New Delhi: Amid the ongoing tussle between Shinde and Thackeray factions over Shiv Sena, the Election Commission on Saturday, October 8, passed an interim order refraining both sides from using the name and the party symbol of ‘bow and arrow’ in the upcoming boll by-poll in Andheri East on November 3.
While stressing that it is an ‘interim order’ – given that nominations for the upcoming byelection are due on October 14 – the poll body instructed the warring factions to suggest by Monday, October 10, three different name choices and also as many free symbols for allocation to their respective groups.
“Neither of the two groups shall also be permitted to use the symbol ‘Bow & Arrow’ reserved for ‘Shivsena’. Both the groups shall be known by such names as they may choose for their respective groups, including, if they so desire, linkage with their parent party ‘Shivsena’,” the order said.
The poll body said adjudication of the matter, which will continue, should not come in the way of the upcoming election in Andheri East. “The Commission is duty bound to ensure that all electoral steps of the bye-election are free of any confusion and contradiction and thus its next step is necessarily agnostic to the possibility of either of the faction participating in the poll,” the interim order said.
“Both the groups shall also be allotted such different symbols as they may choose from the list of free symbols notified by the Election Commission for the purposes of the current bye-elections,” the order further added.
The Commission said the interim order is to place both the rival groups “on an even keel and to protect their rights and interests” Going by the “precedence”, the commission said neither of the two groups be permitted to use the party name, Shiv Sena.
Citing sources in the Election Commission, NDTV reported that the Thackeray faction had already submitted its list of three choices for the name. While ‘Shiv Sena Balasaheb Thackeray’ is the first choice for the name and ‘Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray’ is the second pick.
The rival factions had approached the Commission after the split in the Shiv Sena ranks in June, claiming to be the ‘real Shiv Sena’.
The Commission had earlier asked the rival groups to submit documentary proof on legislative and organisational support by August 8 to back their claims. The deadline was extended to October 7 after the request of the Thackeray faction.
On October 4, the Shinde faction had moved the Election Commission seeking the allocation of the ‘bow and arrow’ poll symbol in view of the Andheri East assembly by-election, which was notified on October 3, Friday.
Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde with rebel Shiv Sena MLAs during the Special session of Maharashtra Assembly, at Vidhan Bhavan in Mumbai, Monday, July 4, 2022. Photo: PTI/Kunal Patil
The Thackeray faction had submitted its response to the claim on Saturday and had sought four more weeks to carefully understand the documentation submitted by the rival faction.
The fresh claim to the ‘bow and arrow’ election symbol by the Shinde faction is seen as an attempt to deny its use by the Thackeray group which has decided to field Rutuja Latke, the widow of MLA Ramesh Latke, for the bypoll.
The BJP, an ally of the Shinde faction, has decided to field Murji Patel, a corporator in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, for the bypoll necessitated due to the death of Ramesh Latke.
The Congress and the NCP have decided to support the candidate of the Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena, their coalition partner in the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA).
Also read: ‘Shinde Can’t Claim Sena Symbol Since He Voluntarily Quit the Party’: Thackeray Tells EC
Hours before the poll body’s interim order on Saturday, the Thackeray faction had urged the EC “to maintain status quo and not hurry the proceedings”. It had said there was “no urgency” given that the Shinde faction was not fielding a candidate in the bypoll, adding it was only “acting as a proxy for the BJP”, according to Indian Express.
‘Injustice,’ says the Thackeray faction
The Thackeray camp termed the order as “injustice” meted out to it while the opposing faction hailed it as an “appropriate” move by the poll body.
“The poll body should have holistically taken a decision rather than passing an interim decision for the bypoll,” said Ambadas Danve, Leader of the Opposition in Maharashtra Legislative Council, a Thackeray loyalist.
“This is injustice,” he told PTI.
Shiv Sena leader and former minister Aaditya Thackeray on Saturday lashed out at the rebel Sena leaders after the EC order.
“‘Khokewale’ traitors committed this shameless and vile act of freezing the name Shiv Sena and symbol”, he tweeted, adding that the people of Maharashtra would not tolerate it. “We will fight and win. We are on the side of the truth. Satyamev Jayate!” he said in the Marathi tweet.
Shinde had raised a banner of revolt against Thackeray, accusing him of entering into an “unnatural alliance” with Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). Over 40 of the Shiv Sena’s 55 MLAs had supported Shinde, forcing the resignation of Thackeray from the post of Maharashtra Chief Minister.
Twelve of the 18 Lok Sabha members of the Shiv Sena also came out in support of Shinde, who later claimed to be the leader of the original Shiv Sena.
The Andheri East bypoll is the first after Shinde and the BJP unseated the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in June, and is considered by political analysts as a precursor to settling of claims by Shinde and Thackeray to be the “real Shiv Sena”.
(With PTI inputs)