Battle over leadership: Thackeray, Shinde to submit documents to prove majority

New Delhi: Amid the debate over who has the lawful authority to lead the party, the Election Commission has asked both the factions of Shiv Sena led by Uddhav Thackeray and Eknath Shinde to submit documents to prove who has the right to lead the party by August 8.

What prompted the EC to give notice to both factions of the Sena was the claim made by Shinde who had written to the EC informing his leadership over the party.

Shende's claim is that he has the support of 40 out of 55 MLAs and 12 out of 18 Lok Sabha MPs.

In the notice sent to both the factions, the EC said that in the wake of an apparent split between the groups led by Eknath Shinde and Uddhav Thackeray, where both the groups claim that their leader is the alleged president of Shiv Sena party, the commission has ordered both the groups to submit evidence to prove their rightful claim over the party.

"In order to place both the rival groups on an even keel and to protect their rights and interests, and going by the past precedence, the commission has directed that the documents submitted by the rival groups be exchanged and reply/written submissions be invited from the two groups," the Election Commission said.

The commission will also see what to do next after vetting the documents of both the parties.

The Shinde camp had asked the Maharashtra assembly Speaker to disqualify Team Thackeray. The Supreme Court on July 11, however, told Speaker Rahul Narwekar not to proceed with the plea seeking Team Thackeray's disqualification.

The Shinde camp has said their Sena rivals need to be disqualified for defying the party whip during the trust vote and the election of the Speaker last month.