Sidelined AIADMK leader TTV Dinakaran on Thursday said his faction would move the Supreme Court against the ruling.

Reacting to the Election Commission’s decision to award the two-leaves symbol to the unified faction of the AIADMK led by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edapaddi K Palaniswamy and his deputy O Panneerselvam, he alleged that the EC was biased towards the EPS-OPS faction and allegedly acted at the Centre’s behest.

Dinakaran said, “The Commission did not act neutrally. We will approach the Supreme Court against its order… The ruling confirms that EC functioned in accordance with the Centre’s wish…the Centre’s hand can be seen, Centre’s intervention is there”.

Referring to the interim order of the election regulator, Dinakaran also said, “The two-leaves symbol was frozen when Panneerselvam who had the support of only about a dozen each MLAs and MPs moved the EC seeking it (in March ahead of the RK Nagar bypoll which was cancelled subsequently).”

Dinakaran also said the EC has allotted the symbol to the EPS-OPS faction on the ground they now had the support of 111 MLAs and 42 MPs and asked, “why the same rationale was not followed earlier when the then Sasikala group had the backing of 122 MLAs and 37 MPs”.

“Without considering this, the Commission was ‘keen’ on blocking the symbol. There can be “no better example to show that the EC did not act neutrally in the matter,” the nephew of sacked interim party general secretary Sasikala Natarajan charged.

This happened when Palaniswami was with the Sasikala-Dhinakaran faction, who later in August, joined hands with Panneerselvam after deserting Sasikala and her clan.

Diinakaran also said the EC order had cited the Sadiq Ali case, and questioned why the poll panel did not apply the rationale of that case when Panneerselvam approached the EC“.

They conveniently forgot that judgment then,” he said.

He, however, said the Sadiq Ali case was not applicable to AIADMK since primary members support had to be taken into consideration. This factor was not considered, Dinakaran, whose appointment as deputy general secretary was annulled by the unified AIADMK, claimed.

Sasikala’s nephew said, “Several AIADMK General Council members also filed petition against the EC in person in the matter and when they sought to cross-examine the rival faction, the commission said it will be considered later”, alleging that rejection of their plea showed that the EC did not act neutrally.

Dinakaran said they would fight legally and “victory will be ours… party cadres and people are with us”.