Maharashtra: What the Shiv Sena freeze means for the two camps

Their favourite ‘bow and arrow' symbol frozen by the Election Commission, the Uddhav Thackeray camp of Shiv Sena was a hive of frenzied activities on Sunday. Addressing party workers through FB Live, Thackeray said he had suggested trishul (trident), rising sun and mashaal (torch) as symbol options. The Eknath Shinde faction, which was confident of getting the original party symbol, has so far come up with talwar (sword) and gada (mace). Discussions are on, said its leaders.

During the day, Thackeray held a series of meetings with senior leaders and district chiefs of his faction before zeroing in on the symbols and three names ahead of the November 3 Andheri bypoll. In his FB Live address, he shared the name options - Shiv Sena Balasaheb Thackeray, Shiv Sena Prabodhankar Thackeray and Shiv Sena Udhav Balasaheb Thackeray.

As it froze the party name and symbol on Saturday, the poll commission asked the Thackeray and Shinde camps to come up with options for their respective groups until a final decision is taken on the right over the ‘bow and arrow' symbol and the name ‘Shiv Sena'. The Thackeray faction has requested the EC to consider the name and symbol in its order of preference - trishul and Shiv Sena Balasaheb Thackeray as the first choice.

Uddhav Thackeray during his Dussehra rally, with the Sena symbol in the foreground. Pic/Rane Ashish

In his online address, Thackeray said, "Even the Congress did not try to ban the Shiv Sena. During the Emergency, a few Congress leaders from Mumbai had suggested banning the Sena but former prime minister Indira Gandhi denied it. That job is done now. Mahashakti will discard you after use. The Shinde group wants Shiv Sena without Thackeray. Because of the 40-headed Ravan, Lord Ram's bow and arrow that is worshipped by people got frozen."

Also Read: Mumbai: Election Commission freezes Shiv Sena symbol

‘Didn't expect this'

The Shinde camp said it was confident of getting the Sena name and symbol. Sources said it has so far come up with talwar (sword) and gada (mace) symbols. Each faction is required to given three symbols and names.

Industries minister Uday Samant told the media, "We were shocked after the Election Commission froze the symbol. Chief Minister Eknath Shinde will take a decision about the symbol soon." He said that the symbol was frozen as the Thackeray delayed the entire process.

‘Not end of world for Uddhav'

Political analyst Prakash Akolkar said. "The new faction does not have much at stake. A symbol freeze does not mean Uddhav Thackeray has lost everything. The BJP and Shinde faction are creating this confusion. Former PM Indira Gandhi won two Lok Sabha elections with different symbols. She had won more than 350 seats with the new symbol."

Akolkar added, "This is the generation of social media. It is not difficult to generate publicity for symbols. The original faction of Shiv Sena gets votes in the name of Balasaheb Thackeray. Those who want to vote for Balasaheb or Uddhav will vote for them irrespective of the symbol."

EC seizes 4,000 fake affidavits

Minister Samant claimed that the city police had found more than 4,000 bogus stamp papers that had been submitted to the Election Commission. We will meet Home Minister Devendra Fadanvis and demand an investigation into the case."