Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray-led faction of Shiv Sena has moved to the Supreme Court on Monday against the Election Commission’s move to allot the party name “Shiv Sena” and the symbol “Bow and Arrow” to the rival faction led by CM Eknath Shinde. A caveat application has already been filed by the Shinde group in the Supreme Court over the matter. A caveat application is filed by a litigant to ensure that no adverse order is passed against him or her without being heard.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Friday allotted the party name “Shiv Sena” and the symbol “Bow and Arrow” to the faction led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. Notably, both factions of Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde and Uddhav Thackeray) have been fighting for the bow and arrow symbol of the party since Shinde (the present Maharashtra Chief Minister) revolted against Thackeray last year.
While the Shinde faction welcomed the decision to be recognized as the real Shiv Sena, the Uddhav Thackeray faction said they would challenge the decision in the Supreme Court. The Uddhav Thackeray faction accused the Election Commission of haste and said the decision shows “it works as a BJP agent.”
Also read: “Accept it and take a new symbol”: Uddhav’s ally Sharad Pawar on “bow and arrow” loss
The Commission observed in its order that the current constitution of the Shiv Sena party is undemocratic and has been “mutilated to undemocratically appoint people from a coterie as office bearers without any election at all.” It said such party structures fail to inspire confidence. Calling the poll panel’s decision as “murder of democracy”, Uddhav Thackeray said he will approach the Supreme Court against the decision.
Last month, both Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and former CM Uddhav Thackeray-led factions of the Shiv Sena submitted written statements in support of their claims of control over the party name and symbol to the Election Commission. The ECI had frozen the bow and arrow symbol of the Shiv Sena and had allotted the “Two Swords and Shield symbol” to the Eknath Shinde faction of the Shiv Sena, and the “flaming torch” (mashaal) election symbol was allotted to the Uddhav Thackeray faction for the by-election in the Andheri East assembly constituency in November last year.
However, exuding confidence in winning the election with the ‘torch’ symbol, former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday challenged Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde to contest the election with the “stolen bow and arrow”, stating that the ‘battle has begun’. He further said that the thieves were given the holy “bow and arrow” and that this is their test.
“Thieves were given the holy “bow and arrow,” and the “torch” (mashaal) can be taken away as well.” I challenge them—if they are men, come in front of us even with the stolen “bow and arrow,” and we will contest the election with the “torch.” “This is our test; the battle has begun,” Thackeray said.
