Election Commission Approves Voluntary Contributions for Shiv Sena faction

The Election Commission on Thursday gave the green light to the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) faction to receive voluntary contributions from the public. This followed a similar approval granted to the NCP-Sharad Pawar faction.

According to a communication issued by the poll authority, the party can now accept any amount of contribution voluntarily offered by any person or company, except for government companies. This is in alignment with the Representation of the People Act, which governs political party contributions. The party had earlier requested a formal statement from the Commission recognizing its status for the purpose of accepting such contributions. A delegation led by General Secretary Subhash Desai met with the Commission on Thursday to discuss this.

Earlier, the Election Commission had allowed the NCP-Sharad Pawar faction to accept public contributions. In February last year, the Eknath Shinde-led faction was officially recognized as the legitimate Shiv Sena, a move that also allocated the 'bow and arrow' poll symbol to it, creating a major setback for the rival Uddhav Thackeray camp.

(With inputs from agencies.)