O Panneerselvam sends 6 lakh affidavits to EC, stakes claim

Chennai: The OPS faction of the AIADMK on Saturday readied a bulky parcel of over six lakh notorised affidavits from party functionaries down the line to be sent to the Election Commission to seal its claim to the ‘two-leaves’ symbol that has been frozen following the split in the ruling party. “We are dispatching the six lakh affidavits-all of them notorised properly-to the EC tonight. We had already given 10,000 affidavits. In contrast, the rival faction (Sasikala) could manage only 1422 affidavits while claiming before the EC that it constituted the bulk of the 1800-strong general council.

However, the EC rejected their claim and made it clear that we must get the affidavits of support from party functionaries from down the branch level”, said a former minister, who is a prominent member of the OPS think-tank. Explaining further, he said the AIADMK has 1.05 lakh branches in the 50 party districts of Tamil Nadu, besides the units in Maharashtra, Delhi, Puducherry, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Each branch of 25-100 members has nine office-bearers. “That would mean there are 9.45 lakh office bearers in all. We got six lakh of them sign support for us, while they (Sasikala) have not moved beyond 1422. The EC has rejected their application for extension of time by eight weeks”, said the OPS camper.