Guwahati: The Election Commission recognised the two opposing Shiv Sena factions as independent political parties on Monday in advance of the Andheri (East) assembly byelection.
The Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), a group led by the former chief minister of Maharashtra, was given the “flaming torch” election symbol by the EC (mashaal).
The Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena, led by Maha CM Eknath Shinde, is still waiting for an election symbol despite the Election Commission rejecting all three of its preferences.
The polling panel has requested a new list of three emblems from the Shinde-led side by Tuesday morning at 10 a.m.
Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar opposed allotment of any ‘poll symbol’ that has a religious connotation as it was a violation of Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968 that states ‘the symbols proposed by the parties shall have no religious or communal connotation or depict any bird or animal’.
Due to this, the EC disqualified both “Trishul,” which the Thackeray and Shinde factions submitted as their initial option for the poll symbol, and “Gada,” the Shinde-led faction’s third choice.
Both groups also proposed the second preference, “Rising Sun,” which the EC rejected because it had already been “reserved” for the DMK, the dominant political force in Tamil Nadu.
According to the Symbol Order, it is prohibited to assign symbols designated for a state party to third parties in states where that state is not recognised.
Although none of the two factions’ suggested symbols were included on the EC’s list of “free” symbols, the EC nonetheless decided to designate the Thackeray-led faction with the “flaming torch,” a former Samata Party symbol that was decertified in 2004.
Additionally, both sides had “Shiv Sena (Balasaheb Thackeray)” as their first choice for a party name; however, EC chose not to give either group their first choice and instead went with their second choice.