Actor turned politician Kamal Haasan has got a huge relief from what has become a sudden political twist in Tamil Nadu ahead of the assembly polls as the political party which had obtained the 'torchlight' symbol has on Saturday decided to give up the symbol, which would now be expected to go to the hands of Kamal Haasan. 

The development has come days after Kamal Haasan has launched a legal drive with the Election Commission of India to acquire the 'torchlight' symbol, with which he contested the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, after the Chief Election body had denied the symbol to Kamal's Makkal Needhi Maiam for the upcoming assembly polls in Tamil Nadu. On Monday, the Election Commission had allotted symbols for the parties that are on the verge of facing elections and the commission has denied the torchlight symbol for Kamal Haasan for the assembly polls that had shocked the parties and members.

The denial has come when Kamal Haasan has been carrying out the drive of registering his party symbol among the voters. Kamal Haasan has been allotted the torchlight symbol only for Puducherry, turning off the light for the actor in Tamil Nadu. In Tamil Nadu, the torchlight symbol has gone to MGR Makkal Katchi, pushing the actor to pick the alternative symbol to contest in the state where he aims to have a strong political breakthrough as the upcoming election would be the first legislative election for Kamal Haasan since he launched the party. 

Following the denial, Kamal Haasan said that he will go legally to get the symbol and on Thursday, Makkal Needhi Maiam has officially submitted a representation to the Election Commission of India to reconsider its decision and allot the torchlight symbol to the party in Tamil Nadu. The reports say that Makkal Needhi Maiam's General Secretary and former IAS officer Santhosh Babu had submitted a petition to the Election Commission of India along with the party's legal wing.

Days after the actor's plea was moved to the Chief Election body, Kamal Haasan has got relief on Saturday after MGR Makkal Katchi, to which the 'torchlight symbol' was allotted, had decided to give up the symbol and moved its petition for acquiring a symbol that is close to MGR. Speaking to the media, MGR Makkal Katchi chief Viswanathan said that he has decided to give up the torchlight symbol and petitioned the Election Commission to provide the symbol that would be close to MGR. 

As 'Torchlight' now goes to the pool of Election Commission of India, the reports say that Kamal's Makkal Needhi Maiam would win the race and acquire the torchlight symbol ahead of the assembly polls. Earlier, In a statement, the Election Commission has said that the returning officers have been directed to allot the common symbols to the candidates of un-recognized political parties, subject to fulfillment of the provisions of the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) order, 1968.

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.