Uddhav Thackeray to move SC tomorrow after losing bow and arrow symbol

The Uddhav group will challenge the "factual" mistakes in the Election Commission's decision to allot the Shiv Sena name and symbol to the faction led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.

Uddhav Thackeray will move the Supreme Court on Monday to challenge the Election Commission's decision to allot the Shiv Sena name and symbol to the faction led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.

The Uddhav faction will challenge the "factual" mistakes in the poll body's order, India Today reported quoting sources.

They also claimed that the EC's order is inconsistent and, since the Shinde group was weak on the organisational side, so deliberately the poll body has called the party's constitution undemocratic and has set it aside to decide it on majority.

Thackeray has dubbed the Election Commission of India a "slave" of the Centre and vowed to finish off the "thieves" who have been given the original "Shiv Sena" name and "Bow-and-Arrow" symbol.

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.

This was seen as major emberassment for Uddhav as this was 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.