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MVA partners rally behind Uddhav, slam Election Commission’s decision
The EC on Saturday barred both the Uddhav Thackeray-led faction and the chief minister Eknath Shinde-led faction from using the registered party name and election symbol till it decides on the rightful claimant.
A day after the Election Commission of India (EC) froze the name and election symbol of the Shiv Sena, partners of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) have decided to rally behind the party in full force.
The EC on Saturday barred both the Uddhav Thackeray-led faction and the chief minister Eknath Shinde-led faction from using the registered party name and election symbol till it decides on the rightful claimant. Both parties now have to choose a new name and symbol for the Andheri East assembly bypoll on November 3.
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar said he was not surprised as he was expecting such a move. “I had a gut feeling that this was going to happen,” the former Union minister said. “But the Shiv Sena cannot be eliminated with this act. On the contrary, it will bounce back stronger.”
Pawar said that no matter how strong a party was, there was no guarantee that it would get the same election symbol for the polls. “One needs to be prepared for any situation,” he said. “The Shiv Sena has no option left but to face the elections with a new party symbol.” Pawar, when asked to give a suggestion for a new party name, opined that the Uddhav Thackeray faction could go in for ‘Shiv Sena (Balasaheb Thackeray)’.
The NCP chief also said that one should not set much store by election symbols since voters decide who they want to elect, whatever the symbol given to them. Pawar was referring to his own party’s experience of contesting four elections with different symbols before getting the clock as its registered election symbol.
Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole alleged that the EC’s decision had been influenced by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). “This decision once again proves that the BJP is misusing central investigation agencies and the Election Commission,” he declared. “This is the victory of the BJP leadership’s devious politics. The party’s national chief J P Nadda has publicly said that the party wants to eliminate all regional parties. The Election Commission’s decision is the outcome of the BJP’s attempts to end democracy in the country.”
Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha MP Anil Desai said the party was shocked with the decision. “We were expecting a hearing from the EC by Monday but it decided to pass an interim decision without hearing us. The EC is ignoring its responsibilities towards democracy,” Desai told reporters in Delhi.
Meanwhile, Uddhav Thackeray took to social media to give the first reaction to the EC’s decision. “Will win for sure,” was how the former chief minister captioned a photograph of himself with his father, Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray, on Instagram.
Uddhav’s son and former minister Aaditya Thackeray also took to social media to mount a veiled attack on the Eknath Shinde-led faction. “The traitors today have done a despicable and shameless act of getting Shiv Sena’s name and symbol freezed. (sic) The people of Maharashtra will not tolerate this. Will fight and win! We are on the side of truth, Satyamev Jayate,” Aaditya said in a tweet with a picture of Bal Thackeray.
Even as the MVA coalition targeted the BJP and the EC, the Eknath Shinde faction blamed the Uddhav Thackeray camp for the EC’s decision. “Those who claim to be hurt by the freezing of the election symbol are in fact the ones responsible for it. While we filed our documents on times, they kept asking for dates from the EC. This is the reason the commission had to give this decision,” said Deepak Kesarkar, spokesperson from the Shinde faction, adding that the latter had “accepted the decision”. “We are the ones who truly own the bow-and-arrow symbol. We have MLAs, MPs, district presidents and corporators on our side,” he added.
Senior BJP leader and deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said there was nothing new in the EC’s decision. “For the past 25 years, whenever there has been a split in a party and the matter has gone before the EC, it has passed an interim order freezing the symbol and name of the party. After hearings, it has given the final decision according to the law. This decision too was necessary as the Andheri East assembly bypoll has been declared. We are sure the final verdict will be in Eknath Shinde’s favour,” he said.
