Explained: As Uddhav Thackeray and Eknath Shinde battle over Shiv Sena symbol, how will EC decide?

Source: This post is based on the article “Explained: As Uddhav Thackeray and Eknath Shinde battle over Shiv Sena symbol, how will EC decide?” published in The Indian Express on 14th Jul 22.

Syllabus: GS2 – Polity

Relevance: Political party symbol disputes and related issues

News: Following the split led by Eknath Shinde, Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena has urged the Election Commission to hear its side before deciding any claims to the party’s bow & arrow symbol. How does the EC decide on such disputes?

What are the EC’s powers in such a dispute?

In cases of dispute, in recognized national and state parties:

– On the question of a split in a political party outside the legislature, Para 15 of the Symbols Order, 1968, states:

“When the [Election] Commission is satisfied… that there are rival sections or groups of a recognised political party each of whom claims to be that party the Commission may, after taking into account all the available facts and circumstances of the case and hearing [their] representatives… and other persons as desire to be heard decide that one such rival section or group or none of such rival sections or groups is that recognised political party and the decision of the Commission shall be binding on all such rival sections or groups.”

For splits in registered but unrecognized parties,

– the EC usually advises the warring factions to resolve their differences internally or to approach the court.

How did the EC deal with such matters before the Symbols Order came into effect?

Before 1968, the EC issued notifications and executive orders under the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961.

Is there a way other than the test of majority to resolve a dispute over election symbols?

In almost all disputes decided by the EC so far, a clear majority of party delegates/office bearers, MPs and MLAs have supported one of the factions.

Whenever the EC could not test the strength of rival groups based on support within the party organisation (because of disputes regarding the list of office-bearers), it fell back on testing the majority only among elected MPs and MLAs.

What happens to the group that doesn’t get the parent party’s symbol?

Till 1997

In the case of the first Congress split, the EC recognised both the Congress(Old) and the breakaway faction whose president was Jagjivan Ram. The Congress(Old) had a substantial presence in some states and satisfied the criteria fixed for recognition of parties under Paras 6 and 7 of the Symbols Order.

This principle was followed up to 1997.

The EC now did not recognise the new parties as either state or national parties.

It felt that merely having MPs and MLAs is not enough, as the elected representatives had fought and won polls on tickets of their parent (undivided) parties.

The EC introduced a new rule under which the splinter group of the party (other than the group that got the party symbol) had to register itself as a separate party.

– It could lay claim to national or state party status only on the basis of its performance in state or central elections after registration.