Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, Oct 13: The Shiv Sena group led by Uddhav Thackeray has written to ECI raising its objection against recent decisions of ECI in the matter of allotment of interim election symbol and name to the party. They claims that the Election Commission of India (ECI) is prejudiced and that it granted Eknath Shinde preference while deciding the party’s symbols.
A lawyer for the Uddhav camp named Vivek Singh wrote to the ECI claiming that the Shinde camp received a “undue upper hand” due to the election body’s symbol allocation process.
Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray) in its letter to ECI states, "Several communications & actions of ECI have given rise to a serious apprehension of bias in the mind of the respondent (Shiv Sena Uddhav Thackeray)."
— ANI (@ANI) October 13, 2022
Notably, due to a dispute between the groups, the election commission had frozen the Shiv Sena’s bow and arrow symbol. The election commission then presented the Eknath Shinde-led side with two swords and a shield while giving the Uddhav Thackeray-led Sena the mashaal emblem.
The Shinde camp was given the moniker “Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena,” while the Uddhav-led Sena would be known as the “Shiv Sena – Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray.” The ECI allegedly treated the Shinde group unfairly, according to the four-page letter from the Uddhav camp.
Additionally, it asked the Commission for assurances that such “biassed treatment in favour of the Eknath Shinde side” would stop and that both factions would be treated equally.
According to the letter, the EIC published a copy of a private letter that the Uddhav campaign had submitted, in which it listed the potential replacements for the current symbols to be used in the impending by-elections in Andheri East. Nevertheless, the commission posted the letter online so that everyone could access it, including the Shinde camp.
