split into two factions -- one led by now Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam and the other by the now jailed V.K. Sasikala.

Subsequently, the Sasikala faction broke up again, with Chief Minister Palaniswami branching away and forming a government with the backing of Panneerselvam.

The two factions also started sidelining the AIADMK group led by Sasikala and her nephew T.T.V. Dinakaran.

Later, the Panneerselvam and Palaniswami factions merged, annulled the appointment of Sasikala as the party General Secretary and struck down the appointments made by her before she went to jail for corruption.

By then, however, the Election Commission had frozen the hugely popular "two leaves" symbol of the AIADMK, triggering a legal battle for it.