Shiv Sena (; ; SHS) is a right-wing political party in India, primarily based in the state of

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

. It was founded on 19 June 1966 by

Bal Thackeray Bal Thackeray (; 23 January 1926 – 17 November 2012), also known as Balasaheb Thackeray, was an Indian cartoonist and politician who founded the original Shiv Sena, a far-right, a pro- Marathi and a Hindu nationalist party active mainly in ...

, initially as a movement to promote the interests of the

Marathi people The Marathi people (; Marathi language, Marathi: , ''Marāṭhī lōk'') or Marathis (Marathi: मराठी, ''Marāṭhī'') are an Indo-Aryan peoples, Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are native to Maharashtra in western India. They ...

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

and Maharashtra. Over time, the party expanded its ideology to include

Hindutva Hindutva (; ) is a Far-right politics, far-right political ideology encompassing the cultural justification of Hindu nationalism and the belief in establishing Hindu hegemony within India. The political ideology was formulated by Vinayak Da ...

and Hindu nationalism. Since a split in 2022, the party has been led by

Eknath Shinde Eknath Sambhaji Shinde (born 9 February 1964) is an Indian politician who has served as the List of deputy chief ministers of Maharashtra, Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra since December 2024, alongside Ajit Pawar under Devendra Fadnavis. ...

, who is recognised by the

Election Commission of India The Election Commission of India (ECI) is a constitutional body established by Constitution of India, the Constitution of the Republic of India empowered to conduct free and fair elections in the Republic of India. It is headed by a Chief Ele ...

as the leader of the original Shiv Sena. The Shinde-led faction retained the party's traditional name and the iconic bow and arrow symbol, and currently forms the government in Maharashtra in alliance with the

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's ...

(BJP). The party continues to position itself as the true ideological successor to Bal Thackeray’s legacy.

Formation

Balasahebanchi Shivsena was formed after a split in the

Shiv Sena Shiv Sena (1966–2022) (; ; SS) was a right-wing Marathi regionalist Hindutva-based political party in India founded in 1966 by Bal Thackeray, who was later succeeded by Uddhav Thackeray. The party is split into two parties: the Uddha ...

party due to an uprising led by

, who had the support of the majority of the party's

MLAs A Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected to sit in a legislative assembly. The term most commonly refers to members of the legislature of a federated state or an autonomous region, but is also used for several nationa ...

. The split was caused by Shinde's disagreement with Uddhav Thackeray's decision to continue with the Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition, despite Shinde and the majority of the party's MLAs requesting a break from the coalition. The split led to both factions claiming ownership of Shiv Sena. The

Election Commission An election commission is a body charged with overseeing the implementation of electioneering process of any country. The formal names of election commissions vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and may be styled an electoral commission, a c ...

intervened and asked both factions to come up with new party names until the issue was resolved, resulting in the formation of Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena. Meanwhile, Uddhav Thackeray formed his faction as

Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) (ISO: ; ; SS (UBT)) is a Hindutva-based, Marathi regionalist, nationalist political party formed in 2022 under the leadership of former Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Uddhav Thackeray. It was allotted ...

Headquarters

Shiva Sena's headquarters and main office is situated at Anand Dighe's house in

Thane Thane (; previously known as Thana, List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1996) is a metropolitan city located on the northwestern side of the list of Indian states, state of Maharashtra in India and on ...

. Dighe was the mentor of Shiva Sena ''Mukhy neta'' (Main leader)

. On 24 February 2023, the headquarters was founded, relocating from Shivsena ''Bhavan'' after Shinde split from the party; while Thackeray retained control over Shivsena ''Bhavan''.

Chief Ministers

Deputy Chief Ministers

List of Union Ministers

Leaders

List of Rajya Sabha members

List of Lok Sabha members

Electoral performance

The first face off between Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena and

was in 2022 Maharashtra Gram Panchayat Polls where Maha Vikas Aghadi won 257 gram panchayat seats while Mahayuti won 497 seats. The Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) won 53 seats and Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena won 170 seats. The first major contest occurred in the 2024 Lok Sabha election, where the party rechristened as the Shiv Sena after being granted the symbol by the ECI secured 7 seats leading to a loss of 6 seats while Shiv Sena (UBT) won 9 gaining 4, since the party had split.

Indian General Election results (In Maharashtra)

State Assembly elections

References

External links

{{Indian political parties 2022 establishments in Maharashtra Political parties in India Political parties established in 2022 Political parties disestablished in 2023 Shiv Sena Conservative parties in India