Delhi Court Reserves Order On Uddhav Thackeray's Request Against Poll Body

The Division Bench of Delhi High Court today reserved the order on the plea moved by former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray challenging the Single bench order that rejected his plea against the Election Commission's order for freezing the symbol (Bow and Arrow) and the name of the Shivsena political party.

The Bench headed by Chief Justice Satish Chander Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad kept the order reserved after hearing the arguements at length.

The appeal moved before the Division Bench stated that the Single Judge failed to appreciate that in passing the order dated October 8, 2022, the Election Commission of India (ECI) proceeded on the assumption of the existence of two rival groups within the Shivsena political party.

The Single Judge failed to appreciate that there is no dispute as to the leadership of the Shivsena Political Party and therefore, ECI has no jurisdiction to entertain the para 15 Petition, said the appeal.

Last month, the Bench of Justice Sanjeev Narula while dismissing the plea, directed the ECI to decide the dispute pending before it as expeditiously as possible.

The Petition moved by Uddhav Thackeray had sought direction to quash the order passed by the ECI on October 8 that freezed the election symbol of the Shivsena Political Party.

Election Commission counsel earlier told the court: "This is purely an interim arrangement. The commission will decide the matter after hearing all parties."

The plea before the Single bench had submitted that ECI has been vested with wide powers under Article 324 of the Constitution of India and the Symbols Order to ensure the effective functioning of our democratic system. It is submitted that a symbol is reflective of the ideas/ethos of the party and ECI should grant recognition of any such symbol which reflects the true ideology, ethos, and aspirations of a political party.

It further stated that on January 23, 2018, the Organizational Elections of the Party for the term 2018-2023 was held as per Rule V of the Rules and Regulations of Shiv Sena, which mandates intra-party elections to be conducted once in five years. In the said elections, the Petitioner/Uddhav Thackeray, was unanimously elected as the 'Shiv Sena Paksha Pramukh' of the party.

Shiv Sena was founded by Late Balasaheb Thackeray on June 19, 1966 to espouse the ideology and legacy of the Maratha King Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. The Party is a recognised state party under the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968 (hereinafter, Symbols Order'), and has been allotted 'Bow and Arrow' as its reserved symbol in the State of Maharashtra for the purposes of elections.

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