Mumbai: Two days after losing the name and symbol of the Shiv Sena to the Eknath Shinde-led faction, Uddhav Thackeray on Monday demanded the dissolution of the poll panel.
"What was the need to give the decision in such a hurry," Thackeray said at a press conference at Sena Bhavan in Mumbai. "We have lost faith in the Election Commission," he said. "The election commissioners should be elected and not appointed," he added.
"There should be a proper procedure for election commissioners. A similar procedure is in practice when it comes to the appointment of judges in the Supreme Court," he said.
"The poll panel's decision to hand over Shiv Sena name and symbol (to CM Eknath Shinde) is absolutely wrong. The decision should have been based on the timeline of incidents," he said.
"The Commission had asked us to submit affidavits and a list of party workers. We filed lakhs of affidavits and spent lakhs of rupees to submit them. But the EC completely ignored them while ruling on the party name and symbol," he said.
The BJP plans to finish off Shiv Sena, he said. "Stealing our party name and symbol is part of a larger conspiracy," he added.
Faction moves SC
Earlier in the day, the Uddhav faction moved the Supreme Court against EC's decision recognising the Eknath Shinde faction as the official Shiv Sena.
Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi mentioned the plea challenging the EC's decision before a bench headed by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud.
Maharashtra CM and rival faction leader Eknath Shinde had moved the apex court in anticipation, filing a caveat notifying the court that the Thackeray faction may challenge the ECI decision.
Shah remarks kick up row
High drama began when a comment by Union Home Minister Amit Shah targeting Uddhav Thackeray kicked up an unholy fracas. Speaking at a function to mark the 393rd birth anniversary of Chhatrapati Shivaji in Pune on Sunday, Shah slammed Thackeray for the alleged backstabbing after the 2019 Assembly elections.
"First, he fought the elections with (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi's photos on posters and banners, and jointly with Devendra Fadnavis. After the elections, in the greed for power, he licked the soles of people with opposing ideology...," thundered Shah, without naming Congress-Nationalist Congress Party.
Referring to the EC's decision, Shah said that "now they (Thackeray group) have been shown their true place".
Smarting under Shah's remark, MP Sanjay Raut hit back: "What is Shinde doing now... Who is he sucking up to now...? They are traitors and thieves. Deals worth over Rs 2,000 crore have taken place for grabbing the 'Shiv Sena' name and 'Bow-and-Arrow' symbol..."
Rattled by the Union Home Minister's 'licking-sole' observation, Raut shot back by saying "Shah is our enemy... Some people want to capture Maharashtra and Mumbai at any cost. Our fight is not with the Shinde group but with the Bharatiya Janata Party".
