The battle over the Shiv Sena party symbol is set to return to the Supreme Court, as the Uddhav Thackeray-led faction continues its legal challenge against the Election Commission’s decision to hand over the party name and its iconic ‘bow and arrow’ symbol to the Eknath Shinde camp.
On Wednesday, July 2, the Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray (UBT) group sought urgent intervention from the apex court. Senior Advocate Devadatt Kamat, representing the faction, mentioned the matter before a vacation bench consisting of Justices M.M. Sundresh and K. Vinod Chandran. He pushed for the matter to be listed immediately, citing upcoming local body elections in Maharashtra as a pressing concern.
But the bench was hesitant. It noted that this period marked partial working days for the Court and initially declined to take up the case on an urgent basis. The Shinde faction’s legal team also pointed out that a similar request had been made in May before Justice Surya Kant’s bench, which had then refused an early hearing.
Kamat, however, countered that Justice Kant had not ruled out the matter being raised during the court vacation. He went on to argue that the urgency stemmed not only from the election timeline but from the public’s right to make an informed political choice. He drew attention to how, in a similar dispute within the Nationalist Congress Party, the Court had asked the Ajit Pawar faction to advertise that their use of the party symbol was still under judicial review.
Despite the initial resistance, the bench eventually relented. After hearing Kamat’s arguments and acknowledging the broader electoral implications, the judges agreed to list the matter for hearing on July 14, the day the Supreme Court resumes regular sessions after vacation.
