Chiefs of Shiv Sena units in 12 states back Shinde

Mumbai: In another blow to the Uddhav faction, the chiefs of Shiv Sena units in 12 states have pledged support to the Eknath Shinde faction. This comes two weeks before the Supreme Court is expected to give its verdict on whether the Election Commission can hear the rebel camp’s claim to the Bow and Arrow symbol. The chiefs of the Delhi, Manipur, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Hyderabad, Goa, Karnataka, West Bengal, Odisha, and Tripura units of the Shiv Sena met CM Eknath Shinde on Wednesday evening in Mumbai, and declared their support. “Various Pradesh Pramukhs of the Shiv Sena met me on Wednesday and pledged their support. During the meeting, we had a detailed discussion on how to expand the Shiv Sena in various corners of the country,” Shinde tweeted about the meeting.

For Shinde, who has the support of 40 MLAs, and 12 of the 18 MPs, the support from the Sena state units will come in handy during the hearing before the Election Commission where it claimed that it represents the “real” Shiv Sena and staked claim on the party symbol.

Shiv Sena has been contesting elections outside Maharashtra since 1989, but has barely any elected MLAs in those assemblies. In 1989, it contested six seats in Goa assembly elections but drew a blank. It contested 88 seats in 1993 in the Madhya Pradesh assembly election with the same result. It contested 17 seats in Haryana assembly elections in 1996, and four seats in 1997 Punjab assembly elections, but failed to open its account. The party continued contesting elections in Goa in 1999, Odisha in 2000, Kerala and Goa in 2001. It contested 80 seats in Bihar assembly in 2015, and 15 in Goa polls in 2017, but failed to win even one seat. The only time it has won a seat has been in Uttar Pradesh in 1991 when it contested 14 seats when the Ram Janmabhoomi movement was at its peak. In March this year, it fielded 10 candidates in Goa, six in Manipur, and 37 in Uttar Pradesh, but it secured less than the None of the Above (NOTA) votes in all three states. Aaditya Thackeray and Sanjay Raut had campaigned in Goa and Uttar Pradesh.