The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to grant the 'pressure cooker' symbol for now to the Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) party of T.T.V. Dhinakaran.
The Delhi High Court had on March 9 last year directed the Election Commission (EC) to allot a common symbol, preferably that of a 'pressure cooker', and a name to the then AIADMK (Amma) faction led by Dhinakaran.
A bench of Justices A.M. Khanwilkar and Ajay Rastogi said if the Delhi High court does not dispose of the pending case regarding allocation of symbol within four weeks, then EC may proceed as per the March 9, 2018, order.
The Supreme Court bench said if polls to vacant assembly seats in Tamil Nadu are announced within four weeks, then the EC may allocate the symbol to Dhinakarn's party in a week, as per the Delhi High Court order.
The Supreme Court also vacated its earlier order of abeyance on the Delhi High Court's order, which was issued after the AIADMK faction led by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister E.K. Palaniswami had moved the apex court.
The High Court's order was passed on an application by Dhinakaran in his main petition challenging an EC order of November 23, 2017, which had allotted the 'two leaves' symbol to the group headed by Palaniswami and his deputy O. Panneerselvam, who opposed grant of any relief in the matter.
Dhinakaran had asked for the pressure cooker symbol as under it he had in December 2017 won the Radha Krishnan Nagar Assembly byelection with a margin of over 40,000 votes.
