Shiv Sena row: Mumbai Police beefs up security at BMC headquarters after Shinde faction wins party name, symbol

Mumbai: The Mumbai Police has beefed up security measures at the BMC headquarters on Monday after the Shinde led faction was awarded the Shiv Sena party name and symbol by the Election Commission.

The Eknath Shinde faction took over the Shiv Sena party office at Vidhan Bhawan in Mumbai earlier on Monday morning. In order to avoid any chaos at the BMC headquarters, the police have ramped up security at the civic body headquarters.

Shiv Sena name and symbol awarded to Shinde faction

The Shiv Sena faction led by Uddhav Thackeray suffered a body blow on Friday when the Election Commission of India (ECI) recognised the faction led by chief minister Eknath Shinde as the real Shiv Sena. Shinde supporters burst crackers outside their party office opposite Mantralaya.

The ECI, in its 78-page order, also alloted the symbol "Bow & Arrow" to Shinde's faction. The Sena, founded by the late Bal Thackeray 1966, had consistently fought elections on the "Bow & Arrow" symbol all these decades and its allotment to Shinde is a major setback to Thackeray.

EC made some serious observations before the decision

The EC has made some serious observations about the lack of inner party democracy in the Shiv Sena led by Uddhav Thackeray. The Commission also noted that Thackeray had not submitted to it the party's amended constitution. The amendment was done in 2018. Uddhav Thackeray had also not provided the complete list of his party's office-bearers.

The Commission also observed that as per the 2018 amendment the choice of the electoral college to elect the party president was left to Udhav Thackeray and this was "against the spirit of democracy". Now onwards Shinde group can use the name and symbol of the Shivsena party.