Shiv Sena Urges Supreme Court to Expedite Election Symbol Dispute Ahead of Local Body Elections

Shiv Sena's Plea to the Supreme Court

On Wednesday, the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) called on the Supreme Court to hasten the proceedings regarding its challenge against the Election Commission's decision to recognize the Eknath Shinde faction as the legitimate party and grant it the bow and arrow symbol.

Represented by lawyer Kapil Sibal, the party emphasized the urgency of the matter, especially after the court mandated that local body elections in Maharashtra be announced within four weeks and completed in four months. Sibal argued that the petition should be prioritized given the court's directive for these elections.

He referenced a recent Supreme Court ruling which stated that a legislative majority alone cannot define the true party, asserting that the Election Commission's current stance relied solely on this criterion.

Justice Surya Kant remarked that it might be challenging to address the case before the court's upcoming recess, as reported.

Kant pointed out that the Shiv Sena (UBT) possesses a symbol and questioned why it could not participate in the elections with it.

“Let the elections proceed smoothly,” he stated. “Focus on that. In local bodies, voters often do not prioritize symbols.”

The Shiv Sena experienced a split in June 2022 when then-Chief Minister Eknath Shinde claimed allegiance from 39 of the party's 55 MLAs, along with 10 independent MLAs, leading to a rebellion against Thackeray’s Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition. The Shiv Sena was previously allied with the Nationalist Congress Party and Congress in the government.

Shinde subsequently ousted the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maharashtra government and assumed the chief minister position with support from the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Since then, both factions have been vying for recognition as the true Shiv Sena.

In 2023, the Election Commission of India officially recognized the Shinde faction as the real Shiv Sena, granting it the bow and arrow symbol.

The commission noted that the 40 MLAs supporting Shinde received nearly 76% of the votes cast for the 55 Shiv Sena candidates in the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly elections, while the Uddhav Thackeray faction's 15 MLAs garnered only 23.5% of the votes.

In January 2024, Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar also determined that the group led by Shinde represented the authentic Shiv Sena amid the emergence of rival factions in June 2022.

The Thackeray faction has since adopted a new election symbol, the mashal, or torch.

Reports indicated that ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, many voters were unaware of the new symbols, potentially causing confusion.