Dispute over new symbol of Uddhav Shiv Sena, Samata Party files complaint

After losing its own symbol, the bow and arrow, the new symbol of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena has also come under dispute as the Samata Party has objected to the Election Commission (EC)’s decision

After losing its own symbol, the bow and arrow, the new symbol of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena has also come under dispute as the Samata Party has objected to the Election Commission (EC)’s decision. The party has said that the symbol was reserved for it, and it does not want to lose its election identity. A complaint has also been filed with EC on Tuesday.

Mumbai, India, October 11: Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) party workers hold burning torches during a "Mashaal Rally", with the new name and symbol from Balasaheb Thackarey Memorial, Shivaji Park to Sena Bhavan, at Dadar, in Mumbai, India, on Tuesday, October 11, 2022. (Photo Rajesh Waradkar/HT Photo) (HT PHOTO)

The Samata Party was derecognised by the EC back in 2004. Its national president Uday Mandal, however, said that the party was assured that its election symbol would be reserved till it fulfilled the criteria necessary to be recognised as a national party once again.

After the Eknath Shinde-led faction staked a claim to the original Shiv Sena and its election symbol, the EC on October 8 froze the bow and arrow symbol of the party and allotted the mashaal or flaming torch symbol to Thackeray for the Andheri East by-poll slated for November 3.

“We want our election symbol to be taken back from the Shiv Sena and reserved again for the Samata Party. If we do not get justice, we will approach the court,” states the complaint filed before the EC in New Delhi on Tuesday.

Mandal told Hindustan Times that his party was ready to approach the Supreme Court. “We strongly oppose the allotment of the flaming torch symbol to the Uddhav Shiv Sena,” he said. “It has been our identity since 1984. Though we were derecognised, the symbol was reserved for the party.”

In the 2020 Bihar assembly polls, the Samata Party contested elections on ten seats but was unsuccessful. “Why was our symbol allotted to any other when it was kept in the reserved category?” Mandal demanded.

While allotting the flaming torch symbol to the Uddhav faction, the EC had also made it clear that it was not in the list of free symbols and was an erstwhile reserved symbol of the Samata Party. It added that the symbol had been allotted to the Uddhav-led party for the by-polls and till the final order was passed in the dispute with the Eknath Shinde-led faction.

The Samata Party was formed by George Fernandes and Nitish Kumar in 1994. In October 2003, when George Fernandes, the then president of the party, announced its merger with Janata Dal (United), the idea was opposed by party MP Brahmanand Mandal. The faction led by Mandal challenged the merger before the EC. This led to a split in the party and the merger was not officially recognised by the EC.