'Democracy Murdered, SC Only Hope': Says Sanjay Raut, Top Court To Hear Uddhav Camp Plea Tomorrow

The Supreme Court will hear tomorrow, the case on the EC decision of alloting the party name 'Shiv Sena' and the symbol "Bow and Arrow" to the Eknath Shinde faction.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court will hear on Wednesday, the plea of the Uddhav Thackeray faction of Shiv Sena challenging the Election Commission's decision of alloting the party name "Shiv Sena" and the symbol "Bow and Arrow" to the Eknath Shinde faction. According to the sources close to ABP News, Uddhav Thackeray's lawyer Kapil Sibal sought a stay on the Election Commission's decision and requested the top court to hear the case tomorrow. The Chief Justice said that he does not want to affect the regular work of the Constitution Bench and agreed to hear the case tomorrow at 3.30 pm.

After challenging the EC decision in the Supreme Court, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut said that democracy has been murdered and the Supreme Court is the only hope now. "Now the Supreme Court is the last ray of hope. All institutions have stopped working in this country. Democracy has been murdered, so now the only hope is the Supreme Court. We will go there and seek justice," Sanjay Raut told media persons as quoted by the news agency ANI.

After EC decided to allot the party name "Shiv Sena" and the symbol "Bow and Arrow" to the Eknath Shinde faction, the Uddhav Thackeray camp of Shiv Sena decided to challenge the decision in the Supreme Court. 

Last week, EC allotted the party name "Shiv Sena" and the symbol "Bow and Arrow" to the faction led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. Notably, both factions of Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde and Uddhav Thackeray) have been fighting for the bow and arrow symbol of the party since Shinde (present Maharashtra Chief Minister) revolted against Thackeray last year.

In its order, EC observed that the current constitution of the Shiv Sena party is undemocratic and has been "mutilated to undemocratically appoint people from a coterie as office bearers without any election at all", as reported by ANI. It said such party structures fail to inspire confidence.

While the Shinde faction welcomed the decision of being recognised as the real Shiv Sena, the Uddhav Thackeray faction said they would move the Supreme Court. The Uddhav Thackeray faction accused the Election Commission of haste and said the decision shows "it works as BJP agent".