Lagatar24 Desk
Mumbai, Feb 20: Uddhav Thackeray-led faction of Shiv Sena on Monday mentioned before the Supreme court its plea seeking an urgent hearing on the petition against the Election Commission’s order of allocating the party name ‘Shiv Sena’ and the election symbol ‘Bow and Arrow’ to the faction led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.
The Supreme Court on Monday asked the lawyer of Uddhav Thackeray-led faction of Shiv Sena to mention it tomorrow.
The lawyer has sought an urgent hearing of the plea against the Election Commission's decision. #ShivSena
— ANI (@ANI) February 20, 2023
A bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud observed that the plea seeking an urgent hearing on the petition was not mentioned in the list. The court said that the plea seeking an urgent hearing should have been on the mentioned list.
Senior Advocate Abhishek M Singhvi has mentioned the plea against EC’s decision.
The Shinde Group has already filed a Caveat application to the Supreme Court. Notably, a Caveat application is filed by a litigant to ensure that no adverse order is passed against him or her without being heard.
On Friday, the Election Commission of India (ECI) allotted the party name and its symbol to the faction led by Eknath Shinde, as the group enjoys the support of 40 of the 55 MLAs and 13 of the 18 Lok Sabha members.
Notably, both factions of Shiv Sena have been fighting over the party’s symbol since Eknath Shinde revolted against Thackeray last year. While the Shinde faction welcomed the decision to be recognised as the real Shiv Sena, the Uddhav Thackeray faction said they would move to the Supreme Court.
Uddhav Thackeray’s faction accused the Election Commission of haste and said the decision shows that it is working as a BJP agent.
The Commission observed in its order that the current constitution of the Shiv Sena party was undemocratic and 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, they added.
In January, both Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde and former CM Uddhav Thackeray-led factions of the Shiv Sena submitted their written statements in support of their claims of control over the party name and symbol to the Election Commission.
