Will win RK Nagar by-election and take back 'two leaves' symbol: TTV Dhinakaran

Tiruppur: Sacked AIADMK leader TTV Dhinakaran on Friday expressed confidence that he will win the by-election in RK Nagar, which is scheduled for December 21 and continue his fight for getting back the 'two leaves' symbol of the party.

"I will win in RK Nagar by-election and take back 'two leaves' symbol, " Dhinakaran, the nephew of the jailed former general secretary of the AIADMK, told a gathering of his supporters here.

The 'two leaves' election symbol of Tamil Nadu's ruling AIADMK had recently been allotted to the faction of the party led by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister E Palanisamy and his deputy O Panneerselvam (EPS-OPS faction) by the Election Commission.

In an 83-page order, the election watchdog had ruled that the EPS-OPS faction would be entitled to use the name of the party and its reserved symbol.

The poll panel maintained that the EPS-OPS faction enjoyed a majority in the party's legislative and organisational wings.

The Election Commission order came following weeks of a bitter legal tussle between the two factions.

The faction led by Dhinakaran had also laid claim to the symbol soon after the death of former Tamil Nadu chief minister and AIADMK general secretary J Jayalalithaa.

Dhinakaran is also facing court case in the two leaves symbol bribery case.

A court in Delhi had on Thursday pulled up the police once again for not filing supplementary chargesheet Dhinakaran in the two leaves bribery case.

Dhinakaran was granted bail on June 1 after being arrested on April 25.

According to police, arrested middleman Sukesh Chandrashekhar had tried to bribe Election Commission officials to get the nod for using two leaves election symbol for Sasikala's faction of the AIADMK.

Meanwhile, in a related development, the EC today fixed December 21 as the polling date for the RK Nagar by-elections.

The seat of RK Nagar fell vacant following the death of former Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa in December 2016, who represented it for two terms.

The election was earlier scheduled for April 12, but was cancelled following allegations that sums of money were distributed in a vote-for-cash scam. 

(With ANI inputs)