Ajit's Camp Wins NCP Name, Symbol. What Now For Sharad Pawar?

In a major setback to NCP supremo Sharad Pawar, the Election Commission on Tuesday settled the dispute in the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in favour of the faction led by the petitioner Ajit Pawar.

The EC has given the NCP name and symbol to Ajit Pawar's faction which will have a bearing on the forthcoming polls.

What's next for Sharad Pawar?
The Election Commission (EC) has granted a concession to the faction headed by Sharad Pawar. They have been given an opportunity to choose a name for their political organization and submit three preferred options by Wednesday afternoon. This decision has been made in light of the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections.

"...this commission holds that the faction led by the petitioner, Sh Ajit Anantrao Pawar, is the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and is entitled to use its name and reserved symbol "clock" of the purposes of the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968," the 140-page order said.

"We are clearly doing two things. First, we are going to the Supreme Court in the next 48 hours. Second, the Election Commission has given us an option to give them three names and three symbols by tomorrow evening, so we will of course do that," Sharad Pawar group leader Supriya Sule said.

After over ten hearings spanning more than six months, the decision was made.

The hearings, which began on July 1 last year, involved factions led by Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar. Both sides had strong legal teams with Mukul Rohatgi, Neeraj Kishan Kaul, and Maninder Singh representing the petitioner, and Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Devdatt Kamat representing the respondent.

The poll panel determined that in this particular case, the principle of majority in the legislative branch was deemed appropriate. It was found that both factions were operating outside the party's constitution and the organizational elections.

The individuals holding these positions were primarily chosen by self-nominated members of the electoral college, which goes against the principles of internal party democracy.