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Mumbai: In a major blow to Uddhav Thackeray, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has declared Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde’s faction as the ‘real Shiv Sena’. Along with this, Uddhav Thackeray has now lost the election symbol of ‘bow and arrow’, which was running since the time of Balasaheb Thackeray. Its effect was also seen on social media platforms, where along with changing the name of the party, the blue tick i.e. verification was also removed.
The Uddhav faction had changed its Twitter handle to @ShivsenaUBT_ following the Election Commission’s decision. Due to this the blue tick of the party was snatched away. Along with this, the blue tick of the party’s official media handle @ShivsenaComms on Twitter has also been removed from being @ShivsenaUBTComm. The name of the party’s YouTube channel has also been changed to Shiv Sena UBT from Shiv Sena.
According to the report, an official has informed that, ‘We have taken this step to avoid confusion among the cadre as well as the public due to the name. Blue tick has been removed from Twitter on the basis of norms. We have applied for re-certification and it will happen soon.’
According to media reports, the Election Commission on Friday (February 17) recognized the Eknath Shinde-led faction as the original Shiv Sena and ordered it to be allotted the ‘bow and arrow’ election symbol. In its 78-page order after a long battle for control of the party, the Election Commission has allowed the Uddhav Thackeray faction to retain the ‘torch’ election symbol till the completion of the assembly bypolls in the state.
The Election Commission has said that out of 55 winning candidates of Shiv Sena in the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly elections, about 76 per cent votes were cast in favor of the MLAs supporting Eknath Shinde. Uddhav Thackeray faction MLAs got 23.5 percent of the votes cast in favor of the winning candidates of Shiv Sena in the 2019 assembly elections in Maharashtra.
