
The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena group was given the “blazing torch” (mashaal) as their poll emblem by the Election Commission on Monday. “Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray” will be the name of the organisation headed by Uddhav Thackeray.
The Eknath Shinde faction submitted three ideas for the Election Commission to consider, but they were rejected. By Tuesday morning at 10 a.m., the EC has requested three election symbols from the Shinde campaign.
According to the interim EC order, the Eknath Shinde-led party would be known as the “BalasahebAanchi Shiv Sena.”
The Sena factions were rejected trishul and gada (mace) as election symbols by the Election Commission because of its religious overtones.
After receiving the name “Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray” as the party name, Bhaskar Jadhav of the Uddhav Thackeray group told PTI, “We are happy, consider this a major victory.”
The Sena’s “bow and arrow” symbol had been frozen by the ECI on October 8 and the factions led by Thackeray and Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde had been forbidden from using the party name for the Mumbai byelection scheduled for November 3 in Andheri (East).
They were also requested to recommend three names and as many free symbols as possible for the EC to assign to each group.
The Uddhav Thackeray camp had submitted three names for approval to the EC — “Shiv Sena Balasaheb Thackeray, Shiv Sena Balasaheb Prabodhankar Thackeray, and Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray”.
A rising sun, a burning torch (mashaal), and a trident were the three possibilities they had offered the EC for the poll symbol.
The Uddhav Thackeray group filed a petition with the Delhi High Court earlier in the day to challenge the Electoral Commission’s decision to freeze the party’s name and election symbol, according to PTI.
Thackeray said in the appeal that the EC’s order was issued completely against natural justice principles and without giving the parties any opportunity for a hearing.
ECI and Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknathrao Sambhaji Shinde are included as parties in the petition, according to PTI.