Shiv Sena legislative party office at Vidhan Bhavan belongs to us: Shinde faction chief whip

MUMBAI: The Shiv Sena (Shinde faction) took control of the Shiv Sena legislative party office at Vidhan Bhavan. The chief whip Bharat Gogawale with other MLAs had reached Vidhan Bhavan earlier on Monday and gave notice to the Speaker of the Maharashtra Assembly Rahul Narvekar seeking a handover of the office. 

Bharat Gogawale had said that the office at Vidhan Bhavan belonged to the Shinde faction after the ECI order. "We have given a notice to the Speaker. We are following the orders of ECI. Since ECI has recognised us as Shiv Sena, so this office belongs to us now," he said.

The chief whip of Shiv Sena (Shinde faction) Bharat Gogawale with other MLAs reaches Vidhan Bhavan, likely to meet State Assembly Speaker Rahul Narvekar asking for handover of the Shiv Sena legislative party office at Vidhan Bhavan. pic.twitter.com/XQaSxOxO3u

— ANI (@ANI) February 20, 2023

The Election Commission of India (ECI) on February 17 had allotted the party name "Shiv Sena" and the symbol "Bow and Arrow" to the faction led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.

Both factions of the Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde and Uddhav Thackeray) have been fighting for the bow and arrow symbol of the party since Shinde revolted against Thackeray last year.

Calling the poll panel's decision a "murder of democracy", Uddhav Thackeray said he will approach the Supreme Court against ECI's decision.

The Uddhav Thackeray faction accused the Election Commission of haste and said the decision shows "it works as BJP agent".

The Commission observed in its order that the current constitution of the Shiv Sena party is undemocratic and has been "mutilated to undemocratically appoint people from a coterie as office bearers without any election at all". It said such party structures fail to inspire confidence.

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Last month, both Eknath Shinde and former CM Uddhav Thackeray-led factions of the Shiv Sena submitted their written statements in support of their claims of control over the party name and symbol to the Election Commission.

The ECI had frozen the bow and arrow symbol of the Shiv Sena and had allotted the 'Two Swords and Shield symbol' to the Eknath Shinde faction of Shiv Sena and the 'flaming torch' (mashaal) election symbol was allotted to the Uddhav Thackeray faction for the bypoll in Andheri East assembly constituency in November last year.

Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday said that the thieves were given the holy "bow and arrow" and that this is their test. "Thieves were given the holy 'bow and arrow', similarly the 'torch' (mashaal) can be taken away. I challenge them - if they are men, come in front of us even with the stolen 'bow and arrow', we will contest the election with the 'torch'. This is our test, the battle has begun," Thackeray said.