The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued a notice to the Shiv Sena faction led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on the petition of the Uddhav Thackeray-led bloc challenging the Election Commission's decision on the real Shiv Sena. The top court, however, refused to stay the Election Commission order recognising the Eknath Shinde-led faction as the real Shiv Sena and allotting the 'bow and arrow' poll symbol to it.


"Will entertain petition, issue notice," the Supreme Court said and listed the matter after two weeks.


Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the Uddhav Thackeray faction, insisted the Supreme Court to grant interim relief and urged it to pass a status quo order.


However, the top court refused to stay the Election Commission's order, saying, "Something which is a part of the order we can decide upon. We cannot stay an order at this stage. They've succeeded before the ECI."


A bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud and Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala said the Uddhav camp can continue to use the temporary name and election symbol it has been granted by the EC.


The counsel for the Shinde faction told the bench that it would not issue any whip or initiate process to disqualify the lawmakers of the Thackeray faction in the meantime.


In its petition, the Uddhav faction said that the Election Commission had acted in a "biased and unfair manner" and erred in holding that there was a split in the Shiv Sena. 


The petition also said the Thackeray faction had an overwhelming majority in the Pratinidhi Sabha, which is the apex body representing the wishes of the primary members and other stakeholders of Shiv Sena.


READ | EC Recognises Eknath Shinde Faction As Real Shiv Sena, Allocates 'Bow And Arrow' Poll Symbol To It


Last week, the Election Commission, in a 78-page order, recognised the Eknath Shinde-faction as the real Shiv Sena. The poll panel, however, allowed the Uddhav Thackeray faction to keep the "flaming torch" poll symbol allocated to it till the completion of the assembly bypolls in the state.


In its ruling, the EC noted that MLAs backing Eknath Shinde got nearly 76 per cent of votes polled in favour of 55 wining Shiv Sena candidates in the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly election.


The Shiv Sena split into two factions after Shinde revolted against Uddhav Thackeray last year, leading to the collapse of the MVA government. Shinde then went on to form the government with BJP's support and was made the Chief Minister. More than 40 of the Shiv Sena's 55 MLAs backed Shinde, forcing Thackeray to resign as Maharashtra Chief Minister.


Since then, both Shinde and Uddhav factions have been fighting for the bow and arrow symbol of the party.