AFTER THE SHINDIG

No one really was surprised when the Election Commission of India on February 17 recognised the Eknath Shinde-led faction as the ‘real’ Shiv Sena and allowed it to retain the party’s original symbol—the bow and arrow.

- Dhaval Kulkarni

Making the blow even heavier, the election body ruled that Uddhav Thackeray could retain the name ‘Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray)’ only till the two assembly bypolls later this month. Ditto for the ‘mashaal’ or flaming torch symbol, which the EC had allocated to it on October 10, 2022.

This means that Uddhav, who is left with just 16 of the party’s 56 MLAs and six of its 19 Lok Sabha MPs, may have to scout for a new party name and poll symbol, while Shinde, who heads the government in Maharashtra with the support of the BJP, is now in charge of the ‘official’ Shiv Sena.

In allotting the symbol to Shinde, the EC went by the test of legislative majority, where the Maharashtra CM enjoys clear support of 40 of the 67 MLAs and MLCs, and 13 of the 22 Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs.

As expected, there is uproar in the Uddhav camp over the EC’s decision, with the Thackeray scion demanding that the EC be simply scrapped for its bias and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut alleging the party symbol and name had been “sold” in what he estimates as a Rs 2,000-crore deal. The Uddhav faction has now moved the Supreme Court, which is already hearing a clutch of petitions on the legality of the change of guard in Maharashtra. They are asking how the EC could give a verdict when the issue is still sub judice.