Uddhav moves Delhi HC over EC freeze on party’s name, symbol

NEW DELHI:  EX-Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray approached the division bench of the Delhi High Court on Tuesday challenging earlier order rejecting his plea against the Election Commission of India (ECI)’s decision to freeze Shiv Sena’s symbol (bow and arrow).  

Single-judge Justice Sanjeev Narula dismissed Thackeray’s petition on November 15, holding that there was no interdiction by the Supreme Court regarding the procedure to be conducted by the ECI. On October 8, the ECI directed both Thackeray and Eknath Shinde to restrain from using the same name or symbol till the official recognition is finally decided. They were allotted different symbols for the recent Andheri East bypoll.

Thackeray has appealed that ECI has assumed that there are two factions of the Shiv Sena party while passing the freezing order. Moreover, he has claimed that it cannot be said that there are two factions in the party as he remains “rightfully elected President”, which was admitted even by Shinde.

“The observation of the Ld. Single Judge that both the appellant and respondent No. 2 claim to be president of the original Shiv Sena is factually incorrect, as respondent No. 2 in his petition filed before respondent No. 1 himself states that the appellant is, and continues to be the Shivsena Pramukh (President/Pramukh) of the Shiv Sena,” the appeal stated.

‘Uddhav still Sena prez’
Thackeray has appealed that ECI has assumed that there are two factions of the Shiv Sena party while passing the freezing order. Moreover, he has claimed that it cannot be said that there are two factions in the party as he remains “rightfully elected President”, which was admitted even by Shinde