Thackeray leans on Sena constitution to stake claim on name, symbol

The constitution places the party chief as its “highest capital authority”. He is also empowered to “withhold, remove the appointment of any posts” thus invalidating Eknath Shinde’s attempts to set up a parallel organisational apparatus

Mumbai: As the Eknath Shinde versus Uddhav Thackeray battle for the “real” Shiv Sena moves to the Election Commission of India (ECI) from the Supreme Court (SC), the Thackeray camp is relying on the party constitution that grants absolute power to the party president, the resolutions of the national executive, the party’s membership drive and pledges of loyalty given by office bearers, to strengthen their case.

Thackeray’s decisions to expel Shinde from the party on July 2 for his “anti-party activities” and replace him as the group leader of the party in the assembly with Ajay Choudhari, and the appointment of Sunil Prabhu as the chief whip, were kosher. (PTI)

The constitution places the party chief as its “highest capital authority”. He is also empowered to “withhold, remove the appointment of any posts” thus invalidating Eknath Shinde’s attempts to set up a parallel organisational apparatus.

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 the ‘bow-and-arrow’ symbol.

Meanwhile, a senior Shiv Sena leader said, “With the authority bequeathed on the Shiv Sena president the constitution can be revised every five years by the rashtriya karyakarini (national council) and submitted to the ECI. It was last revised on January 23, 2018, and submitted to ECI.”

The leader added, with powers vested on him, Thackeray’s decisions to expel Shinde from the party on July 2 for his “anti-party activities” and replace him as the group leader of the party in the assembly with Ajay Choudhari, and the appointment of Sunil Prabhu as the chief whip, were kosher.

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

The Sena had registered 40 lakh members two years ago and claims that it will surpass that tally this time. So far, it has registered over 15 lakh members, with written undertakings of loyalty down to the gatapramukhs, who are booth-level workers.

“In January 2018, our national executive resolved that Uddhav Thackeray shall remain the party president till 2023. Shinde has no authority to change it,” said another Sena leader.

Prof Ulhas Bapat, an expert on constitutional law, said that the constitution and the anti-defection law had made a distinction between a split in the original political party and the legislative party. He added that the constitution of the party as registered with the ECI carried weight. “The original political party unequivocally seems to be with Uddhav Thackeray. Shinde has a majority in the legislative party, but this is not important here,” he noted.