CM Ekanth Shinde to chair 1st national executive meet today | 10 updates on Shiv Sena row
2 min read 21 Feb 2023, 12:18 PM ISTSupreme Court will hear Uddhav Thackeray's request to cancel the Election Commission's decision to give the party name and symbol to Shinde's faction tomorrow, February 22.
PremiumFour days after the Election Commission allotted the name ‘Shiv Sena’ and the ‘bow and arrow’ symbol to the ruling faction led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, the new Shiv Sena will hold its first National Executive meeting on Tuesday evening.
Deepak Kesarkar, State Minister from the Shinde faction also informed that some new office bearers will likely be appointed during the meeting to be chaired by CM Shinde, according to the news agency ANI.
Speaking to media persons, the minister said, “The First National Executive meeting of the Shiv Sena (led by Shinde), since the Election Commission's order awarding the Shiv Sena name and the symbol to us, will be held this evening. Some new office bearers may be appointed at the meeting."
Uddhav Thackeray faction, in the meantime, has moved the Supreme Court to challenge the EC's decision on the fate of the original Sena name and symbol. In contrast, the ruling party has already filed a caveat in the apex court.
Here are 10 updates on the story:
1) Supreme Court will hear Uddhav Thackeray's request to cancel the Election Commission's decision to give the party name and symbol to Shinde's faction tomorrow, February 22.
2) 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.
3) The Election Commission said MLAs backing Shinde got nearly 76 percent of votes polled in favor of the 55 winning Shiv Sena candidates in the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly polls.
4) The Uddhav Thackeray faction's MLAs got 23.5 percent of votes polled in favor of the winning Shiv Sena candidates.
5) The election commission observed in its order 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".
6) Thackeray has also called for the dissolution of the Election Commission on Monday, alleging that ‘everything had been stolen’ from him.
7) “Election Commission should be dissolved and election commissioners should be elected by people…Election Commission has no right to comment on party funds. It can't dictate who will get what," he said.
8) The former Maharashtra CM said that he had previously requested the EC to hold off its decision until there was a Supreme Court verdict on the matter of suspended MLAs.
9) After Election Commission recognized the Eknath Shinde-led faction as the real Shiv Sena, the website of Shiv Sena has also been deleted and the official Twitter handle has been changed. The name of the party's YouTube channel has also been changed to Shiv Sena UBT from Shiv Sena.
10) Shinde broke ranks with Uddhav Thackeray in June last year and formed the government in Maharashtra in alliance with the BJP.
(With inputs from agencies)
