Shinde faction of Shiv Sena gets 'two swords and a shield' poll symbol

The Election Commission on Tuesday allotted 'two swords and a shield' poll symbol to Eknath Shinde faction of Shiv Sena.

The Shinde faction had sent three new election symbols to the Election Commission (EC) regarding the Andheri assembly by-election in Mumbai. A day earlier, the Election Commission had rejected his three symbols including the gada (mace).

This follows the EC's decision to put an interim ban on the use of the Shiv Sena's name and its symbol, bow and arrow, in the upcoming Andheri assembly by-election, which is why new names and symbols are being allotted to both the factions.

The EC has named the Eknath Shinde faction as Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena and the Uddhav Thackeray faction as Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray). Thackeray's party has been alloted the torch symbol.

The EC refused to allocate religious symbols when the Shinde faction asked for mace and trident, earlier.

(With inputs from agencies)