EC Order: Shinde Faction Real ‘Shiv Sena’ With Bow-Arrow Symbol; Uddhav Group To Move Court

Mumbai: In a major blow to Uddhav Thackeray’s group, the Election Commission (EC) on Friday ordered that the Eknath Shinde faction of Shiv Sena will get the official name of Shiv Sena as well as bow-arrow symbol of the Balasaheb Thackeray-founded party.

The decision left the Uddhav Thackeray faction fuming, with their MP Sanjay Raut saying they will move court as EC has lost credibility.

After the Eknath Shinde-led revolt led to the collapse of Uddhav Thackeray government in late June last year and swearing-in of the former as chief minister with BJP’s support in Maharashtra last year, the two factions have been staking a claim on the Shiv Sena name and original bow-and-arrow symbol.

With the issue pending, bow-and-arrow symbol had been frozen and EC approved two different symbols for the rival factions during the bypolls.

After months, EC resolved the issue on Friday.

“This is a big day for us. We have been saying that the decision will be taken on merit. We have been saying that we are real Shiv Sena. Now, a lot of Shiv Sena (UBT) men will come to us because we have the symbol and the party name to get the winning edge,” said Shinde faction spokesperson Sheetal Mhatre.

Explaining its decision, EC noted that the current constitution of Shiv Sena party is undemocratic.

“The constitution of political parties ought to provide for free, fair and transparent elections to the posts of office bearers and a further free and fair procedure for the resolution of internal disputes. These procedures ought to be difficult to amend and should be amendable only after ensuring larger support of the organisational members for the same,” EC said.