For some time, Maharashtra politics has been in a messed-up situation. The appointment of Eknath Shinde as the state’s Chief Minister and Uddhav Thackeray’s decline in reputation has pushed state politics into doldrums. In regard to this, both the factions are now ordered to prove themselves as the torch bearers.
EC over Shiv Sena
Recently, the Election Commission has ordered Eknath Shinde and Uddhav Thackeray to prove that they alone hold the majority support of MLAs and MPs in Shiv Sena. It has asked both the rivals to submit signed letters of support in the party’s legislative and organizational wings, in addition to a written statement by August 8.
On the one hand, the Uddhav faction has approached the Supreme Court seeking a stay on the EC’s order. The Uddhav camp said that EC doesn’t have the right to decide who the real Shiv Sena is. As reported by IndiaToday, the petition included allegations against the Shinde faction, that in acts of desperation and in order to portray a majority, it is trying to illegally grab the numbers and fabricate an artificial majority in the organization.
On the other hand, CM Eknath Shinde accepted the EC’s directives by saying, “The Election Commission wrote to us. We will take our stand in front of the EC. We are Shiv Sena. We have 50 MLAs, and in Lok Sabha, 2/3rd of the members are with us.”
Apart from this, instead of owning up to the mistakes, Sanjay Raut, Uddhav’s right-hand man, said that Delhi is “trying to destroy the party.” He further included that the party was established by Balasaheb Thackeray around 56 years ago and “Uddhav Thackeray is the only leader of Shiv Sena today.”
All this can be viewed as a political tactic to save Shiv Sena from the clutches of Uddhav Thackeray. Apparently, the appointment of Devendra Fadnavis as the deputy CM was a strategic move by the BJP to save Maharashtra from the unholy alliance of Maha Vikas Aghadi.
Shinde becoming the next choice
As reported by TFI, Eknath Shinde is a staunch Shiv Sainik who got guidance directly from Bala Saheb Thackeray and Thane’s Anand Dighe. He rebelled against the CM Uddhav Thackeray on the Hindutva plank. As the matter of fact is that everything was going well for the Hindutva party Shiv Sena till Uddhav’s greed for power trumped the Hindutva ideology.
With the elections, it became apparent that Shinde holds more confidence in support from the party MLAs and MPs, which further proved a dilapidated state for Thackerays. Eknath Shinde has the numbers on his side and may revive the original Shiv Sena.
Legal Terms of the EC’s order
Amid the brow-beaten rivalry between the two factions, it’s imperative to recognize Shiv Sena with a single head. Legally, in case of a party divide, the political segment is allocated to the one who enjoys the maximum amount of support from the party MLAs and MPs.
In the fulfilment of the same, it’s significant for Shinde and Thackeray to prove their majority, in order to recognize Shiv Sena with its most favoured representative.
It’s not the first time that the Election Commission is focusing on the fulfilment of this formality. The same happened with the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) of Ram Vilas Paswan. His son tried to represent the political party as his hierarchical successor when he died. However, Pashupati Paswan held the favour of the majority of party MLAs and MPs. Thus, as per the rule, EC recognized LJP with Pashupati Paswan as its next leader.
The same anecdote can be seen being repeated in Maharashtra as well. Currently, Shiv Sena can be said to be existing in a dilapidated state. The party was initially a Hindutva idea of Balasaheb Thackeray. His aspirations came with the united party, however, that became unlikely under the leadership of Uddhav Thackeray. Now with Shinde holding the current flagship of the state, Uddhav not only lost the throne but he is also bound to lose the party as well.
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