In a major setback for Uddhav Thackeray, the Election Commission of India (ECI) granted the Eknath Shinde faction the ‘Shiv Sena’ party name and its bow and arrow symbol on Friday. The Shiv Sena infighting that led to the demise of the Maha Vikas Aghadi led by Uddhav and eventually Eknath Shinde assuming Maharashtra’s top leadership has now resulted in Shinde’s claim to the Shiv Sena’s name and symbol being cleared by the autonomous poll panel as well.
The ECI observed in its order that Shinde was supported by MLAs with 76% of the party’s winning votes in the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly elections. According to the ECI, the Shiv Sena’s amended constitution, as well as the process of its amendments and workings, have a democratic deficit.
Furthermore, neither faction’s claims of a numerical majority in the organizational wing were convincing. The ECI also stated that the Eknath Shinde faction’s overwhelming numerical superiority in the legislative wing was categorically verifiable.
The Uddhav Thackeray faction is now preparing to appeal the ECI’s decision to the Supreme Court. According to sources close to the Uddhav faction’s legal team, a special leave petition (SLP) challenging the order will be filed before the Supreme Court.
In addition, the petition, which is expected to be filed on Monday, will be mentioned before Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud. According to the source, an urgent hearing on the matter will be sought as soon as possible.
The Uddhav camp’s current tactic is to seek an early hearing by an ordinary bench, rather than the Constitution bench, where the Maharashtra political crisis case is currently waiting. Other hearings related to the Maharashtra political crisis examine constitutional problems arising from the schism within the Shiv Sena party between Eknath and Uddhav.
According to sources, the faction has opted to seek the Supreme Court rather than the High Court because the former is already preoccupied with the matter.
The Supreme Court decided on Friday, a few hours before the ECI’s verdict on the Shiv Sena emblem problem, to defer the decision on Uddhav Thackeray’s appeal for reference. The Uddhav group had requested that the Constitution bench decision in Nabam Rebia vs. Deputy Speaker be referred to a larger seven-judge bench.
After hearing the merits of the case, a bench led by CJI Chandrachud resolved to make a judgment on the question of reference and scheduled the case for hearing on Tuesday.
It should be emphasized that if the Uddhav faction opposes the ECI’s order and wants an urgent listing, there is a slim chance that their appeal will be heard alongside the main subject on Tuesday.
