EC asks Uddhav faction to respond today on Shinde group’s claim on Sena poll symbol

The EC directive came after the Shinde faction submitted a memorandum on October 4, stating that it be allocated the symbol as the bypoll is approaching.

In a letter to Thackeray, the EC directed it to furnish comments along with requisite documents latest by 2 pm on October 8. “In case no reply is received, the Commission will take appropriate action in the matter accordingly,” it added.

Shinde’s October 4 letter to the EC had claimed that the Thackeray-led Sena will illegally make an attempt to field a candidate and claim the symbol without having the necessary support within the party.

Meanwhile, to stake claim over the party symbol of bow and arrow, both factions of the Shiv Sena on Friday made written submissions before the EC.

On September 27, the Supreme Court had allowed the EC to hear the plea filed by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s faction seeking allotment of the bow and arrow symbol. The next day, the EC had sought written statements from both Shinde and Thackeray-led factions on their stand by October 7.

While the Shinde faction had submitted its stand to the EC earlier as well, the Thackeray-led Sena, for the first time on Friday, submitted its say on the matter along with relevant documents. “We have made our submission to the EC,” Sena Rajya Sabha MP Anil Desai told the media in Delhi.

So far, the Shinde faction had made three submissions to the EC. While the first two submissions were made in August and September, the third was made on Friday following the poll panel’s September 28 notice.

In its written submission to EC’s September 28 notice, the Thackeray-led Sena asserted that CM Shinde, other rebel MLAs and MPs have voluntarily given up the membership of the Shiv Sena and have left the party and therefore they cannot claim the Sena’s poll symbol bow and arrow.