A five-judge constitution bench of the Supreme Court will on September 27 consider Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde’s plea to let the Election Commission of India (ECI) decide his petition staking claim over the “real” Shiv Sena and the party symbol, even as the Uddhav Thackeray camp demanded a complete estoppel against the proceedings before the poll body.
The bench led by Justice Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud said on Wednesday that the application to restrain the ECI from deciding Shinde’s plea will be taken up on September 27 to ascertain the necessity of issuing an interim direction.“We will list this IA (interlocutory application) on September 27 and decide whether they (ECI) can go ahead or not,” the bench, which also included justices MR Shah, Krishna Murari, Hima Kohli and PS Narasimha said.
On August 23, ECI was orally asked by a previous bench to stay its hands and not proceed with Shinde’s plea on recognition of his faction as the “real” Shiv Sena and allotting it bow and arrow symbol until the constitution bench considers the matter.Senior counsel Neeraj K Kaul, representing the Shinde faction, on Wednesday pressed for permitting ECI to go ahead. “The power of speaker or the governor has nothing to do with the election symbol dispute. The proceedings before ECI is on an intra-party dispute. Municipal elections are knocking on the door and there needs to be freezing of the symbol,” he argued.