Dissolve Election Commission: Uddhav Thackeray

MUMBAI, (PTI): Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray on Monday demanded that the Election Commission of India, which ruled that the Eknath Shinde-led faction is the real Shiv Sena, should be dissolved.

“The name (Shiv Sena) and symbol (bow and arrow) of our party have been stolen, but the name ‘Thackeray’ cannot be stolen,” he told reporters at Sena Bhavan in Dadar here.

Thackeray’s media briefing came after the Supreme Court, earlier in the day, refused to entertain an oral mentioning made by his faction to urgently list its plea challenging the EC decision.

“The Election Commission’s order is wrong. Supreme Court is the last ray of hope,” Thackeray said.

“There is not a single instance where the party name and symbol were directly given to one faction,” Thackeray said.

”What was the need for the EC to give this decision in a hurry?” the former Maharashtra chief minister said.

“Even if the other faction took our name and symbol, they can’t take our Thackeray name. I was lucky to be born to the family of Balasaheb Thackeray,” he said.

Accusing the BJP of destroying democracy with the help of democratic institutions, Thackeray said, “What the BJP did with us today, they can do it with anyone. If this continues, after 2024, there won’t be any democracy or election in the country,” he said.

He said he had received calls in support from Mamata Banerjee, Sharad Pawar, Nitish Kumar and many other leaders.

Thackeray said he had never left Hindutva, though he was accused of doing so when he ended his decades-old alliance with the BJP in 2019.

Thackeray said that during the Assembly bypoll in Andheri, his party candidate had used the name given by the Election Commission. The other faction didn’t even have the courage of fighting that bypoll, he added. (PTI)