Thackeray-Led Shiv Sena Urges EC Not To Take Up Organizational Issues Till SC Rules On Disqualification

Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) has requested the Election Commission that it should not take up issues related to the party's organisation until the Supreme Court gives its verdict on a petition about the disqualification of 16 rebel MLAs, a senior leader said on Wednesday.  
     
A letter to this effect was given to the ECI on Tuesday after the Eknath Shinde faction argued before the commission that Uddhav Thackeray holding the post of party chief was illegal, said Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Anil Desai.

The letter to the ECI stated that Thackeray had signed the `AB' forms of the rebel legislators when they were given tickets to contest the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly elections, Desai told reporters in Delhi.

An `AB form' is given to a party's official candidate.
''If the post of party president is illegal, then the candidature of these MLAs should also be considered illegal,'' he said.

The Shiv Sena belongs to the Thackeray family and "we will reappoint him (Uddhav Thackeray) and the national executive this month," Desai added.

"We have requested the Election Commission that no issue about the party should be taken up till the disqualification petition against 16 legislators is heard and decided," he said.

Thackeray was appointed as party president for five years in 2018. The party split in June 2022 when Eknath Shinde rebelled against Thackeray and brought down the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra.