The Delhi High Court on Friday refused to set aside a single-judge order that had declined to quash the Election Commission's order freezing the Shiv Sena party name and symbol. (Uddhav Thackeray v. Election Commission of India and anr)

A Division Bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad stated that the Election Commission will proceed with the matter in accordance with the procedure in the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968.

"It is pertinent to mention that the two preliminary issues which are sought to be raised by the Appellant are pending before the Apex Court in Writ Petition (Civil) 493/2022, yet the Apex Court vide Order dated 27.09.2022 in IA Nos.101776-77/2022 has held that there shall be no stay on the proceedings before the Election Commission of India. Therefore, the Election Commission of India is free to proceed with the adjudication of the dispute pending before it," the order stated.

The Uddhav Thackeray and Eknath Shinde factions have both laid claim to the party name of Shiv Sena and its symbol.

However, the ECI had passed an interim order on October 8 restraining both camps from using the 'Shiv Sena' party name and the symbol until it decides which among the two rival factions is entitled to use them.

This, after a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court in September had allowed the ECI to decide a plea by the Shinde faction to be recognised as the ‘real’ Shiv Sena and to use the bow and arrow symbol of the party.

The top court had rejected the plea filed by the Thackeray camp that sought a stay on the ECI proceedings till the Supreme Court decides the plea regarding disqualification of MLAs belonging to the Shinde camp.

The Delhi High Court had yesterday reserved its order in a plea filed by former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray challenging the Election Commission of India's (ECI) decision to freeze the Shiv Sena party name and bow and arrow symbol.

Thackeray had moved the appeal against a single-judge's order that had upheld the ECI decision. The single-judge had, however, said that it would be in the interest of parties as well as the general public if the ECI decided the proceedings related to allotment of the symbol and the party name as expeditiously as possible. 

In his appeal, Thackeray said that the single-judge failed to appreciate that the EC's order is "patently illegal, without jurisdiction and unsustainable, both in law and on facts". 

It was stated that in passing the order of freezing, the Commission has proceeded on the assumption that there are two factions of the Shiv Sena party. The plea argued that it cannot be said that there are two factions in the party, as Thackeray continues to be "rightfully elected President", a fact admitted even by Shinde. 

Thackeray further said that the ECI has exercised its jurisdiction without taking note of the disqualification proceedings pending before the apex court against Shinde and other MLAs of his camp. 

Senior Advocates Kapil Sibal and Devadatt Kamat with Advocates Amit Anand Tiwari, Vivek Singh, Tanvi Anand, Aparajita Jamwal, Harsh Pandey, Nizam Pasha, Rajesh Inamdar, and Javedur Rahman appeared for the Thackeray camp.

Advocates Sidhant Kumar, Manyaa Chandok, Shivanker Rao, and Vidhi Uday Shanker appeared for the Election Commission.

Senior Advocates Rajiv Nayar, Mahesh Jethmalani and Maninder Singh with Advocates Chirag Shah, Utsav Trivedi, Himanshu Sachdeva, Manini Roy, Shivani Bhushan, Aniket Panwar, Piyush Tiwari, Kanjini Sharma, Mugdha Pande and Saurabh Seth appeared for the Shinde camp.

[Read order]