The Eknath Shinde faction on Wednesday defended the Election Commission’s decision recognising it as the real Shiv Sena and allotting it the party’s bow-and-arrow symbol, telling the Supreme Court that there was “not a shred of evidence” that any party constitution after 2011 had been submitted to the poll body.
Senior advocate N K Kaul, appearing for the Shinde faction, argued that the EC had only the 2011 Shiv Sena constitution on record and that the document had been brought in conformity with the poll body’s requirements.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana also heard arguments on inner-party democracy, the EC’s jurisdiction and the timing of its decision in the symbol dispute.
Kaul rejected the argument that the EC should have waited for the Speaker to decide disqualification petitions against the rebel MLAs before ruling on the symbol dispute.
“Filing of a disqualification and what the ultimate result is are two completely different things,” he said, arguing that the pendency of disqualification proceedings did not bar the EC from deciding the dispute under Paragraph 15.
He also defended the EC’s reliance on legislative strength, saying the 40 MLAs supporting Shinde accounted for 76 per cent of the votes polled in favour of the 55 Shiv Sena MLAs elected in the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly polls.
The hearing remained inconclusive and will continue on Thursday.
(With inputs from PTI)