Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde faction of Shiv Sena on Friday claimed party's original symbol - bow and arrow. The Election Commission taking into cognisance of the matter has asked team Uddhav Thackeray to respond by Saturday.
Eknath Shinde faction of Shiv Sena met the Election Commission on Friday to stake claim for the party's 'bow and arrow' poll symbol ahead of the Andheri East assembly bypoll in Maharashtra.
The move by the Shinde faction of the Shiv Sena is seen as a bid to deny the 'bow and arrow' election symbol to the Uddhav Thackeray group which has decided to field Rutuja Latke, widow of MLA Ramesh Latke, for the November 3 bypoll.
BJP, an ally of Shinde faction, has decided to field Murji Patel, a corporator in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, for the bypoll necessitated due to the death of Ramesh Latke.
Congress and the NCP have decided to support the candidate of the Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena, their coalition partner in the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA).
Shinde had raised a banner of revolt against Thackeray for entering into an "unnatural alliance" with the Congress and NCP. Over 40 of the Shiv Sena’s 55 MLAs had supported Shinde, leading to the resignation of Thackeray from the post of Maharashtra Chief Minister.
With PTI inputs
