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ECI on October 8 barred both factions of the Shiv Sena from using party name, symbol in Andheri East Assembly bypoll
ECI on October 8 barred both factions of the Shiv Sena from using party name, symbol in Andheri East Assembly bypoll
After the Shiv Sena faction led by him on Sunday submitted three options to the Election Commission of India as alternatives for a new party name and symbol, party chief Uddhav Thackeray asked the ECI to “swiftly give us an interim party symbol and name”.
The Thackeray-led group submitted the trishul (trident), mashaal (torch) and the ‘rising sun’ as options for a new party symbol and ‘Shiv Sena Balasaheb Thackeray’, ‘Shiv Sena Balasaheb Prabhodankar Thackeray’, and ‘Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray’ as three alternative party names to the poll body. Addressing his supporters via Facebook live, Mr. Thackeray said, “The ECI’s decision was unexpected. This is an injustice. I urge the ECI to swiftly give us an interim party symbol and name.”
Also read | Eknath Shinde, Uddhav Thackeray factions of Shiv Sena prepared to fight byeelection with new symbols, names
The ECI had on Saturday barred the Shiv Sena factions led by former Chief Minister Thackeray and present Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde from using the party name and its election symbol ‘bow & arrow’ in the Andheri East Assembly bypoll scheduled on November 3.
Mr. Thackeray also attacked the other faction of the Shiv Sena led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in his address. “The BJP will throw them once the Shinde faction has served its purpose. The symbol is already frozen. Now what else remains? The confusion they (BJP) wanted to sow in our ranks has already been done.”
“The BJP accuses us of forsaking Hindutva by allying with the Congress, but the Congress never thought of banning the Sena. Today the BJP’s intentions are clear in that they are out to finish off the Sena. What kind of hindutva is this?” he asked.
Earlier in the day, Thackeray-camp loyalist MP Arvind Sawant informed about the move of submitting alternative names and symbols and accused the ECI of acting under the BJP’s pressure.
“We will never forsake our claim over the bow and arrow symbol. That symbol is rightfully ours,” Mr. Sawant said.
In an interim order over claims by the rival factions for control of the organisation, the commission asked them to suggest by Monday three different name choices and also as many free symbols for allocation to their respective groups.
The Thackeray camp has also given some options for its official name in polls, a source said without elaborating.
The EC’s interim order on Saturday came on the Shinde faction’s request seeking it be allocated the symbol as the Andheri East Assembly bypoll is approaching.
The rival factions had approached the Election Commission after the split in the Shiv Sena ranks in June this year, with both sides claiming to be the ‘real Shiv Sena’.
The bypoll to Andheri East Assembly seat in suburban Mumbai has been necessitated due to the death of incumbent Sena MLA Ramesh Latke.
Also read | Post-split, Andheri (East) Assembly bypoll a litmus test for Uddhav
The Congress and the NCP have decided to support Ramesh Latke’s wife Rujuta Latke, the candidate of the Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena, their coalition partner in the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA).
The BJP, an ally of the Shinde faction, has decided to field Murji Patel, a corporator in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation.
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