How Uddhav Thackeray lost Shiv Sena name and 'bow and arrow' symbol to Shinde

The Commission said it applied the principles of the 'Test of party Constitution' and the 'Test of Majority' while finalising the order.

In a big blow to Uddhav Thackeray, the election commission on Friday allotted the name 'Shiv Sena' and its poll symbol 'bow and arrow' to the group led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.

In a unanimous order, the Commission allowed the Thackeray faction to retain the name Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) and the 'flaming torch' poll symbol, given to it in an interim order last year, till the conclusion of ongoing assembly bypolls in the state.

The Commission said it applied the principles of the 'Test of party Constitution' and the 'Test of Majority' while finalising the order.

The Commission said MLAs backing Shinde got nearly 76 per cent of votes polled in favour of the 55 winning Shiv Sena candidates in the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly polls. The Thackeray faction's MLAs got 23.5 per cent of votes polled in favour of the winning Shiv Sena candidates, it added.

The 40 MLAs supporting the petitioner (Shinde) garnered 36,57327 votes out of 47,82440 votes in the last assembly election. This is in contrast with 11,25113 votes by 15 MLAs of the Uddhav camp. "overwhelming numerical superiority of the petitioner in the legislative wing is categorically verifiable," it said.

As against 90,49,789, total votes polled by Shiv Sena in the General election to the Legislative Assembly of Maharashtra in 2019 (including the losing candidates), votes polled by 40 MLAs supporting the Shinde faction come to ~40 per cent whereas votes polled by 15 MLAs supporting the Uddhav Thackeray faction come to ~12 per cent of total votes, the EC said.

The 13 MPs supporting the Shinde faction garnered 74,88,634 votes out of a total of 1,02,45143 votes i.e ~73 per cent of votes polled in favour of 18 MPs in the general election to the Lok Sabha, 2019. This contrasts with 27,56,509 votes garnered by 5 MPs supporting the Uddhav Thackeray faction (although claimed 6 and affidavits filed by only 4) i.e ~ 27 per cent of votes polled in favour of 18 MPs, it said.

The Commission said the respondent (Thackeray faction) had relied heavily on the 2018 Constitution of the party to stake claim to the poll symbol and the organisation but the party had not informed the Commission about the amendment to the Constitution.

It noted that the 2018 amendments had "undone the act of introducing democratic norms" in the party constitution of 1999 and the functioning of Shiv Sena, brought by Balasaheb Thackeray at the insistence of the Commission.

This is for the first time the Thackeray family has lost control of the party founded in 1966 by Balasaheb Thackeray on the principles of justice for the sons of the soil.

Later, the party adopted Hindutva as its key ideology and partnered with BJP till 2019 when Uddhav Thackeray broke the alliance to form the government with the help of the NCP and the Congress.

Shinde broke ranks with Thackeray in June last year and formed the government in alliance with the BJP.