Maharashtra : It will not be easy for Eknath Shinde to claim Shiv Sena’s symbol

It may not be easy for Maharashtra minister Eknath Shinde to lay claim to the “real” Shiv Sena. Shinde has the support of his party’s majority MLAs. On the basis of this, they are continuously threatening to bring down the ruling MVA alliance. It will not be easy for them to answer the questions to the Election Commission that who is the real Shiv Sena? Who will claim the party symbol?

When a dispute arises under Article 15 of the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968, the Election Commission first examines the organization of the party and the support of each faction within its legislature wing. It then identifies the apex committees and decision-making bodies within the political party. The EC proceeds to find out how many of its members or office bearers have returned to which faction. The commission also counts the number of MPs and MLAs in each camp. Let us tell you that this applies to disputes between recognized national and regional parties.

The rebel faction in Maharashtra claims the support of 41 MLAs and will approach the Election Commission demanding the use of Shiv Sena’s election symbol ‘bow and arrow’. Article 15 states that the Election Commission can either decide in favor of a faction or not decide in favor of any of them.

In 1964 a separate group from the Communist Party of India approached the ECI and urged them to be recognized as CPI (Marxist). It provided a list of MPs and MLAs from Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and West Bengal who supported it. The Election Commission recognized the faction as CPI(M). The commission had found that there was an increase of more than 4% in the votes polled by MPs and MLAs supporting different groups in the three states.

The Samajwadi Party also saw a split in 2017. Akhilesh Yadav snatched control from his father Mulayam Singh Yadav. Mulayam approached the Election Commission and said that he would continue to be the party president and the symbol should remain with his faction. This was opposed by the Akhilesh camp. This camp had filed affidavits by various party office-bearers, MPs, MLAs and district heads, claiming that the majority was with the then CM. Finally, after hearing both the sides, the Election Commission decided to give the symbol of cycle to the faction led by Akhilesh Yadav.

In the 2017 AIADMK case, factions led by O Panneerselvam and VK Sasikala had claimed the symbol of ‘two leaves’ of the AIADMK. After this, the Election Commission had frozen it in March 2017. Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami’s camp revolted against Sasikala.

Last year, the Election Commission barred factions led by Chirag Paswan and Pashupati Kumar Paras from using the name of Lok Janshakti Party or its symbol ‘Bungalow’ until the dispute between rival groups was resolved by the election panel. was.