Shiv Sena Symbol Row: After Election Commission allocated the party name "Shiv Sena" and poll symbol "bow and arrow" to the Eknath Shinde faction, Uddhav Thackeray faction's spokesperson Anand Dubey condemned the decision and stated: "the order is what we had suspected," news agency ANI reported.
Slamming the decision, Anand Dubey said: "We had been saying that we don't trust the EC. When matter is sub-judice before SC & no final decision has been taken, this haste by EC shows it works as a BJP agent under Central Govt. We condemn this."
Condemning the poll panel's decision, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut stated: "Such a decision was expected; don’t have faith in Election Commission."
"We don't need to worry. Public is with us. We'll go with a new symbol&raise this Shiv Sena once again in the court of public," Raut further stated.
'Victory Of Balasaheb's Ideology': Eknath Shinde
On the other hand, praising the poll panel's decision, CM Eknath Shinde stated that it is a "victory of Balasaheb Thackeray's ideology."
“We set up the government in Maharashtra (with BJP) las year keeping in mind thoughts of Balasaheb,” Shinde further said.
Eknath Shinde visited Balasaheb Thackeray memorial in Mumbai and offers him a floral tribute. "All of this has happened with the blessings of Balasaheb Thackeray. We established the Govt with his blessings and we are taking forward his ideology. That is why we welcome this order by the EC," he stated.
"The Shiv Sena that walks on ideologies of Balasaheb Thackeray - CM Shinde's Shiv Sena has become the original Shiv Sena. My greetings to him. We were confident from day 1 because if you look at EC's earlier orders on different parties, they were similar decisions," Fadnavis stated.
Order On Expected Lines, Uddhav Should Move Appropriate Court Against It: Congress
The decision by the Election Commission of India to recognise the Eknath Shinde group as the true Shiv Sena was predictable, according to Congress politician and former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan on Friday, PTI reported.
Chavan told PTI that the election panel took the legislative and parliamentary majorities into account.
“It was expected that the poll body would rule in a particular manner to help the ruling party,” he said.
ALSO READ | EC Recognises Eknath Shinde Faction As Real Shiv Sena, Allocates 'Bow And Arrow' Poll Symbol To It
The commission stated in its final ruling that the Shiv Sena party's existing constitution is undemocratic. It has been distorted in order to designate persons from a clique as office bearers in an undemocratic manner with no election at all. Such party systems do not inspire trust.
"It has been mutilated to undemocratically appoint people from a coterie as office bearers without any election at all. Such party structures fail to inspire confidence," the poll watchdog said in a statement.
Since Eknath Shinde's revolt, which resulted in the demise of the Uddhav Thackeray's administration, the two groups have been vying for the Shiv Sena moniker and the original emblem of the bow and arrow. The bow and arrow emblem was frozen while the matter was being handled by the electoral commission. The two groups were given distinct insignia for the bypoll: Shinde got two swords and a shield, and Uddhav got a fiery torch.
(With Inputs From Agencies)