1

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA

CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION

Civil Appeal No. 3205/2019

(arising out of SLP(C) No. 6621/2019)

T.T.V. DHINAKARAN Appellant

VERSUS

ELECTION COMMISSION OF INDIA & ORS. Respondents

WITH
Civil Appeal No. 3206/2019
(arising out of SLP(C) No. 6673/2019)

O R D E R

Leave granted.

The appellant in Civil Appeal No. 3205/2019 (arising out

of SLP(C) No. 6621/2019) claims to be heading a faction of the

AIADMK, on the basis of which he had fought a long and protracted

battle for the election symbol of “two leaves”, which claim was

rejected by the Election Commission of India, two Benches of the

High Court and virtually by this Court also by its order dated

15.3.2019, by which a limited notice was issued to explore the

possibility of allotment of the symbol of “pressure cooker” to

the appellant and the group that he claims to represent. It is

the aforesaid limited aspect of the matter that will receive the

consideration of the Court.

The claim of the appellant to the symbol of “pressure

Signature Not Verified

Digitally signed by
cooker” in an exclusive manner cannot be acknowledged in view of
DEEPAK GUGLANI
Date: 2019.03.26
14:26:01 IST
Reason:

the provisions of Section 29A of the Representation of the People

Act, 1951 and the guidelines issued by the Election Commission of

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India thereunder, which the appellant or his group has concededly

not followed. We are, therefore, not inclined to grant any

recognition to the appellant or his group to the symbol of

“pressure cooker”.

However, to ensure a level playing field to the

contesting parties in the forthcoming Parliamentary elections and

the bye-elections in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry Legislative

Assemblies, we have taken on record the list of names submitted

to us pertaining to candidates of 39 Parliamentary Constituencies

in Tamil Nadu and 1 Parliamentary Constituency in Puducherry and

19 in the bye-elections to the Tamil Nadu and Puducherry

Legislative Assemblies, which persons, the appellant claims,

intend to contest the forthcoming election.

Having considered the matter, we are of the view that

the following order should govern the parties.

The Election Commission of India on due and proper

satisfaction that the candidates named in the document marked

with the letter ‘X’ want to contest the election under any one

common symbol, will make all endeavour to ensure that in the

forthcoming elections i.e. 40 Parliamentary Constituencies (39 in

Tamil Nadu and 1 in Puducherry) and 19 Assembly Constituencies

(18 in Tamil Nadu and 1 in Puducherry), the aforesaid candidates

be allotted any one particular free symbol. We also make it

clear that this order will not amount to recognition of the group

or any part thereof as a political party registered or

unregistered, which decision the Election Commission of India

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alone would take as and when required. We also make it clear

that in the event any of the candidates mentioned in the list

marked with the letter ‘X’ is to be elected, such candidate will

be counted as an independent candidate and not belonging to any

political party for all purposes including for the purposes of

the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution.

Beyond the above, we do not consider it necessary and

expedient to pass any order.

This will dispose of both the civil appeals.

....................CJI
[Ranjan Gogoi]

....................J.
[Deepak Gupta)

....................J.
[Sanjiv Khanna)
New Delhi;
March 26, 2019.
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ITEM NO.10 COURT NO.1 SECTION XIV

S U P R E M E C O U R T O F I N D I A
RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS

Petition for Special Leave to Appeal (C) No. 6621/2019

(Arising out of impugned final judgment and order dated 28-02-2019

in WPC No. 10728/2017 passed by the High Court Of Delhi At New
Delhi)

T.T.V. DHINAKARAN Petitioner

VERSUS
ELECTION COMMISSION OF INDIA & ORS. Respondents

(FOR ADMISSION and I.R. and IA No.40347/2019-EXEMPTION FROM FILING

C/C OF THE IMPUGNED JUDGMENT and IA No.40346/2019-PERMISSION TO
FILE LENGTHY LIST OF DATES)

WITH
SLP(C) No. 6673/2019 (XIV)
(FOR ADMISSION and I.R. and IA No.40880/2019-EXEMPTION FROM FILING
C/C OF THE IMPUGNED JUDGMENT and IA No.40878/2019-PERMISSION TO
FILE SYNOPSIS AND LIST OF DATES)

Date : 26-03-2019 This matter was called on for hearing today.

CORAM : HON'BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE

HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE DEEPAK GUPTA
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SANJIV KHANNA

For Petitioner
SLP(C) 6621/2019 Mr. Kapil Sibal, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Amit Anand Tiwari, Adv.
Mr. Vivek Singh, AOR
Mr. N. Raja Santhoor Pandian, Adv.
Mr. Swastik Dalai, Adv.
Mr. Shashwat Singh, Adv.
Mr. Harshal Gupta, Adv.
Ms. Devyani Gupta, Adv.
Ms. Anusha Nagarajan, Adv.
Mr. M. Bruce Milton, Adv.
Mr. M. Srinivasan, Adv.
Mr. Anirudh Bakhru, Adv.

SLP(C) 6673/2019 Dr. A.M. Singhvi, Sr. Adv.

Mr. Vijay Hansaria, Sr. Adv.
Mrs. Meenakshi Arora, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Amit Anand Tiwari, Adv.
Mr. Vivek Singh, Adv. (AOR)
Mr. N. Raja Senthoor Pandian, Adv.
Mr. Amit Bhandari, Adv.
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Mr. Mohit Paul, Adv.

Mr. Swastik Dalai, Adv.
Mr. P. Praveen Samadhanam, Adv.

Mr. Sheik Moulali Basha, Adv.

Mr. Shereef K.A., Adv.
For Respondents
for ECI Mr. Amit Sharma, AOR
Mr. Dipesh Sinha, Adv.
Ms. Ayiala Imti, Adv.

SLP(C) 6673/2019 Mr. Mukul Rohatgi, Sr. Adv.

Mr. Gowtham Kumar, Adv.
Ms. Diksha Rai, AOR
Ms. Palak Mahajan, Adv.
Mr. Thangathurai, Adv.

SLP(C) 6621/2019 Mr. K.V. Vishwanathan, Sr. Adv.

and 6673/2019 Mr. Guru Krishna Kumar, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Balaji Srinivasan, AOR
Mr. Siddhant Kohli, Adv.
Ms. Garima Jain, Adv.
Ms. Pallavi Sengupta, Adv.
Ms. Vaishnavi Subrahmanyam, Adv.
Ms. Pratiksh Mishra, Adv.
Mr. Ravi Raghunath, Adv.
Ms. Srishti Govil, Adv.
Mr. Arunava Mukherjee, Adv.
Mr. Abhishek Bharti, Adv.
Mr. Mayank Kshirsagar, Adv.
Mr. Harsh Vaidyanathan Shankar, Adv.
Mr. Ram Shankar, Adv.
Ms. Lakshmi Rao, Adv.
Mr. Babu Murugavel, Adv.
Mr. Prakash Kumar Gandhi, Adv.
Mr. Rakesh Sharma, Adv.

UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following

O R D E R
Leave granted.

The civil appeals are disposed of in terms of the

signed order.

Pending interlocutory applications, if any, shall

stand disposed of.

(Deepak Guglani) (Anand Prakash)

Court Master Court Master
(signed order is placed on the file)