The Election Commission (EC) on Friday in an order said that the party name "Shiv Sena" and the symbol "Bow and Arrow" will be retained by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led faction, triggering criticism from the Uddhav faction.
The EC observed that the current constitution of the Shiv Sena on which former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray was placing reliance is undemocratic.
"While applying the 'Test of party Constitution', the Commission found that the party constitution on which the respondent (Uddhav Thackeray faction) was placing strong reliance is undemocratic," said the Commission in its 78-page order issued on Friday.
"In the absence of such democratic internal structures, internal disputes are bound to create rifts and factions leading to determination of the question by the Election Commission under the Symbols order. However, by the time a dispute comes to the commission, the party constitutions are often seen to have been mutilated to undemocratically appoint people from a coterie as office bearers without any election at all," noted the Commission.
"Such party structures fail to inspire confidence of the Commission, and the Commission is forced to ignore the numerical strength of the opposition factions in the organisational wing altogether, despite being conscious of its importance and role as the building block of the party," the EC order said.
The complete list of office bearers of various bodies was not provided to the EC, whenever elections were held or appointments were made, the Commission said.
The EC observed that amendments in the constitution in 2018 had undone the act of introducing democratic norms in the party constitution of 1999, brought by the late Bal Thackeray at the insistence of the commission.
The EC order also noted that the undemocratic norms of the original constitution of Shiv Sena, which was not accepted by the commission in 1999 have been brought back in a surreptitious manner, further making the party akin to a fiefdom.
The EC also said that the name of 'Balasahebanchi Shivsena' and the symbol of Two Swords and Shield, which was allotted to the petitioner by way of the interim order, will henceforth be frozen with immediate effect.
MVA slams EC verdict
The Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) on Friday tore into the Election Commission (EC) decision awarding the original 'Shiv Sena' name and 'Bow-and-Arrow' symbol to the breakaway group headed by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.
Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray said in Mumbai that "this was unexpected and is an injustice" by the EC, and it should have waited till the pendency of the court case in the Supreme Court.
"Prime Minister Narendra Modi should take courage and announce from the Red Fort that after 75 years, freedom has ended, and democracy has been replaced by dictatorship," said Thackeray.
Calling Shinde a 'thief', Thackeray said first he stole the Shiv Sena's (elected representatives), then its name and symbol, adding it's an extremely dangerous development for democracy.
"A thief is a thief... these thieves can never become macho with such thefts and they will never be able to digest it. Let them celebrate for sometime," said Thackeray.
BMC elections
Thackeray further alleged that the BJP wanted to win the upcoming BMC elections at any cost, but had no guts to announce the polls. However, now that the name-symbol has been given to Shinde, they will soon go for elections, but the people will teach them a lesson.
Sena (UBT)'s chief spokesperson Sanjay Raut said that the decision is 'purchased', just as crores of rupees were spent to form the government in Maharashtra, and the country is moving towards 'dictatorship'.
"It's the end of democracy... the EC has made a mockery of truth and justice. The 40 thieves laid claim over Balasaheb Thackeray's Shiv Sena and symbol and the EC approved it. The script was already written and ready. The traitor kept saying that the EC decision would be in his favour. A miracle has happened!" Raut said.
Sena (UBT) spokespersons Kishore Tiwari and Sushma Andhare, Congress chief spokesperson Atul Londhe and general secretary Sachin Sawant, plus NCP's spokespersons Clyde Crasto and Mahesh Tapase also slammed the EC verdict in strong words.
Pepping up his supporters and workers, Thackeray said that the Shiv Sena cannot be erased by this and "just as Lord Ram had won in Ramayana, we shall also win. We will challenge the EC in the SC and go to the peoples' court".
Raising questions on the EC, Thackeray said that in the past few weeks, many people, including BJP's central Ministers like Narayan Rane and Maharashtra Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis had been claiming that Shinde would get the name-symbol, and demanded: "How could they make such predictions in advance!"
Targetting the BJP, he said that it had realised that now even Prime Minister Narendra Modi's name does not work in Maharashtra, so they will wear face-masks of Balasaheb Thackeray's photos to fight the elections.
"The EC is a slave of the government. What it has done is scary and the whole world is observing it. Now the SC is the sole hope of whether democracy will survive in India or not," declared Thackeray.
(With inputs from IANS)
