The well-known “bow and arrow” election symbol of the Shiv Sena was put on hold by the Election Commission of India (ECI) in an interim decision issued late on Saturday (October 8) evening until the opposing claims for recognition by the two rival groups are resolved.
According to the ECI’s order’s operative section, neither of the two groups—one led by petitioner Sh. Eknathrao Sambhaji Shinde and the other by respondent Sh. Uddhav Thackeray—”shall be permitted to use the name of the party ‘Shivsena’ simplicitor”; (2) neither…group shall…be permitted to use the symbol [‘Bow & Arrow’], reserved for ‘Shiv
According to the ECI, this was done “to put both the competing organisations on equal footing and to defend their rights and interests, and abiding by the prior precedent,…to cover the purpose of the current Bye-elections and to continue until the final conclusion of the dispute in the case.”
The decree said that the two organisations “shall…be given such different emblems as they may choose from the list of free symbols…for the purposes of the current bye-elections.”
On November 3, there will be a by-election for the Andheri East Assembly seat. In an effort to prevent the Uddhav Thackeray faction from using the “bow and arrow” symbol in the bypoll, the Shinde faction moved the ECI.
A fight over the party’s electoral symbol, which is frequently an embodiment of its core identity and serves as its primary point of contact with voters, frequently ensues when a well-known party splits. In fact, whether expressing their favour for the BJP, Congress, or Aam Aadmi Party, respectively, Indian voters frequently use the phrases “kamal ka pool,” “panja,” or “jhadu.”
When the Lok Janshakti Party’s “Bungalow” electoral emblem was frozen in October 2021, the ECI last made a decision of this nature (LJP). Similar to the Shiv Sena, the goal on that occasion was to prevent the two factions of the LJP, led by Chirag Paswan, the late Ram Vilas Paswan’s son, and Pashupati Kumar Paras, the senior Paswan’s brother, from using it in the October 30 that year Assembly byelections for the Kusheshwar Asthan and Tarapur seats in Bihar.
In June 2021, the LJP disbanded.
Before then, squabbles over the election emblem had been seen in 2017, following the split between the Samajwadi Party and the AIADMK.
When the Commission is satisfied that there are rival sections or groups of a recognised political party, each of which claims to be that party, the Commission may, after considering all the relevant facts and circumstances of the case and hearing representatives and other parties who desire to be heard, decide that one such rival section, group.
Disputes involving recognised national and state parties are covered under this. The ECI typically encourages the fighting factions to resolve their disagreements internally or to approach the court for splits in registered but unrecognised parties. Under the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961, the EC issued notifications and executive orders prior to 1968.
The CPI split in 1964 was the most well-known party breakup before 1968. In December 1964, a breakaway faction went to the ECI and requested that it recognise them as the CPI. They offered a list of West Bengal, Kerala, and Andhra Pradesh MPs and MLAs who supported them.After determining that the votes obtained by the MPs and MLAs supporting the breakaway group totaled more than 4% in the three states, ECI recognised the faction as CPI. In 1969, the Indian National Congress experienced its first split. When President Dr. Zakir Hussain passed away on May 3, 1969, tensions between Indira Gandhi and a competing faction inside the party reached a breaking point. Reddy was chosen for the position by the Syndicate, a group of old-school Congressmen led by K. Kamaraj, Neelam Sanjiva Reddy, S. Nijalingappa, and Atulya Ghosh. In defiance of the party president Nijalingappa’s whip, Indira, who was the prime minister, urged Vice-President VV Giri to run as an independent and asked for a “conscience vote.”After determining that the votes obtained by the MPs and MLAs supporting the breakaway group totaled more than 4% in the three states, ECI recognised the faction as CPI. In 1969, the Indian National Congress experienced its first split. When President Dr. Zakir Hussain passed away on May 3, 1969, tensions between Indira Gandhi and a competing faction inside the party reached a breaking point. Reddy was chosen for the position by the Syndicate, a group of old-school Congressmen led by K. Kamaraj, Neelam Sanjiva Reddy, S. Nijalingappa, and Atulya Ghosh. In defiance of the party president Nijalingappa’s whip, Indira, who was the prime minister, urged Vice-President VV Giri to run as an independent and asked for a “conscience vote.”Following Giri’s victory, Indira was kicked out of the Congress, causing the “old” Congress (O), led by Nijalingappa, and the “new” Congress (J), led by Indira, to break apart. The split side was given the symbol of a cow with a calf, while the “old” Congress kept the party’s representation of two bullocks pulling a yoke. A resounding majority of party delegates/office bearers, MPs, and MLAs have backed one of the factions in nearly all cases where the EC has made a decision so far. In the Shiv Sena affair, the vast majority of the party’s elected officials have sided with Shinde.Only after the AIADMK separated in 1987, following M G Ramachandran’s passing, did the EC encounter an unusual circumstance. The majority of MPs and MLAs sided with the faction headed by Janaki MGR, but a sizable portion of the party organisation sided with J Jayalalithaa. However, a compromise was achieved before the EC was compelled to decide which faction should keep the party insignia.The EC recognised both the Congress (O) and the breakaway faction, whose leader was Jagjivan Ram, in the first Congress split case. The Congress (O) met the requirements established for party recognition under Paragraphs 6 and 7 of the Symbols Order and had a sizable representation in some states. Until 1997, this rule was followed. However, as the Commission dealt with conflicts that led to the formation of the West Bengal Trinamool Congress, Lalu Prasad’s RJD, Naveen Patnaik’s Biju Janata Dal, Sukh Ram and Anil Sharma’s Himachal Vikas Congress, Nipamacha Singh’s Manipur State Congress, and others, things began to change.
The new parties were not accepted as state or national parties by the EC in 1997. Having MPs and MLAs alone didn’t seem to be sufficient because the elected officials ran and triumphed in elections on the platforms of their parent (undivided) parties.
The EC implemented a new rule that required any party splinter groups that did not receive the party symbol to register as separate political parties. They were then only eligible to claim national or state party status based on their performance in local or central elections after registering.
