‘Election Commission should be dissolved’: Uddhav as he moves SC seeking Shiv Sena identity

Uddhav Thackeray on Monday said the Election Commission should be disbanded, hours after the Supreme Court challenged the election body's decision to assign the name Shiv Sena and the "bow and arrow" symbol to the Eknath Shinde-led faction.

"Everything was stolen from me. The name and symbol of our party have been stolen, but the name of Thackeray cannot be stolen. We have filed an appeal in the Supreme Court against the Election Commission's decision, the hearing will begin tomorrow," Thackeray said at a press conference. “The Electoral Commission should be disbanded; election commissioners should be elected by the people...The Election Commission has no right to comment on party funds; it cannot dictate who gets what,” he said.

Thackeray further warned that "if this (the current scenario in Maharashtra) is not stopped, the 2024 Lok Sabha elections may turn out to be the last elections in the country as anarchy will start here after that". The Uddhav Thackeray faction approached the Supreme Court challenging the Election Commission's decision to recognize the Eknath Shinde-led faction as the genuine Shiv Sena and order it to be allotted the party's vote symbol. Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi mentioned the matter before a bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud for the timely inclusion of the Sena faction-led Thackeray petition.

However, the CJI refused to issue any order. "The rule applies equally to everyone, whether left, right or centre. Come tomorrow due process,” the bench said. The Election Commission on Friday recognized the Eknath Shinde-led faction as the genuine Shiv Sena and ordered it to be allotted the 'bow and arrow' symbol. In a 78-page order on the protracted battle for control of the organisation, the Commission allowed the Uddhav Thackeray faction to retain the allotted 'burning torch' symbol till the completion of by-elections in the state.

The commission said the MLAs supporting Shinde got nearly 76 percent of the votes in favor of the 55 winning Shiv Sena candidates in the 2019 Maharashtra assembly polls. Faction MLA Uddhav Thackeray polled 23.5 percent votes in favor of the winning Shiv Sena candidates, the three-member panel said.