After MDMK, DMK-led alliance partner VCK seeks to contest Tamil Nadu polls on own symbol

In another jolt to the Opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) ahead of Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, its ally Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), has insisted on contesting the upcoming polls on its own symbol.

VCK president Thol Thirumavalavan made the announcement in Puducherry on Saturday when he was visiting Chief Minister V Narayanasamy. He had gone to personally extend New Year wishes to the Congress leader and to thank him for launching a scheme to support the fees of scheduled caste and scheduled tribe students, irrespective of the family's economic background.

This is the second DMK alliance partner to make such an announcement ahead of 2021 polls. Earlier, in October, MDMK chief Vaiko, too, had stated that his party will contest the Assembly elections on its own symbol to maintain individuality.

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Will identity politics bring loss to DMK?

During the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, VCK MP D Ravikumar had contested on DMK ticket using its rising sun symbol to contest, while party chief Thirumavalavan opted to use an independent symbol — a pot. While Ravikumar won the election against rival PMK candidate Vadivel Ravanan by over 1 lakh votes, Thirumavalavan managed to snag victory with a narrow margin of 3,000 votes. Meanwhile, MDMK candidate Ganeshmurthi had also contested on DMK's rising sun symbol.

In the past too, both parties have sought to contest on their own symbols in order to gain recognition from the Election Commission. The parties have to gather a certain percentage of votes in order to be recognised.  

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In an alliance, the larger parties such as the DMK, often make the smaller parties contest on their symbols to ensure that the candidate is recognised immediately and to avoid loss of votes due to unfamiliarity with the symbol. Moreover, it allows the larger party to control the MLAs of the smaller parties. Further, if VCK and MDMK candidates contested with the rising sun symbol, the EC would record the wins into DMK victories.

On the other hand, former DMK leader MK Alagiri had called for a meeting with his supporters in Madurai, to discuss the possibility of starting a new party. The news came after he waited for months for word from the DMK, regarding re-joining the party. As per reports, the leader is in talks with his supporters to understand what kind of backing he will receive if he contests in the 2021 Assembly elections in the state.

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