VCK moves the Supreme Court for allotment of ‘star’ symbol

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday will hear a writ petition filed by the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), for a direction to the Election Commission to allot the party the ‘star’ symbol in the Lok Sabha elections, scheduled to be held in Tamil Nadu on May 13.

A three-judge Bench of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, Justice L.S. Panta and Justice P. Sathasivam posted the petition for hearing on Friday when senior counsel Rajiv Dutta sought early listing, pointing out that April 27 was the last date for withdrawal of nominations.

The VCK, represented by its treasurer Mohmed Yousef, submitted that it was part of the alliance with the Indian National Congress and the DMK for the elections and was contesting from Chidambaram and Villupuram constituencies.

The party had contested the municipal, corporation, Assembly and Parliamentary elections since 1999 and, at present, had two MLAs.
Symbol in flag

The party said it wanted the ‘star’ symbol as its flag also had this symbol, which had not been allotted to any other party in Tamil Nadu.

The party had applied to the Commission for allotment of this symbol, but, since the election process was on, the Commission would not be able to dispose of the application before the polls.

The petitioner said that since the vast majority of the people in the country were illiterate or semi-illiterate, the need for a common election symbol for the candidates of a political party was indispensable as it played a prominent and indispensable role for effective canvassing irrespective of the fact whether the candidates belonged to a recognised or unrecognised political party.