NCP Row: SC Seeks Ajit Pawar’s Response on Sharad Pawar’s Faction Plea

The Supreme Court on Monday sought responses from Ajit Pawar and his 40 MLAs regarding a plea from the Sharad Pawar faction. The plea challenges Maharashtra assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar’s decision to declare the group led by the deputy chief minister as the real Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, Justices JB Pardiwala, and Manoj Misra took note of senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi’s submissions on behalf of the Sharad Pawar faction. Singhvi emphasized the urgency of the plea due to the short remaining tenure of the state assembly, which expires in November this year.

The bench stated that it would hear the plea filed by Jayant Patil and Jitendra Awhad, lawmakers of the Sharad Pawar faction, immediately after hearing a similar petition from the Uddhav Thackeray camp. The Thackeray group has filed a petition contesting the speaker’s decision in favor of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and his MLAs.

“We will issue notice, and all objections, including on grounds of maintainability, will be decided at final disposal. Liberty is granted to serve the other respondents with ‘dasti’,” said the Chief Justice.

On February 15, Rahul Narwekar ruled that the NCP faction led by Ajit Pawar, who had rebelled against his uncle Sharad Pawar and joined the BJP-Shiv Sena government, was the real Nationalist Congress Party. He rejected the disqualification petitions filed by the rival groups seeking to disqualify each other’s MLAs.

The Speaker noted that the anti-defection law provisions in the Constitution’s tenth schedule cannot be used to stifle internal dissent, also holding that the Ajit Pawar group had an “overwhelming legislative majority” with 41 out of 53 MLAs when the NCP split in July 2023.