The fight for the Shiv Sena’s official symbol has shifted entirely to the Election Commission of India (ECI), after the Supreme Court permitted it to continue the proceedings that will decide the electoral fate of the warring factions, on Tuesday. Both the Uddhav Thackeray-led and Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led factions claim to be the real Sena, ahead of the local body polls in Mumbai and Maharashtra.

The five-member constitution bench of the SC vacated a verbal stay on the ECI’s functioning in the applications made by the Shinde and Thackeray factions. The SC is hearing several petitions filed by the two groups after the Sena split and the MVA government was replaced with the Shinde-headed alliance with the BJP.