The Election Commission (EC) on Monday allotted the name ‘Balasahebanchi ShivSena’ to the Shinde faction and ‘’Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray)’ to the faction led by Uddhav Thackeray ahead of next month’s bypoll in Andheri East constituency.
The poll panel has declined to allot ‘Trishul’, ‘Rising Sun’ and ‘Gada’ as symbols as they are “not in the list of free symbols”. It asked the Shinde faction of Shiv Sena to furnish a list of three fresh symbols by October 11 and declared the ‘flaming torch’ as the symbol of candidates of the Thackeray faction in the current by-election and till the final order is passed in the current dispute.
The poll panel had earlier barred the group led by former Maharastra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and State Chief Minster Eknath Shinde from using the symbol “Bow and Arrow, reserved for “Shiv Sena, in the upcoming Andheri East bye-election on 3 November.