Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde on Friday changed his Twitter profile picture to the “bow and arrow” emblem after the election commission (EC) ordered that the Shinde camp will retain the party’s official name and symbol. Describing the poll body’s decision as a “victory of truth”, he said: “This is a case where truth has won. This is a victory for democracy. Our country runs as per the constitution. Our government is constitutional. This decision is done on merit and I thank the Election Commission”.
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In a setback for the Uddhav Thackeray-led faction, the EC passed the bow and arrow election symbol to the Shinde-led faction of the Shiv Sena, which will be known as Shiv Sena from now on. The poll body also allowed the Uddhav faction to keep the “flaming torch” poll symbol allocated to it till the completion of the assembly bypolls in the state.
Expressing disappointment over the order, the Thackeray faction asserted that the haste shown by the poll body shows it works as a “BJP agent”. “The order is what we had suspected. We had been saying that we do not trust the EC. When the matter is sub-judice before Supreme Court and no final decision has been taken, this haste by EC shows it works as a BJP agent under Central Government,” Uddhav Thackeray faction spokesperson Anand Dubey said.
Read: Why Uddhav lost to Shinde in fight over ‘bow and arrow’: 5 points from EC order
The Commission observed that the current constitution of the Shiv Sena party is “undemocratic”. “It has been mutilated to undemocratically appoint people from a coterie as office bearers without any election at all. Such party structures fail to inspire confidence,” it said.
Notably, both factions of Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde and Uddhav Thackeray) have been fighting for the bow and arrow symbol of the party since Shinde revolted against Thackeray last year. The rebellion led to the collapse of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra.
