Uddhav Thackeray wants EC to wait for SC before deciding on Shiv Sena split

Almost certain that the Election Commission of India (ECI) will go against it in the faction feud case, the Shiv Sena (UBT) has demanded that the poll body wait for the Supreme Court to decide on matters related to the disqualification of 16 rebel legislators, before passing an order on the election symbol and branding which is the original party.

Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray told a media conference on Wednesday that fearing disqualification, the Eknath Shinde group has argued before the ECI that the faction with more elected representatives be declared original and given the party symbol of bow and arrow, which the commission froze ahead of the Andheri East by-poll. It had also barred both factions from the use of the parent party's name.

‘A ridiculous demand'

The Thackeray group's demand came a week before the SC has scheduled a regular hearing of the petitions moved by both factions. "The Election Commission has completed its hearing and we have argued and submitted lakhs of documents. However, the other group has argued that those having more numbers in the Parliament and the Assembly be declared the Shiv Sena (the parent party). This is a ridiculous demand because the party works at two levels - one at the organisation and the other at the legislature and Parliament. The party cannot be dependent only on the number of elected representatives. Anybody can buy the representatives and be the CM or the PM," Thackeray said, asking whether a party with just one MLA can lose its status if the sole legislator goes away. "Could the BJP have lost its status if its two MPs - there was a time the party had only two MPs - decided to shift?" he added.

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He said the ECI had not responded to his faction's plea to hold internal elections to appoint a new president (because incumbent Thackeray's five-year term ended on January 23). Thackeray said the rebels feared disqualification because all legal matters would go against them in the apex court. "If the commission were to decide the way the other group wanted, there was no need to wait for such a long time..."

"There is a strong possibility of the rebels getting disqualified. We don't want to dictate to the election commission, but have spoken today to clear doubts that our well wishers might have. The Supreme Court has asked us to appeal against the commission's verdict," he added.

Sources said the Sena foresees the result not going its way in the Election Commission because in other cases of similar (not exact) nature, the parent party's poll symbol and authority was decided on the basis of the number of MLAs and MPs the factions had. However, it is also confident that the SC would decide in its favour and disqualify the rebel MLAs who formed a government with the Bharatiya Janata Party in June last year. CM Shinde, some ministers and senior MLAs are among the individuals who the Thackeray Sena wants disqualified.

‘Shinde in a fix'

Thackeray said Shinde was in a fix now because he could neither merge his group with the BJP nor escape disqualification. "Since the BJP has kept them (Sena rebels) in limbo, they are making laughable arguments before the commission," he said. The Election Commission's verdict, going either way, would impact the prospects of both groups in the forthcoming elections. The Thackeray group has won a Assembly by-poll on a new symbol, but the Shinde faction, also allotted a new symbol, hasn't contested any poll so far. Disqualification of MLAs, if decided anytime soon, would have a great bearing on the current coalition government which is headed by a Sena rebel.