Mumbai: EC verdict on Shiv Sena poll symbol divides experts

Two former chief election commissioners CEC have supported the Election Commissionrsquos order on the Shiv Sena symbol dispute saying it applied the timetested principles to arrive at the decision However a Constitution expert feels the verdict is flawed as the test to ascertain the strength of Uddhav Thackeray grouprsquos organisational wing was not usedThe poll panel had on Friday February 17 recognised the Eknath Shindefaction as the real Shiv Sena and ordered allotment of the bow and arrow election symbol of the undivided party founded by the late Balasaheb Thackeray to itlsquoSC held EC sole authorityrsquoSushil Chandra who was the CEC between April 2021 and May 2022 said in such matters the poll panel has always followed the Sadiq Ali Supreme Court case He also observed that the top court has held that the EC is the sole authority in deciding such mattersS Y Qureshi who was the CEC between July 2010 and June 2012 said the EC order was on ldquoexpected linesrdquo He said the number of MPs and MLAs the legislative wing of the party have been the deciding factor ldquoalwaysrdquo He recalled that the apex court in its judgment in 1971 had said that intraparty feuds are not property disputes where a family is contesting it and the property is divided ldquoIt is winner takes allhellip if one faction is the party or the real party in common parlance there is no question on the division of the partyrdquo Qureshi saidAlso Read ThackerayShinde feud set to find echo in Budget session of Maharashtra legislature beginning Feb 27lsquoOrder not soundrsquoBut Constitution expert and former Lok Sabha secretary general P D T Achari felt that the EC order was ldquoflawedrdquo as it overlooked the strength of the organisational wing of the party supporting ThackerayThe test adopted by the EC was to look into the strengths of the organisational and legislative wings of the party The principle was upheld by the Supreme Court in the Sadiq Ali case he said ldquoThe EC has taken only the legislative wing as the basis to conclude that Shinde faction is the partyrdquo Achari said He added that as per the criteria laid down and upheld by the SC the EC order is not ldquovery soundrdquoHe noted that the poll panel has given a reason for not looking at the organisation The EC according to him said the party constitutionrsquos functioning was not very democratic and all powers were concentrated in the hands of the ldquotop manrdquo Thackeray He said the EC ldquocannot go beyond their remit and EC cannot decide what party structure should be adopted and followed by political parties They have the freedom to structure their party as they likerdquo he saidHe said ldquoIt is not the constitutional function of the EC to find out whether the president has more powers or the general secretary has more powers and take a position on that That is the flaw in this judgment It is incomplete and the test which the EC has applied is confined to the strength of the legislative wing of the party hellip this decision is flawedrdquoIn its order the poll watchdog detailed why it was forced to ignore the claims of the rival factions over the organisational wing of the party contending that the amendments to the Shiv Sena constitution in 2018 after the death of founder Balasaheb Thackeray were undemocratic and paved the way to appoint people from a coterie as office bearers without any election at allThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever