NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to consider former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s plea against the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) order of granting Shiv Sena’s name and its ‘bow and arrow’ symbol to the Eknath Shinde faction. It will hear the plea after the conclusion of the Article 370 hearing.
Senior Advocate Amit Anand Tiwari mentioned the plea before the bench of Chief Justice (CJI) DY Chandrachud, and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Mishra. “We’ll have to hear it. Wait for the Constitution Bench and we will list it,” the CJI said.
The Uddhav faction had suffered a setback when the Supreme Court, on February 22, refused to stay the ECI’s order, and directed the current Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and the ECI to file its counter within two weeks. The bench had also refused to accede to Uddhav Thackeray’s request to restrain the Shinde faction from taking over the party’s office and bank accounts in Parliament and the state assembly. Remarking that there is a contractual relationship within the parties, the bench said they can pursue alternate remedies of law.
“It’s a contractual relationship within the party. We are entertaining the Special Leave Petition, but we can’t stay the order,” the CJI had remarked. Furthermore, the bench had also allowed the Thackeray faction to continue using the ‘flaming torch’ symbol and the name of Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray). The ECI, while allotting the party’s name to the Shinde faction, had also allowed the Uddhav faction to retain the new name and the symbol till the by-elections for 205-Chinchwad and 215-Kasba Peth of Maharashtra Legislative Assembly were over.
A division bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Ahsanuddin Amanullah on Tuesday reserved its verdict on a petition challenging the bail granted to former chief secretary of Andaman and Nicobar Islands Jitendra Narain in a rape case filed by a 21-year-old woman.
