Both factions of Shiv Sena spar with each other at EC hearing

Mumbai: Lawyers for the Uddhav Thackeray and Eknath Shinde factions of the Shiv Sena sparred with each other on Friday during a hearing at the Election Commission of India over which group's national executive was legal.

The two factions are pleading their case on why the Shiv Sena party name and its bow and arrow symbol should be allotted to them and not the other group. At the end of hearing Friday, the EC asked both sides to file their written submissions on Monday and scheduled the next hearing for January 30.

During the hearing, the group headed by Thackeray sought EC's clearance to hold its national executive to allow his re-election as the party president, as his current term ends on January 23. The Shinde group claims that the national executive of the other group is illegal.


Lawyers for the Thackeray group - Kapil Sibal and Devadatt Kamat - argued that the Shinde group could not be recognised as the real Shiv Sena as it had violated all norms while claiming to be the Shiv Sena.

During the hearing, Kamat and the Shinde group's lawyer, Mahesh Jethmalani, sparred with each other, after Kamat kept reiterating that the national executive of the Shiv Sena recognised only Thackeray as the party president .