Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena

Defunct Political party in Maharashtra, India

Indian political party

Politics of India
Political parties
Elections

The Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena^[3]^[4]^[5] (transl. Balasaheb's Army of Shivaji) was a Hindu nationalist^[1] political party in India formed in 2022 and dissolved in 2023 under the leadership of Eknath Shinde, as a result of a split in the Shiv Sena. After the split, the Election Commission of India (ECI) allotted the party a new symbol as the main Shiv Sena's symbol was frozen. On 17 February 2023, the ECI granted the Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena the party name and symbol, the Shiv Sena and the Bow and Arrow, respectively.^[6]

On 17 February 2023, the ECI granted this party, 'Bow and Arrow' symbol and party name 'Shivsena', after a lengthy hearing.^[6] Uddhav Thackeray filed a petition against the decision at Supreme Court, expressing his feeling that the ECI decision was wrong.^[7]

Formation

Balasahebanchi Shivsena was formed after a split in the Shiv Sena party due to an uprising led by Eknath Shinde, who had the support of the majority of the party's MLAs. The split was caused by Shinde's disagreement with Uddhav Thackeray's decision to continue with the Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition, despite Shinde and the majority of the party's MLAs requesting a break from the coalition. The split led to both factions claiming ownership of Shiv Sena. The Election Commission intervened and asked both factions to come up with new party names until the issue was resolved, resulting in the formation of Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena. Meanwhile, Uddhav Thackeray formed his faction as Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray).^[8]

Leaders

SI No.	Name	Designation
1	Eknath Shinde	Founder and National President Chief Minister of Maharashtra
2	Rahul Shewale	Leader, Lok Sabha
3	Uday Samant	Acting Deputy Leader of the Maharashtra Legislative Council Cabinet Minister of Maharashtra
4	Deepak Kesarkar	Education Minister of Maharashtra

Chief Minister

No.	Portrait	Name	Constituency	From	To
1.		Eknath Shinde	Kopri-Pachpakhadi	30 June 2022^[9]	Incumbent

Electoral performance

The first face off between Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena and Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) was in 2022 Maharashtra Gram Panchayat Polls where Maha Vikas Aghadi won 257 gram panchayat seats while Mahayuti won 497 seats. The Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) won 53 seats and Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena won 170 seats.^[10]

References

^ ^a ^b "Victory for Hindutva ideology of Balasaheb Thackeray: Maha CM Eknath Shinde". July 2022.
^ "Victory for Hindutva ideology of Balasaheb Thackeray". July 2022.
^ "Team Eknath Shinde Now 'Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena', 'Mashaal' Poll Symbol for Uddhav Camp". 10 October 2022.
^ "Thackeray-led Sena gets 'mashaal' as election symbol; Shinde camp asked to give fresh list".
^ "शिंदे-उद्धव गुटों को नए नाम अलॉट, निशान एक को: एकनाथ को गदा देने से Ec का इनकार; ठाकरे को मशाल सिंबल मिला". 10 October 2022.
^ ^a ^b "Lokmat Jalgaon Main Newspaper | Jalgaon Main: Marathi Epaper | Jalgaon Main: Online Marathi Epaper |Jalgaon Main Daily Marathi Epaper | लोकमत वृत्तपत्रे". Lokmat. 18 Feb 2023. p. 1.
^ "Election Commission should be dissolved immediately and reconstituted through 'proper process': Uddhav Thackeray". The Hindu. 2023-02-20. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2023-02-20.
^ Phadke, Manasi (2023-01-23). "Shiv Sena factions clamour for party legacy on founder Balasaheb Thackeray's 97th birthday". ThePrint. Retrieved 2023-02-20.
^ "Maharashtra Political Crisis Live Updates: Eknath Shinde to be new Maharashtra CM, Fadnavis to stay out of govt". The Indian Express. 30 June 2022. Retrieved 30 June 2022.
^ "BJP single-largest party in Maharashta gram panchayat polls, but MVA trumps BJP-Shinde alliance". India Today.