The Election Commission on Saturday decided that the two factions of the Shiv Sena, led by Uddhav Thackeray and Eknath Shinde, would not be allowed to use the party name and symbol for the ongoing Andheri East by-poll and till the EC passes a final order on the dispute between them.
In an interim order, the EC said both the groups would be known by different names of their choosing and would be allotted alternate symbols from the list of free symbols notified by the EC for the current by-polls. The two sides were asked to submit the alternate names and symbols to the EC by 1 pm on October 10.
Starting in June, the two sides have claimed they represent the ‘real’ Shiv Sena and have staked claim to the exclusive use of the name and the ‘bow and arrow’ symbol. In its order, the EC said there was an urgency to the matter as by-polls had been announced this week, including in the Andheri East Assembly constituency of Maharashtra. The nominations for the by-polls on November 3 started on Friday and will go on till October 14.
