Posted by Chennai: The Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) an ally of Dravida Munnetra Kazagam (DMK) in Tamil Nadu led by Thol Thirumavalavan has filed an appeal in the Delhi High Court seeking the pot symbol for his party in the upcoming general elections.
The VCK has been allotted two constituencies – Chidambaram and Villupuram in the DMK -led alliance in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Party president Thirumavalavan and party’s general secretary Ravikkumar are contesting again in the Chidambaram and Villupuram constituencies respectively.
VCK seeks Pot symbol
In the last Lok Sabha election held in 2019, VCK contested in Chidambaram and Villupuram constituencies and won both seats in the DMK-led alliance. Thirumavalavan contested in the Pot symbol and Ravikumar contested in DMK’s rising sun symbol in Villupuram Constituency. But this time, VCK had requested the Election Commission to allocate a pot symbol to them in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. However, the Election Commission did not accept it.
During the hearing of this case, the Delhi High Court ordered that the Election Commission should decide the allotment of the Pot symbol to the VCK, however, the poll body has firmly stated that the Pot symbol cannot be allotted to VCK citing low percentage vote in the last assembly elections.
MDMK seeks ‘Top’ symbol
Similarly, another ally of DMK, Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) also fumed over the denial of the ‘Top’ symbol by the ECI. Following this, the party had approached the Madras High Court on Wednesday. But the Court refused to pass orders to the ECI to allot the ‘Top’ symbol to MDMK for contesting in the general elections while disposing of a petition filed by General Secretary Vaiko.
MDMK’s decision to accept only 1 seat allotted to it under the INDIA bloc has led to it losing the chance of contesting in the ‘top’ symbol. ECI told Madras HC that ‘top’ could have been allotted if the party had contested in at least 2 seats.