SC agrees to hear plea against takeover of Sena’s properties, bank accounts

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who appeared for Thackeray, sought a stay on the ECI ruling awarding the party’s name and bow-and-arrow symbol to the rival Eknath Shinde-led faction

The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hear on Wednesday former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray’s plea against the takeover of Shiv Sena’s properties and bank accounts following the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) move to award the party’s name and bow-and-arrow symbol to the rival Eknath Shinde-led faction.

The Supreme Court. (ANI)

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who appeared for Thackeray, sought a stay on the ECI ruling. The Shinde camp opposed the plea, saying the Supreme Court should not hear the matter at the first instance even as Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud said it will be taken up on Wednesday at 3.30pm.

A constitution bench will separately continue hearing an older batch of petitions related to the Shiv Sena’s split.

Thackeray on Monday approached the Supreme Court to challenge the ECI order as chief minister Shinde’s camp took over Shiv Sena’s office in the state legislative assembly.

In his petition, Thackeray told the top court on Monday that ECI failed to act as a neutral arbiter in the feud between the two factions. He pleaded that ECI’s order dealt with issues directly linked to a batch of petitions the Supreme Court was hearing.

The petition on Monday was mentioned for early listing but the court refused to pass an order.

In Mumbai, Thackeray on Monday attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Shinde’s ally, and said that he received calls from political leaders across the country after ECI’s decision last week.

“Everything has been stolen from me. The name and symbol of our party have been stolen but the name Thackeray cannot be stolen,” Thackeray said in Mumbai.

On Monday morning, the Shinde camp legislators took charge of the party office in the assembly citing the ECI order. The premises belonged to the Thackeray faction until Friday.

Last Friday, ECI ruled that Shinde’s faction will inherit the original party’s name and its symbol. It capped an eight-month-long feud between Thackeray and Shinde over control of the party that suffered a split last year when Shinde and 39 other legislators walked out and joined hands with the BJP to form the government.

Thackeray criticised ECI and said he will move the top court to challenge it. Shinde called it a victory of democracy. The two leaders will face off in two key assembly bypolls this month, and the Mumbai municipal polls later this year.

Thackeray said ECI’s decision was wrong and the apex court was the last ray of hope.