Supreme Court to hear on Monday a petition filed by Sharad Pawar challenging Election Commission of India's (ECI) decision to recognise Ajit Pawar faction as the real National Congress Party (NCP).
The matter is listed before a bench of Justice Surya Kant, Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice KV Viswanathan.
Earlier, on February 7, The Ajit Pawar Faction filed a caveat in Supreme Court anticipating a petition by Sharad Pawar faction’s against the ECI order. The caveat says that no order should be passed by the top court in Sharad Pawar's plea without hearing Ajit Pawar's faction.
On February 6, the ECI recognised Ajit Pawar's faction as the real NCP and allotted the NCP symbol 'Wall Clock' to Ajit Pawar's faction.
The ECI noted that both factions were found to be working outside the party constitution and organisational elections. Consequently, the test of majority in the legislative wing favoured Ajit Pawar's faction.
The ECI gave Sharad Pawar-led group a "one-time option" to claim a name for its political outfit and provide three preferences in view of the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections.
In another setbeck to the Sharad Pawar faction, the Maharasha Speaker Rahul Narwekar on Tuesday ruled that the faction headed by Ajit Pawar is the real NCP. The Speaker while pronouncing the verdict on the disqualification petitions said there has been two parallel claims by Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar since June 30 last year.
The Speaker's decision was based on the factor of legislative majority. Ajit Pawar had the support of 41 MLAs of the party.
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Earlier, the Supreme Court had granted the Maharashtra Speaker time till February 15 to decide on the disqualification petitions of NCP MLAs affiliated to Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar's group.
Ajit Pawar was sworn in as the Deputy Chief Minister in the Maharashtra government after he rebelled against his uncle and NCP supremo Sharad Pawar. Ajit Pawar walked away with a majority of NCP MLAs in July 2023, and supported the BJP-Shiv Sena coalition government led by Eknath Shinde in Maharashtra.
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.