Uddhav Picks 3 Alternative Names & Symbols For His Sena Faction, Requests EC Early Allotment In View Of Bypoll

The Election Commission had asked both Shiv Sena factions to suggest by Monday three different name choices and as many free symbols for allocation to their respective groups.

New Delhi The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena faction submitted three symbols - a trident, burning torch, and rising Sun - to the Election Commission and as many alternative names for the party as it sought ECI to finalise one of them in view of the November 3 Andheri (East) bypoll.

This came after the commission froze Shiv Sena's 'bow and arrow' poll symbol and barred the groups led by Thackeray and Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde from using the party name for the next month's by-election.

The poll body had asked them to suggest by Monday three different name choices and as many free symbols for allocation to their respective groups. The rival camp led by CM Shinde on Sunday said they might file their affidavit before the EC on Monday.

In a virtual address in the evening, former CM Uddhav Thackeray said his camp has submitted three names- "Shiv Sena Balasaheb Thackeray, Shiv Sena Balasaheb Prabodhankar Thackeray, and Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray" to the EC and expects it to allot one of them. He also informed his faction has submitted to the EC three options- a rising Sun, a burning torch (mashaal), and a trident- and expects the poll body to allot one of them as the poll symbol for the byelection, news agency PTI reported.

Terming the EC's decision "unjust", Thackeray added, “I appeal to the ECI to finalise a symbol and name for my party at the earliest because we have to go to the people and face the bye-election. I was shocked by the decision of the ECI, but my confidence is not shaken and also my faith in Sena supporters”.

The bypoll to the Andheri East Assembly seat in suburban Mumbai is expected to be a straight fight between late Shiv Sena MLA Ramesh Latke's wife Rujuta Latke and BJP's Murji Patel, a corporator in the Mumbai civic body.

Shinde-Faction Accuses Thackeray Faction Of Filing Fake Affidavits

Maharashtra minister Deepak Kesarkar, a loyalist of CM Shinde, claimed that they have the majority as maximum MLAs and MPs are with them but despite this, the EC has frozen the "bow and arrow" symbol.

He also hit out at the Thackeray camp, saying they were ready with alternate symbols when the EC order came.

"It seems they (Thackeray camp) have no affection for the bow and arrow symbol,” he said, as per PTI. The minister alleged that the Thackeray faction deliberately wasted time during the previous EC hearings.

Kesarkar claimed as many as 4,600 fake affidavits, "submitted by the Thackeray camp", have been found by police. Notably, the Mumbai Police have registered an FIR against unidentified persons on charges of cheating and forgery after recovering more than 4,500 affidavits in support of the Thackeray-led Shiv Sena faction, PTI reported an official as saying on Sunday.

A police official informed the case was registered at Nirmal Nagar police station on Saturday under various sections of the Indian Penal Code after they recovered the affidavits from a notary wherein important details like the Aadhaar cards of the Shiv Sena supporters were attached.

Meanwhile, Uddhav Thackeray said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) always targets Congress over former prime minister Indira Gandhi's decision to invoke the Emergency, but neither she nor any Congress-led government ever tried to finish off Shiv Sena.

The Sena chief said the 40 rebels, who are enjoying plum posts with the support of the BJP, will be dumped like an "empty beverage bottle" once their utility is over.

“The traitors first took my chair by cheating and also tried to appropriate Shiv Sena and the legacy. Now they ensured that the symbol (bow and arrow) is frozen,” he added. Shiv Sena's ally Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) said the EC's order was "painful and surprising", but it did not mean the Uddhav Thackeray-led group was weak or demoralised.

Amid the tussle for the "real" Shiv Sena, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis on Sunday said the Shinde-led faction will "succeed" when the EC takes a final decision on proprietary over the party name and election symbol.

Speaking to reporters in Mumbai, Fadnavis said the poll body's interim decision was taken as per its laid-down procedure. 

(With Agency Inputs)