Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde faction) concluded their argument on Tuesday in the party’s symbol case in front of the Election Commission of India, sources said.
The ECI has fixed 17 January as the next date for the hearing, according to the sources. Mahesh Jethmalani is the lawyer of the Eknath Shinde faction.
Both factions of Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde and Uddhav Thackeray) have been fighting for the bow and arrow symbol of the party since Shinde (present Maharashtra Chief Minister) revolted against the latter last year.
The ECI had frozen the bow and arrow symbol of the Shiv Sena and had allotted the ‘Two Swords and Shield symbol’ to the Eknath Shinde faction of Shiv Sena and the ‘flaming torch’ (mashaal) election symbol was allotted to the Uddhav Thackeray faction for the bypoll in Andheri East assembly constituency in November last year.
In November last year, Uddhav Thackeray had moved a writ plea in the Delhi High Court against the ECI decision to freeze the Election Symbol of Bow and Arrow. However, the plea was dismissed by the court.
Notably, EC passed the interim order saying in Andheri East bypolls, neither of the two groups shall be permitted to use the symbol “Bow and Arrow”, reserved for “Shiv Sena”.
The Commission’s ruling had come amid the ongoing symbol war between the Uddhav Thackeray camp and rival Eknath Shinde camp.
(With inputs from ANI)
