The Lok Sabha Secretariat currently gives the verdict that the Shiv Sena office in the Parliament House is to be given to the Eknath Shinde-led faction after Election Commission decided to legitimize the former as the ‘real’ Shiv Sena. The decision also relied upon the majority of polls in the Legislative wing that stood in Eknath’s favor.
The recognition of the Eknath-led faction as a true Shiv Sena party happens a day after Shinde’s party took complete control over the office in the legislative Building in Maharashtra. Lok Sabha Secretariat in response to the letter written by Shinde’s political party floor leader Rahul Shewalae says that the room designated for the Sena office in the Parliament House has been allotted to the Shinde group.
The decision made by the Election Commission to prioritize Eknath’s political party is further challenged by former Chief Minister of Maharashtra Uddhav Thackeray. Thackeray also questions the allotment of party name and ‘bow and arrow symbol to the former. Finally, the Supreme court decides to hear the petition filed by Thackeray on Wednesday.
Thackeray accuses the Election Commission of acting in a biased and prejudiced manner. In his plea to the Supreme court, he questions the status of the poll panel as a rightful and judicious body. He also questions their capacity to rightfully discharge their duties by being a neutral arbiter of disputes and by doing this, he states, they have undermined their constitutional status as a democratic body.
Meanwhile, amidst the ongoing political tussle and Court’s decision, the Supreme court’s five-judge constitution bench is presently hearing the list of petitions in terms of the political upheaval and fallout in Maharashtra due to the division in Shiv Sena.
Increasing politics between opposition parties of Shiv Sena
Image source: The Indian Express
A few days after the Election Commission partakes in the decision-making of the lawful Shiv Sena party, Eknath comes into the spotlight mentioning that their party won’t stake any claim on the property of Uddhav Thackeray’s Sena including the Shiv Sena Bhavan as headquarters.
The Chief minister goes ahead to claim their ascendance from Balasaheb Thackeray’s ideology and thus, optimizes it to state that their party has no greed for money or property. He further implicitly references Uddhav Thackeray, saying that those who were drawn by wealth and property have already taken the wrong step in 2019. This wrong step covertly denotes the oppositional party’s decision to break off their ties with BJP post the Assembly poll results over the division of Chief ministerial tenure.
The Chief Minister also officially declares to take up a national executive meeting of Shiv Sena on Tuesday. This meeting is supposed to include all the MLAs, MPs, and other Shiv Sena leaders who were previously ousted from Shinde’s party formerly led by Uddhav Thackeray in the past.
A consequence of the Split in Shiv Sena
The continuous strife between political parties and the resulting decrease in Thackeray’s fortune leads NCP to eye pole position within the MVA and Maharashtra Assembly which it has long desired.
The Shiv Sena split has already led to the falling of Thackeray’s faction to number 4 as the representative in the National Assembly. Ultimately, making them lose the possibility of attaining the role of the Leader of the Opposition, a role that is now taken over by the National Congress Party (NCP) instead.
The present decision of the Election commission about crowning the Shinde group as the official one has full chance of leading to the drowning of Uddhav’s party. However, the congress, NCP, and Shiv Sena(UBT) decide to remain united under the MVA banner in their contestation of the forthcoming election. Nevertheless, the snatching of official names and symbols has the full scope of spoiling the plans for the party’s expansion.
