Uddhav faction of Shiv Sena moves SC against bid of Shinde group to stake claim over party, symbol

The Uddhav Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena has moved the Supreme Court against the proceedings of the Election Commission on the plea of the Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde led group for recognition as the real Shiv SenaThe development assumes significance as recently the poll panel has asked the rival factions of the Shiv Sena led by Thackeray and Shinde to submit documents by August 8 in support of their claims on the election symbol bow and arrow of the political outfitThe poll panel sources had said the two sides have been asked to submit documents including letters of support from the legislative and organisational wings of the party and the written statements of rival factionsThe fresh plea has been filed in a pending petition by Subhash Desai the general secretary of the Shiv Sena and seeks the nod of the top court to make the poll panel also a partyAlso read Revolt aimed at finishing off Shiv Sena says Uddhav ThackerayThe Thackeray faction has also written to the poll panel requesting it not to go ahead with the plea of the Shinde faction in view of the pendency of a batch of petitions in the top courtThe plea terms the plea of the rival Shinde group to get the poll sybmol and the tag of the real Shiv Sena as an act of iquestdesperationiquestThe Thackeray group filed representation before the EC last week after the Shinde faction of the Shiv Sena had written to the Commission seeking allocation of the partys bow and arrow election symbol to it citing the recognition granted to them in the Lok Sabha and the Maharashtra AssemblyThe top court on July 20 had said the petitions filed by the Shiv Sena and its rebel MLAs during the recent Maharashtra political crisis raised constitutional issues including split the merger of a political party defection and disqualification which may require consideration by a larger benchThe bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana meanwhile had extended the operation of its July 11 order by which it had asked Assembly Speaker not to proceed with a plea seeking disqualification of MLAs of Thackeray faction as sought by the Shinde group on grounds of defying the party whip during the trust vote and the election of the speakerThe bench is seized of as many as six pending pleas about the recent political crisis in Maharashtra that led to the fall of the Maha Vikas Aghadi MVA government in the stateThe first one was filed by the Shinde faction during the summer vacation when some rebel Sena MLAs moved before it challenging the disqualification proceedings initiated by the deputy speakerThe rest five pleas have been filed by the Thackeray faction The Shiv Sena split last month when more than twothirds of the partys MLAs withdrew their support from the Maharashtra government led by Uddhav Thackeray throwing their lot with ShindeShinde was sworn in as the Maharashtra chief minister on June 30 with support of the BJPThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever