While asking for a disclaimer over the contentious clock election symbol, the Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the warring Pawar factions – each led by Sharad and Ajit – of the NCP to woo voters and not waste their energy in court.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant, Dipankar Datta and Ujjal Bhuyan was hearing the pleas of Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar factions over the purported use and misuse of the ”clock” symbol when it suggested both the groups to focus on voters instead. The court also directed the Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar-led NCP faction to publish a disclaimer in newspapers, including Marathi ones, that the issue of allocation of ”clock” symbol was pending in court. The disclaimer was directed to be published in the dailies within 36 hours of the court order.
While doing so, the top court remarked, ”Don’t waste your energy in courts. You both should go and be with the voters to woo them.” It asked senior advocate Balbir Singh, appearing for the Ajit Pawar faction, to make a prominent disclaimer in the newspapers including Marathi ones within 36 hours. Singh claimed the candidates had filed their nominations and the stage of withdrawal of names was over but the Sharad Pawar faction was attempting to disrupt the entire election process. On the contrary, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, representing the Sharad Pawar faction, contended that the ”clock” symbol had been associated with the veteran leader for the last 30 years and the opposing side was trying to misuse it.
Singhvi submitted that the March 19 order of the top court mandated the Ajit Pawar-led group to issue the disclaimer in every poster, pamphlet, banner and audio-video advertisement but it was not complied with. The senior counsel, therefore, sought a direction to the opposite side to seek a new symbol ”This court’s arrangement has failed. They keep saying Sharad Pawar is our God. They know the benefit of using Sharad Pawar’s name and clock symbol. There are repeated violations,” he submitted. Justice Datta, however, said there could not be an intervention mid-way in the electoral process and asked them not to use the ’clock’ symbol.
Singhvi urged the court to pass an order on Sharad Pawar’s plea and decide the issue finally, as the March 19 order was based on the ground that the ”clock” symbol should not disrupt the level playing field. Senior advocate Balbir Singh countered Singhvi’s submission saying granting them this relief would amount to the main relief. The bench asked Singh to file an undertaking indicating compliance of its direction on publishing of disclaimers within 36 hours.
The bench was hearing the plea of the Sharad Pawar-led group seeking to restrain the Ajit Pawar faction from using the ”clock” symbol for the polls, as allotted by the Election Commission (EC), on the ground that it had disrupted the level-playing field. Sharad Pawar in his main plea has challenged the February 6 EC order recognising the Ajit Pawar faction as the real NCP. The top court had issued notice on the plea to the Ajit Pawar-led group. The NCP, founded by Sharad Pawar, had ”clock” as its election symbol before its split. The symbol is now with the Ajit Pawar faction.
On October 24, the top court directed the Ajit Pawar-led faction to use the ”clock” symbol in its publicity material in the upcoming Maharashtra assembly elections with a disclaimer that the matter was sub-judice before it. The top court on March 19 and April 4 had directed the Ajit Pawar-led faction to issue a public notice in the newspapers in the English, Hindi and Marathi editions notifying the allocation of ”clock” symbol issue was sub-judice.
The apex court had further said the Ajit Pawar faction was permitted to use the symbol subject to the case’s final outcome. On March 19, the Sharad Pawar faction was allowed to use ”Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar” as its name along with the symbol of a man blowing ”turha” ahead of the Lok Sabha polls in the country. The top court had observed the name and photographs of Sharad Pawar could not be used by the Ajit Pawar faction for political gains. Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar had on February 15 held the NCP faction led by Ajit Pawar to be the real NCP and said the anti-defection provisions in the Constitution couldn’t be used to stifle internal dissent.
Sharad Pawar had founded the NCP with former Lok Sabha speaker Purno Sangma and Tariq Anwar in 1999 after their expulsion from the Congress. Ajit Pawar had walked away with a majority of the NCP MLAs in July, 2023, and supported the BJP-Shiv Sena government led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.
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