Shiv Sena feud over party chief post escalates

Uddhav Thackeray was the last elected party president of the Shiv Sena before the split. File pic

The feud between the two factions of the Shiv Sena has reached an interesting stage as the five-year term of the party chief is set to end on January 23. Uddhav Thackeray was the last elected party president, but after the split, the breakaway faction led by Eknath Shinde has questioned the validity of the election held in 2018. Both the factions have approached the Election Commission and the Supreme Court in the matter and submitted documents in support of their claims. The Thackeray faction has asked the EC and SC to allow the party to either hold a fresh organisational election or consider Thackeray as the party chief.

The EC heard both the sides on Tuesday and scheduled the next hearing on January 17 to decide the ‘originality' which will decide which faction gets to keep the parent party's election symbol of bow and arrow. Meanwhile, the SC has set the date of next hearing to decide on the cases related to the formation of the government and disqualification of the breakaway MLAs on February 14. Whenever delivered, the verdicts are expected to impact the state politics in a great manner.

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Arguing before the EC, the Shinde group has disputed Thackeray's continuation as the Sena president and claimed the post, which was allegedly created by making an illegal amendment to the party's constitution, has ceased to exist after Shinde was elected as chief leader by the national executive. The Thackeray faction has, however, claimed that the documents submitted by the rival group were bogus and demanded verification of the submissions, including their own. It has also urged the EC to wait for the SC's verdict.

Earlier, the EC had frozen the Sena's bow and arrow symbol ahead of the Andheri Assembly bypoll. At that time, the Thackeray faction was allotted the symbol of a mashal (flaring torch) and the Shinde Sena was allotted two swords and a shield as its party symbol. The battle for the election symbol and ownership of the parent party is being keenly watched because of the forthcoming civic and local body polls which will have candidates contesting on the official party symbols. Being the size of a mini Assembly elections, the contests will help parties reach out to the urban and rural voters, who will be using their right to vote in the next year's general and Assembly elections.