NCP Crisis: Sharad Pawar Faction Seeks EC Action Against Ajit Camp For Forged Affidavit To Prove Strength

Abhishek Manu Singhvi, representing the Congress leader and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) faction led by Sharad Pawar, on Thursday accused the Ajit Pawar group of submitting forged affidavits to the Election Commission.

He urged the electoral body to take punitive measures due to the alleged falsification of evidence regarding their claim over the party's name and election symbol.

"We presented shocking and strange facts before the Election Commission. We found 20,000 such affidavits that were filed by the applicant (the Ajit Pawar faction) before EC, and we presented a chart of 8,900 of those affidavits that were riddled with errors, which shows that all these affidavits are forged and fraudulent," ANI quoted Singhvi as saying.

Singhvi provided some instances of these falsified affidavits, showcasing a series of documents submitted to the EC fraught with inaccuracies. He highlighted cases where affidavits were filed by deceased individuals and even instances where minors were documented as having filed affidavits.

He said, "We have made 24 such categories of fraud, which reflect that all these affidavits are fraudulent. This shows that the Ajit Pawar faction has no support."

The rift between the Ajit Pawar and Sharad Pawar factions emerged when Sharad Pawar's nephew, Ajit Pawar, separated from the NCP to align with the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government. Ajit Pawar asserted leadership over the NCP, citing the support of 42 out of the party's 53 MLAs, six MLCs in Maharashtra, and all seven MLAs in Nagaland.

The Ajit Pawar faction bolstered its claim over the NCP by gathering affidavits from party officials. Reportedly, each MLA in the Ajit Pawar faction was tasked with collecting 10,000 signatures from party members affirming their loyalty to the faction.

The initial hearing regarding the challenge by the rival NCP faction led by Ajit Pawar for the party's name and election symbol took place last month.