The Shiv Sena split into two factions in 2022, one led by Thackeray and the other by Shinde. The latter then petitioned the ECI staking a claim to the ‘Shiv Sena’ name and the bow and arrow symbol.
The ECI relied on the strength of the legislative wing of the party to arrive at its decision rather than on the test of its organisational wing. It explained that although it had attempted to apply the test of the organisational wing, it could not come to any satisfactory conclusion because the latest constitution of the party was not on record. The claims of numerical majority in the organisational wing of the party by both factions were not satisfactory, the ECI opined. Thus, it proceeded to rely on the test of who had the majority in the legislative wing.
The Shinde faction was noted to have 40 Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) as against the Thackeray faction’s 15 MLAs. Likewise, in the Lok Sabha, out of 18 Members of Parliament (MPs), 13 MPs supported the Shinde faction, while only 5 supported the Thackeray faction, the ECI found.
Hence, it ruled in favour of the Shinde faction and allowed it to retain Shiv Sena name and the bow and arrow symbol.