Hat symbol may be a boost for Dinakaran

Eight months ago, he had toured the constituency sporting a hat and introduced the symbol during his campaign for the cancelled by-election.

Besides himself, the Chief Minister, Ministers and all the AIADMK functionaries had fanned throughout the area to seek votes for the ‘Hat’ symbol.

This time, while DMK candidate Marudhu Ganesh and AIADMK nominee E Madhusudhanan had begun their campaign, Dinakaran is yet to meet the electorate, since the symbol for him is yet to be allocated.

‘Hat’ symbol for Dinakaran would be embarrassing for the Chief Minister and his colleagues, whose speeches in support of the same symbol could be replayed by Dinakaran’s supporters and their visuals sporting a hat could be highlighted.

Losing the ‘Hat’ symbol would be a major hurdle for Dinakaran, since he would have to spend considerable time in introducing a new symbol either it be cricket bat or whistle. With just a fortnight for campaign, he would be placed at a total disadvantage of seeking support to a new symbol with restricted resources, stringent poll code implementation and a hostile government machinery.

Madhusudhanan, who began his campaign on Saturday confidently declared that the ‘Two Leaves’ symbol alone would fetch him votes and victory. But, his rival for the second successive by-election, Dinakaran is preparing for another round of court battle in the Delhi High Court on Monday to get back the ‘Hat’ symbol and if possible block the ‘Two Leaves’ symbol. The Election Commission had argued that a decision on allotting ‘Hat’ symbol would be taken by the polling official in the constituency depending on the number of independent candidates seeking the same symbol.