The Supreme Court will hear the matter, which will decide the case related to whether Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena or Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena will get the undivided Sena’s bow and arrow election symbol and party name on Wednesday, according to party sources.
According to Uddhav-led Sena lawyer Asim Sarode, “Shiv Sena’s name as well as the bow and arrow belong to the original party before the split. The hearing date of the case is tomorrow (Wednesday) in the Supreme Court, but it is difficult to reach for the hearing of matter number 37. Now the new question is, if the party symbol and Shiv Sena name are taken away from Eknath Shinde, what will happen to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) election result? I think the Shinde Sena will merge with BJP, and Eknath Shinde’s political importance will go away completely. Many in the Shinde-led Sena will return to the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena and the original Shiv Sena will become stronger. Uddhav and Raj Thackeray together can turn the politics in the Mumbai BMC around”.
Incidentally, the Supreme Court has been hearing this matter for the last three years after the Central Election Commission ruled that the real Shiv Sena is the Eknath Shinde-led party and the real NCP is the Ajit Pawar-led party.
As a result, the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena and the Sharad Pawar-led NCP approached the Supreme Court.
During the last hearing of the case in November 2025, the Supreme Court had fixed the date of the final hearing and indicated that the verdict in the case would be given soon. The Supreme Court had clarified that it would hear the final arguments for two consecutive days on January 21 and 22 and that no other case would be listed.
Accordingly, the final hearing in the Supreme Court regarding the Shiv Sena and its bow and arrow election symbol will begin on Wednesday.
“The Election Commission had given Shinde the right to use the bow and arrow as an election symbol. Therefore, no disqualification action will be taken against the elected members. But the moment this decision is made, the Shiv Sena name as well as the bow and arrow symbol will be taken away from Eknath Shinde’s party. The bow and arrow symbol will either be given to Uddhav Thackeray or it will be frozen. Then Eknath Shinde will be disqualified from the party. He will have to join another party. Either Shinde can form his own party, or he will have to join the BJP. The elected members, even if they are in office, can join any party, and there will be no restriction on them. It is not that all of them will join only the BJP,” Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena lawyer Asim Sarode said.
“Also, if a decision is made from a constitutional point of view, it will be in favour of Uddhav Thackeray. No one can give a legally wrong decision. The decision given by the Supreme Court regarding Uddhav Thackeray earlier was good, but it was implemented incorrectly by Assembly Speaker Rahul Narvekar. If the court prohibits Eknath Shinde from using the name Shiv Sena and the bow and arrow symbol, Shinde will become an orphan along with all the people in his party. After that, Shinde has only one option left, which is to merge with the BJP,” Sena(UBT) lawyer Sarode said.
“The BJP has already imported people from the Congress and Uddhav Thackeray’s party in such large numbers. Now there is not much room in the BJP. Eknath Shinde and some people with him will be allowed in the BJP, but not everyone from Shinde’s group will be allowed in the BJP. At that time, it is in Shinde’s hands to form a separate party and join that party. Apart from this, some leaders who will not be allowed in the BJP can definitely be given a place in the original Shiv Sena. This will also change the mathematics of the recently concluded BMC election. The equations of who will be Mumbai mayor and the strength of the Uddhav-led Sena will also change,” Sarode said.