The Supreme Court on Wedneday refused to stay the Election Commission of India’s order allowing the Eknath Shinde-led faction to use the name “Shiv Sena” and the symbol “bow and arrow”.
A bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justice PS Narasimha and Justice JB Pardiwala was hearing a petition filed by Uddhav Thackeray faction against an order passed by the Election Commission of India allowing the Eknath Shinde-led faction to use the name ‘Shiv Sena’ and the symbol of ‘bow and arrow’.
The bench stated that a stay could not be granted because the Eknath Shinde faction had prevailed before the Election Commission.
The court also issued a notice in the matter and granted the Uddhav Thackeray faction the right granted by the Election Commission to use the flaming torch symbol until the completion of the upcoming bye-elections.
Appearing for the Uddhav Thackeray faction, Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal argued that the order of the Election Commission had been passed on the basis of the majority test and not the organization. Sibal argued that they have 40 members and that’s how the symbol is given to them. In Rajya Sabha, we (Thackeray faction) have the majority but because of these 40, they were given the symbol, he said.
Senior Advocate Neeraj Kishan Kaul, representing the Eknath Shinde faction, objected to the petition’s maintainability and argued, “It was never our contention that a legislator party is unrelated to a political party. A legislative party is defined as a political party in the 10th schedule. There is no yardstick in the political party to determine what to do “.
Furthermore, Senior Advocate Maninder Singh, representing the Shinde faction, argued that the term “Political Party” is not defined anywhere and that it is simply a recognised political party under the Election Commission.
Sibal, on the other hand, claimed “We can keep things as they are until they take over our offices. They have the power to seize bank accounts, real estate, and other assets.”
Given the foregoing, the bench took note of Kaul’s argument that they will not take any action. The bench gave the Shinde faction one week to file their reply and the Thackeray faction one week to file their rejoinder.
