The NCP faction led by Sharad Pawar is set to approach the Supreme Court after the Election Commission allocated the party name and symbol to ‘rebel’ group led by Ajit Pawar. The development came some seven months after the senior politician ‘split’ the NCP to join the BJP-Shiv Sena government in Maharashtra. Party MP Supriya Sule said the group would also look into alternate names and symbols in the coming days.
“Our documents were fine. Founder member and founder leader of this party is only Sharad Pawar…But now the atmosphere is something else right now. There is an ‘adrishya shakti’ in the country which is doing all this. We will fight…We will definitely go to Supreme Court…Sharad Pawar will rebuild party,” said Sule.
“Will approach Supreme Court, it is our last hope,” added NCP MLA Jayant Patil.
According to the EC, the decision was taken after the laid-out tests of maintainability of such a petition which included tests of aims and objectives of party constitution, test of party constitution and tests of majority both organisational and legislative. Meanwhile the Sharad Pawar faction has termed the EC’s decision as “murder of democracy”.
Party spokesperson Clyde Crasto however insisted that the news did not come as a surprise.
“Ajit Pawar faction leaders had been continuously saying that they would get the name and the symbol, with date… In 1999, NCP was founded by Sharad Pawar… Everybody knows that the NCP belongs to Sharad Pawar… A few months they claimed the party and the EC gave it to them… Sharad Pawar is the chief of the NCP which is there in 28 states… 25 out of them backed Sharad Pawar. Now the Supreme Court has to tell what the truth behind all of this is…” he added.
Ajit Pawar had walked away with a majority of NCP MLAs in July last year and supported the BJP-Shiv Sena government led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde in Maharashtra. He had submitted the petition with the EC two days before he and eight other MLAs took oath as ministers in the Shinde government.
(With inputs from agencies)
Here’s your comprehensive 3-minute summary of all the things Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in her Budget speech: Click to download!
Download The Mint News App to get Daily Market Updates & Live Business News.
Published: 06 Feb 2024, 09:32 PM IST