Shiv Sena symbol dispute: SC to hear Uddhav Thackeray faction plea over in August

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday (July 14) said it would hear in August a plea filed by Uddhav Thackeray faction of Shiv Sena challenging the decision of the Maharashtra Assembly Speaker to give the party symbol "bow and arrow” to Eknath Shinde faction of Shiv Sena.

A bench comprising Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi said that the issue had been pending for long and it would fix the matter in August for final disposal of the main case.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who appeared for the Thackeray faction, submitted that the decision of the Maharashtra Assembly Speaker to hand over the party symbol to rival faction based on the legislative majority was contrary to a Constitution bench verdict of the apex court. He further said that they wanted an expeditious disposal of the matter in view of the local body elections in Maharashtra.

Senior advocate Neeraj Kishan Kaul, who appeared for the Shinde faction, told the bench that the court had earlier refused to hear the matter urgently on the issue of local body elections in the state.

"We will give the exact date of listing of the matter later as we don't want to clash with other cases," the bench said.

The apex court had earlier on May 7, while saying that it would hear the matter after the summer break asked the Thackeray-led faction to concentrate on local body elections after the faction sought an urgent hearing on its plea.

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