The Election Commission on Tuesday allotted the ‘two swords and shield’ symbol to Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena, the faction of the party led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, ANI reported.

The Shinde-led faction had submitted three symbols – peepul tree, shining sun and shield and two swords – to the poll body earlier today.

On Saturday, the Election Commission, in an interim order, barred the factions of the Shiv Sena led by Shinde and former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray from using the party name and its “bow and arrow” symbol for the Andheri East Assembly bye-election on November 3.

The Election Commission on Monday allotted the flaming torch (mashaal) symbol to the Thackeray-led faction and recognised it as Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray).

The poll panel had earlier rejected the Shinde-led faction’s options of “trishul [trident]”, “gada [mace]” and “rising sun” for its poll symbol.

The Shiv Sena split into two factions in June after Shinde and a group of party MLAs rebelled against the former Maharashtra government – a coalition of the Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress.

After more than a week of political drama, the coalition was ousted from power as the Thackeray faction was reduced to a minority in the state Assembly. Shinde was sworn in as the chief minister of Maharashtra on June 30, while the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Devendra Fadnavis took oath as his deputy.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra minister Deepak Kesarkar accused the Thackeray-led faction of misleading citizens, ANI reported.

“He [Uddhav Thackeray] is saying that because of 40 MLAs symbol has been seized,” he said. “But the truth is he was CM because of these 40 MLAs. We left because Sena was leaving Hindutva. MLAs warned you but you didn’t listen to them. You could have stopped what happened. Speak the truth in front of people.”

On Sunday, Thackeray said in an address to party workers that the Shinde-led faction should not use party founder Bal Thackeray’s name in its election campaign. He said that the Election Commission’s decision was unexpected, but added that he believes in the judiciary.