Veteran politician Sharad Pawar said on Saturday the Election Commission’s decision to recognise the group led by his nephew Ajit Pawar as the ‘real’ Nationalist Congress Party was “not in accordance with law” and he has approached the Supreme Court against it.
“It has never happened before that those who formed a political party were removed from the party. Not only this, but the party symbol was also taken away. This decision was not in accordance with the law. We have approached the Supreme Court in this matter. We will need to increase our public outreach,” said Sharad Pawar today.
After losing the NCP party name and symbol, Sharad Pawar claimed on Saturday that the decision was not in accordance with the law. The development comes amidst speculations that Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar’s wife, Sunetra Pawar, will contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections and would be pitted against Sharad Pawar’s daughter, Supriya Sule from Baramati.
Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi mentioned the matter for urgent listing in the Supreme Court, saying that because of the poll panel order, Sharad Pawar will likely face the whip of Ajit Pawar in the Maharashtra Assembly Session, scheduled to begin on February 20. Singhvi said Sharad Pawar’s group has not been given any symbols at all.
“Matter of extreme urgency. Because of an Election Commission order, Sharad Pawar will be subject to the whip of Ajit Pawar. Sessions in Maharashtra start next week. We have not been given any symbol at all,” a senior lawyer told the apex court seeking listing of the case on February 19. A bench of the Chief Justice of India and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra said it would look into the urgent listing of the case.
“Let me see. We will list it,” said the bench. Sharad Pawar had earlier moved the Supreme Court to challenge the decision of the ECI to officially recognise the Ajit Pawar faction as the’real’ NCP and the use of party symbols.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DNA staff and is published from ANI)
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‘Decision was…’: Sharad Pawar reacts to losing party name, symbol to NCP’s Ajit Pawar
