Hearing a plea filed by the Shinde faction of the Shiv Sena, the Election Commission of India (ECI) ordered that the party name 'Shiv Sena' and the party symbol 'bow and arrow' will be retained by the petitioner faction i.e., Eknath Shinde faction. Speaking in conformity with the ECI’s ruling, the sharply contested legacy of Balasaheb Thackeray has now dramatically shifted from his biological heir — Uddhav Thackeray — to Eknath Shinde. The party founded by Balasaheb in 1966 is now rapidly drifting away from the Thackeray family. How the rebels broke away from the unified Shiv Sena in June last year on a large scale and favoured Shinde to topple Uddhav Thackeray’s government, was in itself no less surprising. Now, almost like a magic trick, Uddhav’s sena politics stands on the cusp of disappearance while Eknath Shinde has managed to replace him not just as the CM but almost everything he claimed in the capacity of a politician. Since India is a democratic country and runs on Constitutional laws, it is indeed interesting to contemplate what legal-institutional proceedings have led to the volte-face in Sena politics. Questions are being raised on the role of Central investigating agencies for the split in the unified Shiv Sena; and on the role of the Election Commission of India in approving the legitimacy of the Eknath Shinde faction as the real Shiv Sena. In the first place, the ECI ruled in the favour of the Eknath Shinde government even as the Supreme Court of India is scheduled to pass its verdict on the Speaker's function and the disqualification of rebel MLAs. It would have been wise on the part of the ECI to first let the judiciary settle the larger and more basic question related to the split in the party. That would have given it a clearer picture of the situation on which it could base its decision. The ECI, on the contrary, decided on a rather simplistic parameter — the ‘Test of Majority’. It just had to reiterate the open facts on the ground that the Shinde faction had 40 MLAs and 13 MPs, compared to the 15 MLAs and five MPs on the Thackeray side. This test of majority ignores the broader realities that might have culminated in this particular numerical representation — something that the Supreme Court is about to explore. Furthermore, the ECI failed to assess the ‘Test of Party Constitution’. The election body has confirmed that it tried to apply the test of the organisational wing, but couldn’t arrive at any satisfactory conclusion as the latest Constitution of the party was not on record. The ECI ruled that the Constitution which is being professed is “not the one on the record of the Commission”. It pointed out that the “commission’s record shows the 1999 Constitution whereas the Constitution being alluded to is that of 2018”. Expressing its helplessness to arrive at any conclusion in terms of organisational majority, the ECI stated, “by the time we reached the stage of assessing the varying and competing claims of exact numbers of support of either group, the foundational basis of holding organisational aspects as fundamental or valuable” was ‘shaken’ in the present case. Irrespective of which faction emerged as the victor, it has to be said that the parameters on which the ECI based its ruling were not up to the mark, and could have been more realistic and comprehensive. It is another matter that much of the facts have been altered on the ground ever since Eknath Shinde took over as the CM of Maharashtra. Apart from having a clear-cut edge over the Uddhav faction in terms of the number of MPs and MLAs, the Eknath Shinde faction has also usurped the cadre and organisational support. Given that the cadre of Shiv Sena is conventionally used to the politics of Hindutva, it wouldn’t have been difficult for them to choose between the ruling BJP-backed alliance or more secular forces. Is the ground wearing thin for Uddhav Thackeray’s politics? It appears so. Will Uddhav be able to bounce back and stand firm? Only time can tell. All eyes will now be on the Supreme Court. But the facts, once again, have already been changed on the ground!