Kapil Sibal calls EC decision to freeze Shiv Sena symbol as “freeing democracy”
New Delhi: A day after the Election Commission of India decided to free the Shiv Sena’s symbol amid a dispute between two factions of the party, independent MP Kapil Sibal slammed the ECI for the action, calling it “freezing democracy.”
Election Commission Behind the scenes is the Government`s submission Upfront they call it the Election Commission
Even Uddhav faction MP and former Union minister Arvind Sawant reacted by stating, “ECI freeze our election symbol.” They asked us to suggest alternative symbols, and Uddhav Thackeray forwarded three symbols to ECI: ‘Trishul, Mashaal, and rising sun.’ The ECI will take a decision and assign the symbol right away.”
“Election Commission Behind the scenes is the Government`s submission Upfront they call it the Election Commission! Shame on Institutions who do the Government`s bidding !” Kapil Sibal said.
It may be mentioned here that the poll panel decided to freeze Shiv Sena’s ‘Bow and Arrow’ symbol in an interim order on Saturday, saying, “The Commission hereby makes the following Interim Order, to cover the purpose of the current by-elections and to continue till the final determination of the dispute into the matter.” It stated that neither of the two groups led by Eknath Shinde nor the other led by Uddhav Thackeray shall be allowed to use the name of the party ‘Shiv Sena,’ nor shall either of the two groups be allowed to use the symbol ‘Bow & Arrow,’ which is reserved for ‘Shiv Sena.’
“Both the groups shall be known by such names as they may choose for their respective groups, including, if they so desire, linkage with their parent party `Shiv Sena`; and both the groups shall also be allotted such different symbols as they may choose from the list of free symbols notified by the Election Commission for the current by-elections,” the poll panel said.
“Election Commission Freezes Sena Election symbol Amounts to “freezing” Democracy The “bow and arrow” belongs to the real Shiv Sena led by Udhav The “Defectors Platter” for serving the BJP belongs to Shinde`s faction,” Sibal said on Sunday.
