In a big relief to Uddhav Thackeray, the Supreme Court asked the Election Commission (EC) on Thursday not to take any decision on the Eknath Shinde faction's plea over the "real Shiv Sena" fight. The plea demands Shinde's faction to be considered the real Shiv Sena and granted the party poll symbol.

The Supreme Court was hearing the petitions filed by the Shiv Sena and its rebel MLAs during the recent Maharashtra political crisis which raised constitutional issues including those related to splits, mergers of political parties, defections, and disqualifications.

While hearing the matter on Thursday, the court reserved its orders on whether the issue needs to be referred to a constitutional bench. A bench headed by Chief Justice NV Ramana said it would take a call by Monday on referring the matters related to the recent Maharashtra political crisis to a constitution bench.

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"We will decide whether to refer the matter to the five-judges constitution bench," news agency PTI quoted the court as saying.

Meanwhile, Uddhav Thackeray's faction argued that the EC can't decide the issue prematurely. Thackeray and his team had previously asked the court to prevent the poll panel from making any decisions until a decision on the disqualification of “rebel" MLAs led by Shinde was reached.

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court had asked the Shinde faction to redraft submissions on petitions filed by the rival Uddhav Thackeray group on constitutional issues arising due to the political crisis.

The case

In June this year, Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde's rebellion had triggered a political upheaval in Maharashtra. While his revolt led to the downfall of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, another battle soon erupted over the "real Shiv Sena" tag.

Shinde group had reportedly approached the EC claiming recognition as 'real' Shiv Sena. The move was challenged by Uddhav Thackeray's camp in the Supreme Court and they sought to stay on the proceedings before the poll panel.

An application filed by Subhash Desai, the General Secretary of the Shiv, Sena said the EC had initiated proceedings in complete disregard of the sanctity of the status quo order of the Supreme Court and that the poll body can't decide the matter since the cases are pending before the Supreme Court.

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Shinde, who recently became Maharashtra's chief minister, enjoys the majority of 40 MLAs and the Thackeray camp has been left with just 15 MLAs. The former is leading the legislative party.

(With inputs from ANI, PTI)

(Edited by : Akriti Anand)