Shiv Sena's Constitution Altered to Tackle Leader's Popularity: Shinde Faction

Mumbai: The Eknath Shinde faction of Shiv Sena on Friday claimed Uddhav Thackeray amended the party constitution in 2018 to counter the “overwhelming support” for Mr. Shinde in the party’s organisational wing. While cross-examining Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Sunil Prabhu in the disqualification petitions against the Shinde faction MLAs, advocate Mahesh Jethmalani suggested that by amending the constitution, the organisational structure was changed.

Referring to the amendment in the Shiv Sena constitution in 2018, Mr. Jethmalani said that the amended constitution is not on the record with the Election Commission of India. “Eknath Shinde enjoys the overwhelming support of the organisational wing of Shiv Sena. The said amendment in the constitution was done to overcome this (Mr. Shinde’s growing support) and make changes in organisational structure to achieve it,” Mr. Jethmalani said to Mr. Prabhu, who denied the suggestion as false.

The Shiv Sena constitution can be crucial in the disqualification petitions against 38 MLAs including Mr. Shinde. The Shinde faction has claimed that the organisatonal elections in 2018 were not held as per the provisions in the party constitution of 1999, which is on record with the ECI. Uddhav Thackeray was elected as the ‘Paksha Pramukh’ of Shiv Sena in 2018. However, the Shinde faction claims that such a post does not exist in the party as per its constitution. Even most of the party functionaries were appointed by Mr. Thackeray in 2018 and were not elected as per the party constitution.

On the other hand, the Thackeray faction is relying on the amendments in the constitution in 2018. While challenging the ECI decision to hand over the party to Mr Shide, the Thackeray faction has also disputed the election body’s decision not to recognise the amended constitution.