Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray has said that Shiv Sena is his party and no one can snatch its arrow-bow election symbol. But the question is, how will they save their election symbol? 40 out of 55 MLAs of his party have left him and formed a separate faction. It is reported that out of his 18 Lok Sabha MPs, 12 MPs are also preparing to form a separate faction and it is possible that that faction may be formed before the Presidential elections. The Brihanmumbai and Thane Municipal Corporations were occupied by the party but the term of the corporation has been completed. Meanwhile, 66 of the 67 former councilors of Thane have gone with the rebel faction. A little less than half of the 35 former councilors of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) have supported the rebel group.
So, most of the elected representatives and former representatives have gone with the rebel faction of Shiv Sena. It is true that most of the national executive, state units and district units are still with Uddhav Thackeray. But the claim on the organization on its own alone is not fully valid. The decision of the Election Commission or the court will be based on the ratio of the office bearers of the organization and the elected representatives. It is possible that the Shiv Sena name and arrow-bow election symbol may not go to the rebel faction, but it is also possible that it may not remain with Uddhav Thackeray either. New name and election symbol should be allotted to both, as happened with Lok Janshakti Party in Bihar. There too, five out of six MPs went with Pashupati Paras, while the leader of the organization stayed with Chirag Paswan. In the end, the commission confiscated the party’s symbol and allotted a new symbol to both of them. So, if Uddhav has to save the arrow-bow mark, then he will have to save the MPs from breaking and try to bring back the angry MLAs after the expansion of the cabinet.
