On Tuesday, March 19, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Sharad Pawar faction, permitting them to use the party name ‘Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar’ and the symbol ‘man blowing turha’ for the upcoming Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.
The apex court directed the Election Commission to officially recognize NCP-Sharadchandra Pawar and its chosen symbol for these polls, while also instructing the commission not to allocate the symbol to any other political entity.
Additionally, the court mandated that the Ajit Pawar faction issue a public notice stating that the use of NCP’s ‘clock’ symbol is under judicial review and is subject to adjudication. This declaration must be included in all poll-related advertisements by the Ajit Pawar group.
Earlier, Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar had ruled in favor of the Ajit Pawar faction, stating that they were the legitimate NCP. He emphasized that the anti-defection law should not be employed to suppress internal dissent within political parties.
Narwekar’s decision stemmed from the Ajit Pawar group’s significant legislative majority of 41 out of 53 party MLAs when they opted to join the Shiv Sena-BJP coalition government in July 2023.
The Election Commission had previously recognized the Ajit Pawar faction as the official NCP and had allotted the party’s ‘clock’ symbol to the group on February 7.
Founded in 1999 by Pawar senior along with former Lok Sabha speaker Purno Sangma and Tariq Anwar after their expulsion from the Congress, the NCP has seen internal disputes culminating in this legal battle over party symbols and legitimacy.
