Sena roars back with 44 lakh registrations, aims at 50

Shiv Sena undertakes its six-month long primary membership enrolment drive once every two years. This year’s campaign, which began on 19 June, the day that marks the party’s foundation day in 1966, was however interrupted by Shinde’s revolt

Mumbai Shiv Sena is clawing its way back in the state. Spurred into action after the vertical split in the party and the impending battle at the Election Commission of India (ECI) against chief minister Eknath Shinde over the mantle of the party and the election symbol, Shiv Sena has registered 44 lakh primary members. This has surpassed its previous registration of 40 lakh in 2020. The party aims at enrolling 50 lakhs members into the party fold in a show of strength.

Mumbai, India - September 23, 2022: Shiv Sena workers celebrate after the Bombay High Court quashed the BMC's order and allowed Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena to hold Dussehra Melawa at Shivaji Park on October 5, outside Sena Bhavan, Dadar, in Mumbai, India, on Friday, September 23, 2022. (Photo by Satish Bate/Hindustan Times) (Satish Bate/HT PHOTO)

The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena is backing on these membership numbers, pledges of loyalty by functionaries, resolution of the party national executive on 23 January 2018 appointing Thackeray as the national president till 2023 and the party constitution that grants absolute power to the party president, for its claim to stand in the ECI.

The Shinde camp has initiated proceedings under the Election Symbols (Reservations and Allotment) Order, 1968, seeking recognition from the ECI as the ‘real’ Shiv Sena, and also claiming the right to use the party’s ‘bow-and-arrow’ symbol. On Tuesday, the SC had refused to stay the ECI from deciding who represents the “real” Shiv Sena.

The response to the primary membership enrollment drive will help assert its claims about having the grassroots support and the confidence of the rank-and-file despite Shinde inducing a vertical split in the legislature and parliamentary wings of the party.

Shiv Sena undertakes its six-month long primary membership enrolment drive once every two years. This year’s campaign, which began on 19 June, the day that marks the party’s foundation day in 1966, was however interrupted by Shinde’s revolt. The next evening, Shinde walked out with other 39 MLAs and toppled the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government led by Uddhav Thackeray. The campaign started picking up only at July-end.

A Shiv Sena functionary told HT, “We had printed 45 lakh forms… these were sent to the district-level functionaries like the district chiefs and other office-bearers and the vibhag pramukhs (division chiefs),” he said, adding that around 44 lakh members had been registered so far.

The functionary added that they expected the enrolment to touch 50 lakhs by the end of this year. The registration is being carried out in offline mode with physical copies of the form being filled in. “We expect more people to register as members of the party. So far, many of our office-bearers were busy due to the political turmoil and involved in getting the functionaries to submit pledges of loyalties to the party and party president Uddhav Thackeray,” he explained.

Shiv Sena has taken written undertakings of loyalty from most office bearers down to the gatapramukhs, who are booth-level workers (each booth has between one and three gatapramukhs in Mumbai) asserting their loyalty and allegiance to the party and its president Uddhav Thackeray.