Election Commission Gives Symbol To Shinde Group, Uddhav To Approach SC
Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack
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By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2023-02-19 04:24:10
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Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack
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The Election Commission has awarded the party name and the original 'bow and arrow' poll symbol to the Shiv Sena group led by Eknath Shinde. It has said that the Uddhav Thackeray group could continue using the name Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) and the 'torch' symbol provisionally allotted to it till the ensuing bypolls after which it can apply for a new symbol from the group of free symbols if it so desired. While Uddhav Thackeray called the EC decision "dangerous for democracy" and said that EC was a "slave of the Centre", Eknath Shinde said that the Shiv Sena symbol mortgaged to the Congress-NCP has been freed and the BJP also welcomed the decision. While Uddhav Thackeray said that his party will approach the Supreme Court against the EC decision, ally and NCP chief Sharad Pawar advised Thackeray to accept the EC decision and move on as people will accept the new symbol.
EC was asked to adjudicate as the Shiv Sena had split into two. While the Shinde faction has majority support in the legislative party, Uddhav faction claims majority support in the organization. Further, the question of the disqualification of MLAs on the basis of them leaving the party and attracting the provisions of the anti-defection law is still pending before the Supreme Court. The questions before the EC were: was there a split in the party, was the petition by Shinde group maintainable in view of pending disqualification proceedings against its members, what test to apply for adjudication and which faction is to get the original symbol.
The EC said that the split in the party was evident from the fact that both groups held separate conventions, declared the other illegal and claimed separate heads for the group. It also said that the Shinde group's petition was maintainable as conditions under Para 15 of the Symbols Order were fulfilled. Then it said that its jurisdiction in deciding matters under the Symbols Order is separate and independent of the jurisdiction of the Speaker in disqualification proceedings.
While it came to decide what test to apply for adjudication, the EC sais that it had to apply the 'test of majority in the legislative wing' as the other tests, prescribed by the Supreme Court in the Sadiq Ali judgment, were not conclusive. In the selected test, the Shinde group, with 40 MLAs had garnered 3657327 popular votes while the Thackeray group, with just 15 MLAs, got just 1125213 votes. Thus, it gave the original symbol to the Shinde group. As per law, it will be difficult to challenge the EC decision. The Uddhav Thackeray faction is unlikely to get any relief from the Supreme Court in this matter.
