EC allows Shiv Sena (UBT) to accept public contributions ahead of assembly polls
The ECI has also allowed the Shiv Sena (UBT) to continue using “flaming torch” as its poll symbol in the state elections, as it had done during the recently concluded general elections
New Delhi: Months ahead of the Maharashtra assembly elections, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has provisionally authorised the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackery) to accept voluntary contributions from the public.
The move will allow the former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) to issue certificates to donors for income tax exemptions. Under the provision, the ECI has advised the party to submit a contribution report of all donations greater than Rs.20,000.
Registration is not mandatory for a political party, but it is mandatory to avail tax benefits on funds raised, an official said.
The poll body has also allowed the party to continue using the “flaming torch” as its poll symbol in the state elections, as it had done during the recently concluded general elections.
This move comes ten days after the ECI provisionally allowed the Nationalist Congress Party – Sharadchandra Pawar (NCP-SP) to also accept voluntary contributions.
“After having considered your letter dated 10.07.2024, the ECI hereby authorises, on an interim basis, ‘ShivSena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray)’ to ‘accept any amount of contribution voluntarily offered to it by any person or company other than a Government company’,” ECI wrote on Thursday.
It added the authorisation for the assembly elections would remain applicable until the final disposal of Uddhav Thackeray’s plea in the Supreme Court against the ECI’s order granting the Shiv Sena name and symbol (bow and arrow) to Eknath Shinde.
Chief minister Shinde was given the traditional Shiv Sena bow and arrow symbol by ECI in February last year, amid a tussle between the Shinde faction and the Uddhav Thackeray faction over its rights.
The two had staked a claim for the original Shiv Sena name and the original symbol of the bow and arrow following the rebellion spearheaded by Shinde, which resulted in the collapse of the Thackeray-led government in 2022.
The symbol of the flaming torch originally belonged to the Samata Party, which was founded by George Fernandes and Nitish Kumar in 1994. This party was de-recognised in 2004. In October 2022, the ECI had unfrozen this symbol and allotted it to Shiv Sena (UBT).
In the recently held Lok Sabha polls, the Shiv Sena (UBT) won nine of the 21 seats it contested.