Mumbai: Shortly after the Election Commission (EC) sealed the Shiv Sena’s ‘bow and arrow’ symbol on Saturday, Uddhav Thackeray’s trusted aide Milind Narvekar tweeted a picture of a menacing tiger and captioned it: “Aamche chincha Shri Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray (Our symbol is Shri Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray).
— Milind Narvekar (@NarvekarMilind_) 8 October 2022
In the upcoming November 3 by-polls, which will be the first major test for the Thackeray-led Sena since the split in the party, leaders are relying on the “Thackeray brand” and public sympathy.
Shiv Sena MLC Manisha Kayande told ThePrint: “For this election we may have lost the symbol, but in all our campaign material, hoardings, posters, we will have Uddhavji’s face, the ‘Thackeray brand’. They can’t take it away from us. ,
“The EC order was like match-fixing… There is a wave of huge sympathy for us. It just has to be converted into votes,” Kayande said.
The polling body on Saturday released a interim order Freezing the emblem of the two factions of Shiv Sena – led by Uddhav and Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde – “bow and arrow”, citing the impending Andheri East by-polls.
In the Andheri East assembly constituency, Shiv Sena MLA Ramesh Latte had died of a heart attack in June ahead of the party’s split.
The Uddhav faction has fielded his wife Rutuja Latke, who has the support of former Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance partners, the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party.
She will take on Murji Patel of the Bharatiya Janata Party, who is the face of the ruling coalition against Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena faction.
While Uddhav Thackeray has not directly commented on the EC’s order, he has shared a picture with Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray on Instagram, with the caption, “Jinkun Dakhwanrach (We will definitely win)”. “
“Just a name is enough”
Shiv Sena MLA Rajan Salvi, who has been with the Thackeray-led Sena and represents the Rajapur assembly constituency in Konkan, said the bow and arrow symbol was important for the common Shiv Sainik, but the party could win the election without it.
“There is no election symbol in gram panchayat elections. We have only Shiv Sena backed panels and publicity material with names and faces of Uddhavsaheb, Adityasaheb, Balasaheb. The rural voter still knows that it is Shiv Sena. We have won many such gram panchayat elections in Konkan. The experience in an urban bypoll will be no different,” Salvi told ThePrint.
On Sunday morning, Salvi tweeted a picture of himself with Uddhav Thackeray in front of a portrait of Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray, saying, “Bas naam hi kafi hai” (the name is good enough).
“The fight for this by-poll is against the BJP. Everyone knows that the decision of the Election Commission was unfortunate. There is huge sympathy among voters for the Thackeray family, Shiv Sena and Ramesh Latte, who passed away before it all started,” Salvi said.
Shiv Sena leaders stir
Uddhav Thackeray called a meeting of senior party leaders on Sunday afternoon to decide the next course of action and possible symbols for the party.
A senior Shiv Sena leader told ThePrint, “At some stage, Uddhavsaheb was expecting this and he told us two months ago that he had thought of an alternative symbol.”
Shiv Sena leader Anil Desai told reporters, “All important office-bearers of Shiv Sena from Mumbai and Maharashtra will attend this meeting and the choice of alternate symbol will be decided after discussion.”
Read also: EC’s order on Shiv Sena’s name and symbol doesn’t mean Thackeray faction is weak or morale: NCP