Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray's petition on the party's poll symbol will be heard on Monday
Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray's petition over the tug of war for the party's poll symbol will be heard by the Supreme Court Monday.
Mr Thackeray has moved the top court for a stay on the Election Commission's proceedings on the Eknath Shinde faction's move to be recognised as the "real" Shiv Sena.
The tussle for the symbol comes after the rebellion in party ranks brought down the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra and unseated Mr Thackeray as the Chief Minister. Eknath Shinde, who led the rebellion against the Thackerays, has now taken over the top post with support from the BJP.
Team Thackeray moved the Supreme Court yesterday after the Election Commission asked both sides to submit documents in support of their claim for the party symbol.
In a letter to the Election Commission, Team Shinde claimed it has the support of 40 out of 55 MLAs and 12 out of 18 Lok Sabha MPs.
The Thackeray faction then moved the Supreme Court, saying the poll panel cannot decide which the "real" Shiv Sena unless the Supreme Court decides on the disqualification notices moved by both factions against leaders in the opposite camp.
Appearing for the Thackeray faction, Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal mentioned the matter before the bench of Chief Justice of India NV Ramana today.
The Chief Justice asked the counsel for Shinde camp, Senior Advocate NK Kaul, about the status of proceedings before the Election Commission. Mr Kaul replied that the poll panel has only issued notices to both factions to submit the documents supporting their claim by August 8.
The court then said it would hear this matter along with the related pleas on Monday.