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Thackeray faction prepares for legal battle for party name, symbol
: The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) has begun brainstorming on the legal battle ahead after the Election Commission of India (ECI) recognised the Eknath Shinde-led faction as the real Shiv Sena. A team led by MP Anil Desai has been consulting legal experts on the best available options, and on Monday a petition challenging the ECI decision will be filed in the Supreme Court
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Mumbai: The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) has begun brainstorming on the legal battle ahead after the Election Commission of India (ECI) recognised the Eknath Shinde-led faction as the real Shiv Sena. A team led by MP Anil Desai has been consulting legal experts on the best available options, and on Monday a petition challenging the ECI decision will be filed in the Supreme Court.
The Shinde-led Shiv Sena, meanwhile, has already filed a caveat on Saturday, demanding that it be heard before any order is passed on Thackeray’s plea. “We have done this because there is no one-sided decision and we must get a notice before hearing the matter,” said Shiv Sena secretary Kiran Pawaskar.
As immediate relief, the Sena (UBT) is looking to get a stay on the ECI order by linking it with the petition before the Supreme Court regarding the disqualification of Shinde and 15 other rebel MLAs. The party will also pray for status quo to be maintained on the temporary names and election symbols allotted to both factions last year till the SC gives its final order.
Senior Sena (UBT) leader Anil Parab said that the ECI order had not considered many constitutional aspects in its decision. “We will also request that the matter be heard by the chief justice (CJ), as he is hearing the petition on the disqualification of the rebel MLAs,” he said.
Another senior leader added that a whole bunch of pending petitions correlated with the EC’s decision were pending with the CJ. “The apex court is yet to decide whether the rebellion led by Shinde amounts to disqualification, and without clarity on that, the EC’s verdict becomes irrelevant,” he said. “This will be our main point of argument.”
After the Shinde-led faction staked a claim on the name ‘Shiv Sena’ and its election symbol, the EC last year froze the ‘Bow and Arrow’ symbol and allotted the ‘Flaming Torch’ to the Thackeray-led party and ‘Two Swords and a Shield’ to the Shinde-led faction for the Andheri East bypoll last November.
The Thackeray faction’s top brass believes that the Flaming Torch symbol will be effective for the party in the civic polls since the cadre has already popularised it. However, it is likely to face another challenge on this front, as the Samata Party, which formerly owned the symbol, has already approached the ECI, requesting the body to freeze it. The Samata Party is also planning to move the Supreme Court if it gets no relief from the election body.
“The option to approach the SC is open to us in case the ECI does not heed our demand,” Samata Party chief Uday Mandal told HT. “We strongly believe that the Flaming Torch is our symbol and should not be shared with anyone henceforth. They can give any other symbol to Uddhav Thackeray’s party.” Significantly, on Sunday, Mandal reached Mumbai and is likely to meet CM Shinde on Monday as he wants to congratulate him.
Thackeray too feared that his party could lose the Flaming Torch and admitted as much while addressing a gathering of North Indians in Andheri on Sunday evening. “Today they may take our mashal (Flaming Torch) because they have come down to low and dirty politics,” he said. “But I am ready to fight. You can take my election symbol with the help of superpowers but you cannot steal (Lord) ‘Ram’ from the hearts of people. They want to end their political opponents, and now it is up to you to decide.”
Ambadas Danve, leader of the Opposition in the legislative council, said the Shinde camp might have anticipated the SC decision and thus kept its caveat ready. “That is why they could file it so early on Saturday much before we could approach court,” he said. “They must have anticipated the results.”
With inputs from Saurabha Kulshreshtha and Yogesh Naik
