The Uddhav Thackeray faction of Shiv Sena on Monday took its battle to the Supreme Court to wrest back the Balasaheb Thackeray-founded 57-year-old party’s name and the ‘bow and arrow’ election symbol by filing a petition challenging the Election Commission’s decision to give both to the Eknath-Shinde faction, but failed to get an out-of-turn hearing from the apex court.
Thackeray faction through advocate Amit Anand Tiwari filed a 189-page petition accusing the EC of allotting the party name and symbol without scrutinising the overwhelming majority support of Sena cadre and members for the former Maharashtra chief minister, Thackeray.
It said, the EC has erred by considering only the support of Sena legislators and MPsto the Shinde group and said these rebels still face disqualification proceedings, outcome of which would depend on the decision of a five-judge bench of the SC.
Senior advocate A M Singhvi made an unsuccessful attempt to mention the petition before Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud for an urgent listing so as to get an opportunity to plead for a stay of the EC order.
The Shinde faction filed a caveat on Saturday requesting the top court not to pass any orders in the case without giving the group an opportunity to be heard. Balasaheb Thackeray had founded Shiv Sena on June 19, 1966, and as a recognised state party, it was registered with the EC on October 12, 1989 with the ‘bow and arrow’ symbol reserved for it.
In a unanimous order, the three-member EC on Friday said the party name ‘Shiv Sena’ and symbol ‘bow and arrow’ will be retained by the Shinde faction. It ordered the freezing of the party name ‘Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena’ with the ‘two swords and shield’ symbol to the Thackeray faction. Instead, it allowed the Thackeray faction to use Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) with the ‘flaming torch’ symbol.
The Thackeray faction in its SLP told the SC that the EC failed to appreciate that it enjoyed overwhelming support in the rank and file of the party. It said among primary members of Shiv Sena, the Thackeray-faction enjoyed the support of 19,41,815 members, while Shinde faction has support of 4,48,318 members.
“The petitioner has an overwhelming majority in the Pratinidhi Sabha which is the apex representative body representing the wishes of the primary members and other stakeholders of the party. Petitioner enjoys support of 160 members out of approximately 200-odd members in the Pratinidhi Sabha,” the SLP said.