On Thursday, the division bench of Delhi High Court comprising Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad upheld the order of single judge bench of Delhi High Court and dismissed an appeal by the Samata Party against Election Commission's (EC) allotment of 'mashal' symbol (flaming torch) to Uddhav Thackeray led Shiv Sena faction - 'Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) party'.

The Samata party was a Janata Dal offshoot that largely merged with Janata Dal (United) in 2003. However, some leaders retained the Samata Party name and symbol. The Election Commission finally decertified it in 2004, and the symbol was lost.

The Election Commission assigned Thackeray's faction the flaming torch symbol earlier this month. His party will run on the same symbol in the by-elections in Andheri East.

The Party filed a petition in court last month, claiming that despite being deregistered in 2004, the symbol was assigned to the party for the 2014 general elections.

However, single-judge Justice Sanjeev Narula dismissed the petition, ruling that the party had failed to demonstrate any demonstrable right to the symbol in question since losing its status as a "recognised party" in 2004.

“In absence of any right demonstrable before this court, the petitioner cannot seek the mandamus for quashing the impugned (ECI) communication."