Actor turned politician and president of Makkal Needhi Maiam Kamal Haasan has on Friday made a major announcement that his party has been officially allocated with the 'Torchlight' symbol by the Election Commission. The development has come ahead of the assembly polls and it holds crucial for the party which has been campaigning with that symbol, which has registered Kamal's months-old party among the voters amid the race with the decades-old parties. 

Sharing the news, Kamal Haasan released a video in which he was seen surrounded by the senior leaders of the party and they collectively welcome and celebrate their party symbol. Taking to Twitter, the actor turned politician said, "I'm happy to announce that the torchlight symbol has been re-assigned to the Makkal Needhi Maiam and it has happened on the birth anniversary of Martin Luther King, who fought to pour light on the lives of the suppressed people".  

"Thank you to the Election Commission of India and to those who stood with us. Let the light keep spreading", Kamal Haasan added as his party has been hoping to have a political breakthrough in the upcoming assembly poll, which the first legislative election for Kamal Haasan since he launched his party. The actor turned politician was active and already completed his tour of covering most of the districts when the Dravidian parties graphing their tours. 

Kamal Haasan said that his party will contest in all the 234 constituencies and he hopes to yield a significant voter bank in the state by retaining what the party has got in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Kamal's party had contested in the Lok Sabha polls with the torchlight symbol and the actor had taken the symbol as his propaganda of lighting the lives. At a high time when he took his symbol across social media, the Election Commission had given that symbol to the other party. 

In what was a shocking development, the Chief Election body had earlier denied the torchlight symbol for his party. The commission has allotted the symbol for Kamal's party only for Puducherry and in Tamil Nadu, the torchlight symbol was allotted to MGR Makkal Katchi. Kamal Haasan didn't accept the allocation and his party had submitted a representation to the Election Commission of India to reconsider its decision and allot the torchlight symbol to the party in Tamil Nadu. 

In his fight to retain the torchlight symbol, he saw a big relief in December after the MGR Makkal Katchi had given up the symbol and moved its petition for acquiring a symbol that is close to MGR. As the symbol had gone to the Election Commission, it was expected that Kamal's party would get back the symbol and his party has been legally fighting to get the symbol and he has been campaigning across the state with that symbol and amid such development,  Kamal's party has now been allotted with the torchlight symbol which had brought huge relief and push in the campaign trail. 

The Election Commission would be allotting the symbols by differentiating the parties as recognized and unrecognized parties. In India, there are eight national parties and 64 state parties across the country that fall under the category of recognized parties and these parties can go with their reserved symbols while the ECI would allot free symbols for the unrecognized regional parties. 

The reports say that Kamal Haasan's MNM is an unrecognized party, which would have to go by the free symbol and such parties have to provide a list of three free symbols at the time of filing nomination papers, and of these three, ECI would allot one symbol to the party on a first-come-first-serve basis. 

இந்தியத் தேர்தல் ஆணையத்திற்கும், எம்மோடு துணை நின்றவர்களுக்கும் நன்றி. ஒளி பரவட்டும்!
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— Kamal Haasan (@ikamalhaasan) January 15, 2021