ECI a slave to power; its decision to award party name and symbol to Shinde group unacceptable, says Uddhav 

Shiv Sena (UBT) chief and former Maharashtra Chief Minister was addressing a mega rally in Khed in Konkan’s Ratnagiri district

Taking aim at the Election Commission of India (ECI), Shiv Sena (UBT) chief and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday said that the commission’s decision to award the Shiv Sena name and party symbol to Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s rival faction was unacceptable and accused the ECI of being “a slave to power” and taking their “orders from above”.

Addressing a mega rally — his first since losing the party name and symbol — in Khed in Konkan’s Ratnagiri district, Mr. Thackeray also targeted the ruling BJP and Mr. Shinde’s Shiv Sena. Notably, the Marathi Muslim Seva Samiti (MMSS) has issued a letter making an ardent appeal to Muslims to participate in large numbers in Mr. Thackeray’s rally.

“The ECI’s decision is not acceptable to us… They may award party name and symbol to Eknath Shinde group, but cannot give the party, which was established by my father [Bal Thackeray] to them. We will not allow them to do so. This commission is a slave to power, they act according to orders from above [BJP-led Centre] and do not deserve to be called the ECI,” Mr. Thackeray said, adding that it was his father and “not the ECI commissioner’s father who had founded the Shiv Sena.”

Also read: The battle for the Sena: On the Election Commission ruling

Alluding to the massive gathering at his rally, Mr. Thackeray said that if the ECI’s eyes were “not clouded by cataract,” then the commission’s authorities could come to Khed and see for themselves who the ‘real’ Shiv Sena was.

Targeting the BJP for “behaving cruelly” with the Shiv Sena despite all that Bal Thackeray had done for the former in the past, Uddhav Thackeray said that in breaking the Sena, the BJP had wounded the Marathi-speaking populace and the Hindu community in general.

Also read:EC recognising Shinde faction as real Shiv Sena an act of ‘political violence’: Sanjay Raut