The recent announcement by the Election Commission has dealt a major blow to Sharad Pawar, the founder of the party. The commission has declared the faction led by Ajit Pawar as the legitimate Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and has allotted them the party symbol ‘Clock’.
The Sharad Pawar group has condemned the decision of the EC, calling it a threat to democracy. Anil Deshmukh, a leader of the faction, stated, “This is a threat to democracy. The events that have unfolded are unfortunate.” Supriya Sule, another leader of the group, announced their plan of action, saying, “We have two plans in place. Firstly, we will approach the Supreme Court within the next 48 hours. Secondly, the Election Commission has given us a chance to submit three names and symbols by tomorrow evening, which we will do.”
The Election Commission stated that their decision was based on various tests, including the examination of the party’s objectives and constitution, and determining the majority of both the organization and the legislature.
Ajit Pawar expressed his acceptance of the decision made by the Election Commission, stating, “We respectfully accept the decision of the Election Commission after considering the arguments presented by our lawyers.” In July last year, Ajit Pawar had taken a majority of NCP MLAs and supported the BJP-Shiv Sena government led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde in Maharashtra. Two days before he and eight other MLAs were sworn in as ministers in the Shinde government, he had submitted a petition with the EC.
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