The Delhi High Court on Tuesday rejected a petition by former Maharashtra Prime Minister Uddhav Thackeray against the interim order of the Election Commission to freeze the name of the Shiv Sena party and its associated election symbol.
Judge Sanjeev Narula said it would be in the interest of both the two Shiv Sena factions and the general public that the Election Commission’s proceedings on the use of Shiv Sena’s bow and arrow election symbol and name be concluded soon. It asked the polling panel to decide on the matter as soon as possible.
“The current request is rejected,” the court said.
Earlier this year, Eknath Shinde, the current chief minister of Maharashtra, had raised a banner of rebellion against Thackeray, accusing him of forming an “unnatural alliance” with Congress and the NCP.
More than 40 of the Shiv Sena’s 55 MLAs had supported Shinde, forcing Thackeray to resign.
The conflict resulted in the Shinde faction claiming the party’s name and election symbol, claiming it to be the real Shiv Sena.
The Election Commission (EC) in its 8 October interim order had banned the two Shiv Sena factions led by Thackeray and Shinde from using the party name and election symbol in the Andheri East assembly’s interim poll.
Thackeray had approached the Supreme Court last month to overturn the EC’s order freezing party name Shiv Sena and the election symbol ‘bow and arrow’.
The petition alleged that the EC had shown undue haste in passing the warrant without giving Thackeray an opportunity to be heard, despite a request from him for an oral hearing.
Thackeray claimed in his petition that the party symbol is intrinsically identified with it, as it had been used since the creation of the Shiv Sena, the party founded by his father Bal Thackeray, in 1966.
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