Mumbai | The Election Commission of India's decision to recognise the Eknath Shinde faction as the real Shiv Sena was on expected lines, said Congress leader and former chief minister Ashok Chavan on Friday.Chavan told PTI that the poll panel considered the legislative and Parliamentary majority. “It was expected that the poll body would rule in a particular manner to help the ruling party,” he said.Uddhav Thackeray should move the appropriate appellate court against the EC's decision as he enjoys wide support at the district and taluka levels, he added.

As it ordered the allocation of the Shiv Sena's “bow and arrow” poll symbol to the group led by Shinde, EC allowed the Uddhav Thackeray faction to keep the "flaming torch" symbol allocated to it till the completion of the assembly bypolls in the state.The Commission said MLAs backing Eknath Shinde got nearly 76 per cent of votes polled in favour of the 55 winning Shiv Sena candidates in the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly polls.The Uddhav Thackeray faction's MLAs got 23.5 per cent of votes polled in favour of the winning Shiv Sena candidates, the three-member Commission said in a unanimous order.