The Uddhav Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena shared a list of three names and symbols, including ‘trishul’, ‘mashaal’ and ‘rising Sun’, with the Election Commission of India on Sunday, a day after the poll panel passed an interim order barring both the Thackeray and Eknath Shinde groups from using the party name and election symbol in the coming Andheri East Assembly bypoll, said party leader Arvind Sawant.
Sawant also said his party would accept names with ‘Shiv Sena’ in them. “Our party’s name is Shiv Sena, if the ECI gives any of the names related to Shiv Sena including, ‘Shiv Sena (Balasaheb Thackeray)’, ‘Shiv Sena (Prabodhankar Thackeray)’ or ‘Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray)’, that would be acceptable to us,” news agency ANI quoted Sawant as saying.
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“The ECI froze our election symbol. They asked us to give symbols, Uddhav Thackeray gave three symbols – ‘trishul’, ‘mashaal’ and ‘rising sun’. The ECI will decide and allot the symbol now,” Sawant said.
The election commission is now expected to allot the symbol that can be used by the Thackeray faction for the by-election in Mumbai’s Andheri East slated for November 3.
The poll body had barred the Shiv Sena factions, led by former Maharashtra chief minister Thackeray and his successor Shinde, from using the party name and its election symbol – ‘bow and arrow’ – in the bypoll. The order came amid the ongoing tussle between both factions, following Maharashtra chief minister Shinde’s rebellion in June.
Meanwhile, Deepak Kesarkar hit out at the Thackeray-led faction and accused it of seeking sympathy. “They (Uddhav faction) haven’t done anything in the past 2.5 years. People wouldn’t vote for them, thus they are seeking sympathy. The ECI is a Constitutional authority, we should keep its respect, not insult them over Twitter,” Kesarkar, who is a minister in the Shinde cabinet, said.
