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Uddhav submits symbol, name options; Shinde holds meeting
Mumbai: Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday asked the Election Commission of India (ECI) to finalise a name and poll symbol for his party, from three choices each submitted by his camp, without delay ahead of the by-election to the Andheri (East) assembly seat
Mumbai: Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday asked the Election Commission of India (ECI) to finalise a name and poll symbol for his party, from three choices each submitted by his camp, without delay ahead of the by-election to the Andheri (East) assembly seat.
The development came a day after ECI froze Shiv Sena’s ‘bow and arrow’ poll symbol and barred the factions led by Thackeray and Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde from using the party name in the upcoming bypoll.
The Thackeray faction has submitted to the poll body three options — a trident, a rising Sun, and a burning torch (mashaal) — in that order of preference for the poll symbol, which will be used for the November 3 by-election. The Shinde faction is likely to submit its options to the ECI on Monday.
In an address streamed live on social media platforms, Thackeray said his camp has also submitted three names — “Shiv Sena Balasaheb Thackeray, Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray, and Shiv Sena Balasaheb Prabodhankar Thackeray” — to the ECI and expects it to allot one of them.
“I appeal to the ECI to finalise a symbol and name for my party at the earliest because we have to go to the people and face the by-election,” he said. “I was shocked by the decision of the ECI, but my confidence is not shaken and also my faith in Sena supporters.”
Social reformer Prabodhankar Keshav Sitaram Thackeray, the late grandfather of Uddhav Thackeray, was one of the stalwarts of the “Samyukta Maharashtra” movement in 1950s.
The Thackeray faction in a letter to the ECI also raised a “strong objection” to the manner in which the poll body passed Saturday’s interim order without giving any opportunity for an oral hearing.
“It is submitted that instant order of freezing of symbol, without affording opportunity of oral hearing, has been passed by the Commission for the first time in the history of symbol disputes…” read the letter sent to poll body by Sena’s advocate Vivek Singh.
The party is dealing with a peculiar situation—the election symbol it has had since 1989 has been frozen while it prepares for a prestige fight in the Andheri East assembly bypoll.
Meanwhile, the Shinde faction also went in a huddle on Sunday evening to discuss its options. “The real injustice has been done to us. We are the real Shiv Sena since we have the majority. We were not expecting this and thus were not prepared,” said Uday Samant, state’s industries minister and spokesperson of the Shinde faction. “We are holding a meeting now in which our leader Eknath Shinde ji will take a decision on the name and symbol.”
In his over 20-minute address, Thackeray said the rival camp led by Shinde was being used by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and that the 40 rebels will be dumped like an “empty beverage bottle” once their utility is over. “Nobody keeps the empty bottle at home once the beverage is consumed completely,” he added.
“Their utility came to an end the moment the symbol was frozen. Now nothing remains as they have created the turmoil that they wanted to… what is their use now?” he asked. Without directly naming Shinde, Thackeray dared the rebels to face the electorate without using the name of his late father Balasaheb Thackeray, and said they should form their own party or merge with the BJP.
“We have shown patience but this is too much,” he said. “It was tolerable to the point where someone felt that the son of the Shiv Sena founder must not be the chief minister… but it is too much if they want to become the Shiv Sena chief themselves.”
There are possibilities that the Shinde faction might also suggest the name of the Sena founder to be submitted before the EC. “Since we are following Balasaheb’s ideology, we have the right to use his name in our party,” said a senior leader from the Shinde faction, requesting anonymity. “This is something we had declared at the very beginning when we revolted against Uddhav Thackeray’s leadership.”
On June 25, the rebel faction led by Shinde named their group ‘Shiv Sena Balasaheb Thackeray’, even as the Uddhav Thackeray-led party pressed for their disqualification from the assembly at the time.
