Sena symbol frozen by EC

In an interim order to the rival factions over control of the party, the commission asked them to come up with three options each for names of their groups and as many election symbols by Monday

The Election Commission of India on Saturday barred Shiv Sena factions led by party president Uddhav Thackeray and Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde from using the registered party name and election symbol ahead of the Andheri East assembly bypoll due on November 3, even as it decides on the rightful claimant of the original party name and symbol.

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In an interim order to the rival factions over control of the party, the commission asked them to come up with three options each for names of their groups and as many election symbols by Monday.

“The Commission is duty bound to ensure that all electoral steps of the bye election are free of any confusion and contradiction and thus its next step are necessarily agnostic to the possibility of either of the faction participating in the poll,” the interim order, signed by chief election commissioner Rajiv Kumar and election commissioner Anup Chandra Pandey, said.

The commission earlier asked the rival groups to submit documentary proof on legislative and organisational support by August 8 to back their claims. The deadline was extended to October 7 after the request of the Thackeray faction. On October 4, the Shinde faction moved the Election Commission, seeking the allocation of the bow and arrow poll symbol in view of the Andheri East assembly by-election.

The Thackeray faction submitted its response to the claim on Saturday and sought four more weeks to carefully understand the documentation submitted by the rival faction.

The submitted documents include affidavits from party office bearers, details of primary membership, pledges of loyalty by 250,000 functionaries, a resolution of the party national executive on January 23, 2018, which appointed Thackeray as the national president till 2023, and the party’s written constitution that grants absolute power to the party president.

The commission said the interim order was necessary to address the statutory spaces generated by the schedule of by-elections notified on October 3.

“In order to place both the rival groups on even keel and to protect their rights and interests and going by the past precedence, the commission hereby makes the following interim order to cover the purpose of the current by-elections and to continue till the final determination of the dispute,” the 12-page interim order by the EC said.

While the factions have been asked to pick symbols from the list of free symbols notified by the commission, the order said that “both groups shall be known by such names as they may choose for their respective groups, including, if they so desire, linkage with their parent party Shiv Sena”.

EC said the interim order will continue “till the final determination of the dispute”. The last date for filing nominations for the November 3 bypoll is October 14.

The Andheri East constituency was left vacant after the demise of Shiv Sena MLA Ramesh Latke in May.

Calling the EC order an “injustice”, Ambadas Danve, Leader of the Opposition in Maharashtra Legislative Council, who owes allegiance to the Thackeray group, said the poll panel should have taken a decision in a holistic manner rather than passing an interim decision for the bypoll.

“This is injustice,” he told PTI.

The Shinde camp also expressed unhappiness at the ECI’s move. “Our claim is on the bow-and-arrow symbol as we are the real Shiv Sena of Balasaheb (Thackeray). We will put forth our stance before the ECI and are sure of getting justice,” said school education minister Deepak Kesarkar, who is also the Shinde camp’s spokesperson.

While Shinde has the support of the 39 of the party’s MLAs and 12 of 19 Lok Sabha MPs, Thackeray has the loyalty of all 12 MLCs and three Rajya Sabha MPs.

Both factions have called a meeting of their leaders on Sunday.

The EC decision to freeze the symbol is likely to lead a body blow to the Shiv Sena in the Andheri bypoll, and also in the elections to local bodies, including the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections, due later this year or in early 2023. These elections are a litmus test for both the Shiv Sena and the Shinde-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) combine.

The order came days after the Supreme Court on September 27 cleared the decks for the Election Commission to decide on Shinde’s petition staking claim to the “real” Shiv Sena and the party symbol, as it dismissed a plea by the Thackeray camp to restrain the poll body.

Dealing a blow to Thackeray who had to resign on June 29 following a dramatic turn of events sparked off by a group of rebel MLAs led by Shinde, the five-judge bench led by justice Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud passed a brief order while rejecting his faction’s vehement plea to stop EC from deciding the CM’s petition.

On July 19, Shinde instituted the proceedings before EC, which issued a notice to Thackeray three days later. Subsequently, the Thackeray camp moved the application before the top court to prevent EC from proceeding under the Symbols Order, and the court orally asked the poll body to wait till the application is decided.

While the Shiv Sena has not split formally, the faction led by Shinde is supported by a majority of the party’s legislators; it has also claimed that it is the “real” Shiv Sena. The Shinde camp’s rebellion forced Thackeray to resign as the Maharashtra CM on June 29. A day later, Shinde took over the post and proved majority on the floor of the House with the support of the BJP.

The Shiv Sena was registered as a political party in 1968, two years after it was founded. It has, in the past, contested elections on different symbols such as the railway engine, palm trees and a sword and shield. In 1989, four Shiv Sena candidates were elected to the Lok Sabha and that year, it was given the bow-and-arrow symbol. The 1990 Maharashtra assembly polls were the first to be contested by the party using the bow-and-arrow symbol. The Shiv Sena secured a major political opening in these elections; its numbers rose from one MLA in 1985 to 52 in 1990.