Mumbai, February 20: In a stunning statement, former Maharashtra Chief Minister and Shiv Sena (UBT) President Uddhav Thackeray said the party name-symbol verdict of Election Commission of India (ECI) was "unacceptable", and demanded that the ECI must be 'disbanded', here on Monday.

Thackeray's shocker came at a media conference when he termed the ECI ruling of last Friday as "incorrect" and said his party has challenged it in the Supreme Court Monday. Shiv Sena Split: Uddhav Thackeray Dares Eknath Shinde To Leave Bal Thackeray's Name and Win Election by Forming New Party.

"Such undemocratic decisions cannot be made on the basis of money-power... It's an unconstitutional verdict. We demand that the ECI should be dissolved, an impartial EC should be appointed and till then its work should be handled by the Supreme Court," roared Thackeray.

He termed the latest political developments as the Bharatiya Janata Party's strategy to systematically destroy the Shiv Sena for which it had contracted (Chief Minister) Eknath Shinde.

Last Friday, in a hard hit, the ECI had declared the faction led by CM Shinde as the 'real' one and awarded it the original party's name Shiv Sena and election symbol of Bow-and-Arrow, sparking howls of protests from the Thackeray side. Uddhav Thackeray Faction Moves Supreme Court Against EC Order Allotting 'Shiv Sena' Name, 'Bow and Arrow' Symbol to Eknath Shinde Group.

A livid Sena (UBT) Chief Spokesperson and MP Sanjay Raut claimed on Sunday that an amount of over Rs 2000 crore was spent to grab the name-symbol and warned of exposing more on this in the coming days.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 20, 2023 04:17 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).