Election Commission should be dissolved: Uddhav Thackeray amid Shiv Sena symbol row

Reacting to Election Commission's decision to award the 'Shiv Sena' name and poll symbol to Eknath Shinde's camp, Uddhav Thackeray on Monday called for the dissolution of the election body.

The Election Commission "should be dissolved" and election commissioners should be elected by the people, said Uddhav Thackeray two days after losing the name and symbol of the Shiv Sena.

"What was the need to give the decision in such a hurry," Thackeray said at a press conference at Sena Bhavan in Mumbai.

"We have lost faith in the Election Commission," he said.

The election commissioners should be elected and not appointed, he added.

"There should be a proper procedure for election commissioners. A similar procedure is in practice when it comes to appointment of judges in the Supreme Court," he said.

"The poll panel's decision to "hand over" Shiv Sena name and symbol (to CM Eknath Shinde) is absolutely wrong. The decision should have been based on the timeline of incidents," he said.

"The Commission had asked us to submit affidavits and list of party workers. We filed lakhs of affidavits, spent lakhs of rupees to submit them. But the EC completely ignored the same while ruling on the party name and symbol," he said.

The BJP plans to finish off Shiv Sena, he said. "Stealing our party name and symbol are part of a larger conspiracy," he added.