By Venkatesh Raghavan*
Mumbai: The Election Commission of India (ECI) permits the Uddhav Thackeray and Eknath Shinde factions of Sena to respectively using the symbols of ‘Mashaal’ (burning torch), and ‘Shield and Two Swords’. Uddhav’s faction will go under the name ‘Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray)’, and the Eknath Shinde faction will be called ‘Balasahebanchi Shivsena’. Both the warring Sena factions were allotted a name from the choices they had indicated.
With the ECI’s ruling, the dispute over the symbol and name being allotted to the warring Shiv Sena factions has been temporarily laid to rest.
However, ahead of November 3, 2022, by-elections to be held in the Andheri (East) assembly constituency of Mumbai, and an impending civic election in Mumbai, Uddhav’s team is apparently concerned about the implications of the changes as pronounced by the ECI.
Uddhav is now faced with a pitched battle to save his fortunes before India’s richest civic body, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) goes to polls. His Sena-ruled civic cadres have been holding on to power in the Corporation for two-and-a-half decades. A change in symbol and name might lead to confusion among the voters and even result in an unfavourable poll outcome for his faction. The collateral that Uddhav is faced with is the possibility of losing control over his Party’s milking cow, namely the cash-rich BMC.
If this happens then it would be a double blow to Uddhav’s political career – the deposed chief minister who could not check the internal strife within the ranks of the legislative wing of his Party.
After Shinde uprooted Uddhav from the CM’s chair in June this year, a legal battle had begun with the Uddhav-led Shiv Sena faction petitioning the Delhi High Court against the Election Commission of India’s (ECI’s) decision to freeze its name and symbol prohibiting it for use in the forthcoming by-elections slated for November 3 from Mumbai’s Andheri (E) assembly constituency. The Eknath Shinde-led faction too that is currently ruling the state of Maharashtra in alliance with the BJP was required to change the symbol and Party name before the ECI’s deadline for the polls.
Interestingly, while Uddhav had petitioned the Delhi High Court challenging the freezing of his Party’s poll symbol and name, both the Sena factions had their plan B ready and managed to secure new names from the list of three alternatives each they had submitted to the ECI. The Uddhav faction had sought a choice from “Shiv Sena Balasaheb Thackeray”, “Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray”, and “Shivsena Balasaheb Prabodhankar Thackeray” as per indications given by ECI officials.
The Eknath Shinde faction too had submitted three names, interestingly somewhat overlapping with the Uddhav faction. The choices provided by the Shinde faction include Balasaheb Thackeray, Balasahebanchi Shivsena and Shivsena Balasahebanchi. The two Sena factions also provided a choice of three symbols each. The Uddhav faction had submitted ‘Trident (Trishul)’, ‘Rising Sun’ and ‘Mashaal (flaming torch)’ as its election symbols. The poll body okayed the ‘flaming torch’ (Mashaal) as the election symbol for the Uddhav Thackeray faction. The rival faction had submitted a ‘Mallet’ besides ‘Rising Sun’ and ‘Mashaal’, causing an overlap in two of their choices. The Shinde faction was asked to submit a fresh set of symbols by Tuesday, October 11, 2022, for scrutiny and approval of one of their choices by the Election Commission of India (ECI). Today the ECI approved the choice of ‘Shield and Two Swords’ that now becomes the official symbol of Shinde’s political outfit. The faction had earlier today also submitted the ‘Peepal Tree’ as an alternative choice.
The current worrying aspect for Uddhav’s Party is that their symbol that was in use since 1989 had ably served the Party for over four civic elections besides two assembly elections. Uddhav contended in his petition to the Delhi High Court that the ECI had acted in haste without giving his party a hearing. This is against the principle of natural justice and ultra vires the constitution he stated.
The Uddhav-led Sena’s mouthpiece Saamna termed the ECI’s act as that of dishonesty. It also exhorted that its leader will stand boldly and will defeat all designs to finish the Party politically. Uddhav petitioning the High Court follows the failure of both factions to submit documentary evidence for their claim of the original Sena symbol, first on August 8 and subsequently on October 7. The present imbroglio is expected to impact the November 3 by-election to the state assembly following the death of a Shiv Sena MLA representing the constituency, as well as the impending civic body election in Mumbai.
*Senior Journalist
