# Supreme Court questions democracy in Shiv Sena constitution 2026-08-06T22:06:22+00:00 | Governance | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 1 independent outlet The Supreme Court on Thursday questioned whether political parties must follow democratic principles like constitutional institutions during the hearing of the Shiv Sena dispute. The bench said the party’s amended constitution appeared to have created a one-person structure, according to Rediff.com. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing the Uddhav Thackeray faction, argued that the Election Commission exceeded its authority by rejecting the 2018 constitution and favouring legislative strength over organisational support. The case concerns the ECI’s recognition of the Eknath Shinde faction as the official Shiv Sena and its allotment of the bow and arrow symbol. It also involves a challenge to the Maharashtra Speaker’s refusal to disqualify Shinde-faction MLAs. The bench noted that the Speaker and ECI applied different tests to overlapping facts. ## Coverage - livelaw.in - rediff.com Tags: defection, Election Commission, Maharashtra politics, Shiv Sena, Supreme Court Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/supreme-court-questions-political-parties-duty-to-follow-democratic-principles/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/supreme-court-questions-political-parties-duty-to-follow-democratic-principles/#story-in-brief Review state: restored archive article, accurate at time of publication, not offered to search indexes.