'Election Chuna Lagao Aayog': Uddhav Thackeray's Swipe At EC After Losing Shiv Sena Name, Symbol To Eknath Shinde

New Delhi: Days after the Election Commission (EC) declared that the party faction led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde is the real Shiv Sena and allotted it the 'bow and arrow' symbol, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray on Monday (February 27, 2023) said he no longer had trust in the apex poll body. The former Maharashtra CM also said that the EC should be called "Election Chuna Lagao Aayog". 

"The Election Commission is bogus. It should be called the 'Election Chuna Lagao Aayog'. We have lost trust in it," Thackeray said at a party event on the occasion of Marathi Language Day.

आज बिर्ला मातोश्री सभागृह,मुंबई येथे स्थानीय लोकाधिकार समिती महासंघाच्या सुवर्णमहोत्सवी वर्षानिमित्त मराठी भाषा गौरव दिनी आयोजित 'मराठी भाषा दिवस' कार्यक्रम संपन्न झाला. या कार्यक्रमात पक्षप्रमुख श्री. उद्धवसाहेब ठाकरे यांनी उपस्थितांशी संवाद साधला. pic.twitter.com/ySniMN0TLl — ShivSena - शिवसेना Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray (@ShivSenaUBT_) February 27, 2023

The Shiv Sena (UBT) leader stated that the poll body should not have given its decision on the party name and symbol when hearings connected to it were underway in the Supreme Court.

He said the EC had given a symbol each to Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party factions headed by party founder late Ram Vilas Paswan's son Chirag and Paswan's brother Pashupati Kumar Paras in a dispute similar to the one in the Shiv Sena. 

However, both factions are quiet over it as they are with the ruling Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP), Thackeray added.

Eknath Shinde and his supporters are 'creepers': Uddhav Thackeray 

Uddhav Thackeray also attacked Eknath Shinde and his supporters and said that they were "creepers" who had started thinking of themselves as the host tree.

Those who don't have values resort to stealing, Thackeray said in an apparent dig at the Shinde group.

Shinde had rebelled against Thackeray in June last year, which split the Shiv Sena and brought down the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, which also comprised Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress.

Meanwhile, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader and Lok Sabha MP Rajan Vichare on Monday said that functionaries of the Eknath Shinde-led faction had usurped a 'shakha' (local office) that had been for running in Thane for several years when the party was undivided.

Despite an undertaking in the Supreme Court and public statements by Chief Minister Shinde that he or his supporters are not keen to lay claim on Sena properties, 'shakhas' were being grabbed, Vichare alleged.

The Lokmanya Nagar 'shakha' has been taken over by Shinde's supporters by force, he claimed.

Since the EC -- earlier this month -- recognised the Shinde group as the real Shiv Sena, there has been speculation over the ownership of the undivided party's properties, including the local offices where the cadre assemble through the day.