NCP Vs NCP: Maharashtra Speaker To Give Verdict On Rival Factions' Disqualification Pleas — Top Points

Maharashtra Speaker Rahul Narwekar will pronounce his verdict on the disqualification plea related to the split around at 4 pm on Friday.

Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar on Thursday will deliver his verdict on the disqualification petitions filed by the two Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) factions against each other following the directions given by the Supreme Court.

The Election Commission (EC) had ruled in favour of Ajit Pawar, who rebelled against his uncle and NCP supremo Sharad Pawar, and handed him the party symbol. The EC also allowed the senior Pawar to have an independent identity for the upcoming Rajya Sabha.

Here are the top points in the story:

1. Maharashtra Speaker Narwekar will pronounce his verdict on the disqualification plea related to the split around at 4 pm on Friday. Narwekar had said that the hearing on the disqualification plea was over.  

2. The speaker will decide on the disqualification petitions filed by the two camps against each other and may also recognise the whip similar in the case of Shiv Sena.

3. Sharad Pawar this week moved the Supreme Court challenging the EC order recognising the Ajit Pawar faction as the real NCP and handing over the official 'clock' symbol to them.  

4. The Election Commission had announced on February 6 that the Ajit Pawar faction is the real NCP. Following the EC's order, the Sharad Pawar group has renamed itself as NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar).  

5. The EC considers the support enjoyed by each claimant in the party’s organisational and legislative wings in case of a split, besides examining its constitution and the list of office-bearers that was submitted to it when the party was united before allotting the election symbol.

6. The Supreme Court had last month granted the Maharashtra Speaker Rahul Narwekar time till 15 February to decide on the disqualification of NCP MLAs affiliated to Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar's group.

7. Ajit Pawar, currently a Deputy Chief Minister, had walked away with a majority of NCP MLAs in July last year and supported the BJP-Shiv Sena coalition government led by Eknath Shinde in Maharashtra. 8. Following this, a plea was filed by Jayant Patil of the Sharad Pawar faction of the party for a direction to the speaker to decide the disqualification petitions against Ajit Pawar and MLAs loyal to him.