You can steal our party name, but can't steal Thackeray name: Uddhav Thackeray

Reacting to Election Commissions decision to award Shiv Sena name and poll symbol to Eknath Shindes camp Shiv Sena UBT president Uddhav Thackeray on Monday called for dissolution of the election bodyWhat was the need to give the decision in such a hurry We have lost faith in the Election Commission Thackeray said at a press conference at Sena Bhavan in MumbaiThe election commissioners should be elected and not appointed There should be a proper procedure for election commissioners A similar procedure is in practice when it comes to appointment of judges in the Supreme Court he addedThe BJP plans to finish off Shiv Sena he said Stealing our party name and symbol are part of a larger conspiracy Thackeray saidHe further said that The name and symbol of our party have been stolen but the name Thackeray cannot be stolen We have moved the Supreme Court against the decision given by the Election Commission the hearing will start from tomorrow he addedThe poll panels decision to hand over Shiv Sena name and symbol to CM Eknath Shinde is absolutely wrong The decision should have been based on the timeline of incidents he saidAlso Read Shiv Sena legislative party office at Vidhan Bhavan belongs to us Shinde faction leaderThe Commission had asked us to submit affidavits and list of party workers We filed lakhs of affidavits spent lakhs of rupees to submit them But the EC completely ignored the same while ruling on the party name and symbol he saidThackeray said he has received calls from NCP chief Sharad Pawar and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee extending their support He said he missed a call with Bihar CM Nitish KumarEarlier today Uddhav Thackeray held an urgent meeting with his close associates at the Shiv Sena Bhavan in Mumbai to decide their future course of action specially after losing the Shiv Sena name and poll symbol bow and arrow to the faction led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath ShindeLeaders close to Thackeray including Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Raut Subhash Desai Anil Desai and Anil Parab were present in the meeting held at the Sena Bhavan located in Dadar areaThackeray has also invited several district level leaders of his camp to discuss the future course of actionThe Election Commission on Friday recognised the Shindeled faction as the real Shiv Sena and ordered allocation of the bow and arrow poll symbol to it in the process delivering a big blow to Uddhav Thackeray whose father Bal Thackeray founded the outfit in 1966The EC allowed the Thackeray faction to retain the name Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray and the flaming torch poll symbol given to it in an interim order in October last year till the conclusion of the upcoming Assembly bypolls in the stateFormer chief minister Uddhav Thackeray had on Sunday said all political parties need to open their eyes and remain cautious in the wake of the Election Commissions decision of recognising the faction led by CM Eknath Shinde as the real Shiv SenaWith inputs from PTI