Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Feb 17: In a major blow to the former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray and his supporters, the Election Commission of India on Friday decided the dispute over the party’s name and symbol in favour of the incumbent chief minister Eknath Shinde and his faction which will be allowed to hold the party’s name “Shiv Sena” and its official symbol “bow and arrow.”
In a 78-page order on the protracted battle for control of the organisation between the factions led by Thackeray and Shinde whose rebellion led to his Shiv Sena faction forming a government in alliance with the BJP ousting the three-party Maha Vikas Aghadi government headed by Thackeray, the ECI said Mr Shinde, who became Chief Minister after the revolt, was supported by MLAs with 76 per cent of the party’s winning votes in the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly polls. The Shinde faction had claimed the support of 40 of the Sena’s 56 MLAs and 13 of its 18 members in the Lok Sabha.
The ECI allowed the faction led by Uddhav Thackeray, whose father Bal Thackeray founded the Shiv Sena in 1966, to keep the ‘flaming torch’ poll symbol allotted last year. The Election Commission also held the 2018 changes to the Shiv Sena party constitution as “undemocratic” since it centralised the party’s control and, in broader to all parties, asked them to ensure that their constitutions allowed free, fair and transparent elections to the party positions.
Following his rebellion in June last year when Eknath Shinde flew away with most lawmakers of the party with the help of the BJP, setting off the eventual ouster of Uddhav Thackeray’s state government, the two sides have been fighting for the party’s identity.
The two factions have been staking claims on the Shiv Sena name and the original symbol of the bow and arrow. As the issue was pending with the election commission, the bow and arrow symbol was frozen. For the bypoll, the two factions were allotted two different symbols — Shinde faction two swords and a shield, Uddhav faction flaming torch.
While Shinde welcomed the ECI decision saying it was a “big day” for him and his supporters, the Thackeray faction called it a “murder of democracy” and said such a decision from the ECI was expected and that it had lost the credibility and announced the faction’s decision to challenge the ECI order in the court.
In its final order, the commission noted that the current constitution of the Shiv Sena party was undemocratic. It has been mutilated to undemocratically appoint people from a coterie as office bearers without any election at all. Such party structures fail to inspire confidence.
“The constitution of political parties ought to provide for free, fair and transparent elections to the posts of office bearers and a further free and fair procedure for the resolution of internal disputes. These procedures ought to be difficult to amend and should be amendable only after ensuring larger support of the organisational members for the same,” the ECI said.
`This is a big day for us. We have been saying that the decision will be taken because of merit. We have been saying that we are real Shiv Sena. Now, a lot of Shiv Sena (UBT) men will come to us because we have the symbol and the party name to get the winning edge,” Sheetal Mhatre, Eknah faction spokesperson said.
“I thank the Election Commission. The majority counts in democracy. This is the victory of Balasaheb [Thackeray]’s legacy. Ours is the true Shiv Sena,” Mr Shinde said as his supporters set off firecrackers across Mumbai and other parts of the state.
Uddhav Thackeray faction MP Sanjay Raut said the Election Commission has lost credibility with the order and Uddhav’s faction will now challenge the decision in the court. “Such a decision was expected. We don’t have faith in the Election Commission,” Raut said. His colleague Arvind Sawant said the former Chief Minister’s camp will challenge the decision in the Supreme Court.
The Deputy Chief Minister and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis congratulated Shinde after the EC decision. “He is fighting for Hindutva and is the true follower of Hindu Hridaysamrat Balasaheb Thackeray’s ideals,” he said.
