Setback for Uddhav as Shinde faction wins 'Shiv Sena' name, party symbol

The Election Commission of India (ECI) allotted the party name 'Shiv Sena' and the party symbol of bow and arrow to the Shiv Sena faction led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Friday. 

This is a major setback to Uddhav Thackeray and his supporters.

Following a coup by Shinde in June 2022, two factions emerged in the Shiv Sena. The party was divided between the supporters of Uddhav Thackeray and Ekanth Shinde. 

Shinde and his supporters broke away from the NCP-Shiv Sena government led by the then CM Uddhav Thackeray. Shinde and his supporters joined hands with the BJP to form the new government in Maharashtra. 

Consequently, Shinde was sworn in as the Maharashtra Chief Minister with Devendra Fadnavis as his deputy.

The Election Commission recognised the Eknath Shinde-led faction as the real Shiv Sena and ordered allocation of the "bow and arrow" poll symbol to it.

The EC in a 78-page order allowed the Uddhav Thackeray faction to keep the "flaming torch" poll symbol allocated to it till the completion of the assembly bypolls in the state.

MLAs backing Eknath Shinde got nearly 76 per cent of votes polled in favour of the 55 winning Shiv Sena candidates in the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly elections, the EC said. 

Whereas the MLAs in the Uddhav Thackeray faction got 23.5 per cent of votes polled in favour of the winning Shiv Sena candidates.

Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde described the Election Commission's decision to recognise his faction as "real Shiv Sena" as victory of Balasaheb Thackeray's ideology.