Team Shinde claims Sena's 'bow and arrow' symbol ahead of bypoll; EC asks team Thackeray to respond by Oct 8
The Shinde faction's claim to the symbol was primarily seen as an attempt to deny the 'bow and arrow' to the Thackeray faction. The Election Commission had requested a response from Team Thackeray by Saturday.
FollowEknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena faction met with the Election Commission to stake a claim to the party's 'bow and arrow' poll symbol on Friday.
After meeting with the Shinde camp, the poll body requested a response from the Uddhav Thackeray camp by Saturday. In a letter to Thackeray, the Commission asked that he submit statements and the necessary documents by 2:00 pm on October 8.
The meeting comes ahead of the Andheri East assembly by-election in Maharashtra, which was necessary after Ramesh Latke's death. The move is seen as an attempt to deny the Thackeray faction the 'bow and arrow' election symbol, which has decided to field Rutuja Latke, the widow of MLA Ramesh Latke, for the upcoming assembly bypoll in Andheri East segment, on November 3.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), an ally of the Shinde faction, has decided to run Murji Patel, a Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) corporator, in the bypoll.
Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) have decided to support Shiv Sena Thackeray camp candidate Vikas Aghadi, their coalition partner in Maharashtra (MVA).
In June, the Shiv Sena split into two factions after Shinde raised a revolt banner against Thackeray for forming an "unnatural alliance" with Congress and the NCP. More than 40 of the Shiv Sena's 55 MLAs backed Shinde, forcing Thackeray to resign as Maharashtra Chief Minister.
Twelve of the Shiv Sena's 18 Lok Sabha members also supported Shinde, who later claimed to be the leader of the 'real' Shiv Sena.
