Uddhav Thackeray
| Photo Credit: PTI

The Supreme Court on Wednesday (May 7, 2025) asked the Uddhav Thackeray-led faction to concentrate on local body polls after the party sought an urgent hearing on its plea against the Maharashtra Assembly Speaker’s decision to give the bow and arrow symbol to the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena faction.

A Bench of Justices Surya Kant and N. Kotiswar Singh told senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Shiv Sena (UBT), the matter could be taken up only after the court’s summer break due to the paucity of time.

Mr. Sibal said the Assembly Speaker gave the bow and arrow symbol to the Eknath Shinde faction in 2023 based on the legislative majority, which was contrary to the Constitution Bench verdict of the top court.

“The symbol which has been with Shiv Sena will be used by the Shinde faction in local body elections and it will matter especially in rural areas,” Mr. Sibal said.

Justice Kant, however, wondered since when local body polls were fought on party symbols.

Mr. Sibal said it happens in Maharashtra and the party symbol will have a great impact on voter’s minds.

“You let the elections be held. We have been told for more than five years the local body elections were not held in Maharashtra. You concentrate on polls. We will see what can be done,” the Bench remarked.

Status quo decision

Mr. Sibal said in 2022 the court had only put a status quo due to which elections weren’t held.

Justice Kant said he was therefore blaming the system for the delay and added the court could impose certain conditions on use of the symbol akin to the case of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) symbol row in Maharashtra Assembly polls and 2024 Lok Sabha election.