The Supreme Court on Thursday sought response of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) faction led by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on a plea of the Sharad Pawar group alleging misuse of his name and pictures for political gains.
A bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and K V Viswanathan further asked the Ajit Pawar faction to give an undertaking that they will not use Sharad Pawar's name and the clock symbol together in its election campaign.
Noting that Ajit Pawar's faction must identify itself separately, the court orally suggested that they explore the option of using a symbol other than NCP's clock symbol in order to avoid confusion going forward.
During the course of the hearing, senior advocate AM Singhvi, who appeared for the Sharad Pawar faction stated that the clock symbol is historically associated with Sharad Pawar, however it is now being used by Ajit Pawar faction to deliberately mislead voters. To support his contention, Singhvi read out a purported statement made by Chagan Bhujbal, a senior leader in Ajit Pawar faction. Singhvi also told the court that Ajit Pawar's faction must use a new symbol instead of the 'clock' symbol, he told the court that the clock symbol was linked to Sharad Pawar for quite sometime now.
Appearing for Ajit Pawar faction, senior counsel Maninder Singh argued that these posters were not the doing of his client but of some stray elements. He further stated that it would not be possible to identify and control when such posters are published on social media.
The above transpired in Sharad Pawar's plea challenging an Election Commission (EC) order recognising the Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar-led faction as the real Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
On February 19, the apex court agreed to hear Sharad Pawar's plea and allowed the faction the continue using the name 'Nationalist Congress Party - Sharadchandra Pawar' till further order. Furthermore, the court permitted Sharad Pawar faction to move the EC for allocation of a symbol for them. The EC has been directed to consider such an application in a week's time.
On February 7, EC allotted 'Nationalist Congress Party - Sharadchandra Pawar' to Sharad Pawar faction for the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls. The EC said that the former Union minister had suggested three names for his faction, with the first preference being 'Nationalist Congress Party - Sharadchandra Pawar', second 'Nationalist Congress Party - Sharadrao Pawar' and third 'NCP Sharad Pawar'.
On February 15, Maharashtra assembly speaker Rahul Narwekar held that the NCP faction led by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar was the real Nationalist Congress Party, and the anti-defection provisions in the Constitution can not be used to stifle internal dissent.
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