Symbol row: SC to hear Shiv Sena (UBT) plea on July 14

New Delhi: The Uddhav Thackeray-led faction on Wednesday moved the Supreme Court for an urgent hearing on its plea over the contentious Shiv Sena symbol in wake of the upcoming local body elections in Maharashtra.

The matter was mentioned before a bench of Justices MM Sundresh and K Vinod Chandran which agreed to list it on July 14.

The counsel for the Shiv Sena (UBT) informed the bench that local body polls were likely to be notified soon in the state.

The counsel appearing for the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena faction said a similar request was made on May 7 before a bench headed by Justice Surya Kant, also hearing the symbol row matter, and it was rejected.

The Shiv Sena (UBT) counsel argued that Justice Kant-led bench had said the matter could be mentioned during the top court’s partial court working days.

He argued the matter raised the “question of peoples’ choice”.

He said the plea seeks an interim arrangement similar to the one directed by the apex court in the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) symbol row case. In November last year, the top court directed the Ajit Pawar-led NCP faction to publish a disclaimer in newspapers, including Marathi ones, that the issue of allocation of “clock” symbol was pending

in court.