NEW DELHI: Ajit Pawar, leader of the breakaway NCP faction, wrote to the Election Commission staking claim to the NCP name and 'alarm clock' symbol on June 30, two days before he joined the Eknath Shinde-led government in Maharashtra with eight party MLAs.
On Wednesday, the poll panel received affidavits of 43 NCP MLAs, MPs and MLCs, all dated June 30, declaring allegiance to the Ajit faction and an undated resolution unanimously electing Sharad Pawar's nephew as the NCP chief.On July 3, the EC received an email from Jayant R Patil, president of NCP's Maharashtra unit, filing a caveat against the EC issuing any directive relating to the NCP name and symbol without hearing the group led by NCP chief Sharad Pawar.
The email also apprised the EC of a plea filed before the Maharashtra assembly speaker by NCP led by Sharad Pawar, seeking disqualification of the nine MLAs who were sworn in as ministers in the Shinde government on July 2.No immediate action is expected from the EC as the legal framework for deciding petitions filed under Para 15 of the Symbols Order, 1968, requires filings by the different factions staking claim to the party name and symbol to be exchanged between them.
The commission is yet to receive any documentation from the Sharad Pawar group.Incidentally, chief election commissioner Rajiv Kumar and other members of the commission are due to travel abroad over the next few days.
While Kumar left for Colombia on Wednesday to attend an executive board meeting of the Association of World Election Bodies (AWEB), election commissioner Anup Chandra Pandey will be travelling to Uzbekistan on Thursday as an international observer for the presidential election.03:58'Sharad Pawar is NCP president...':Maharashtra Deputy CM Ajit Pawar on NCP SymbolSince the EC hears and adjudicates symbol disputes in a quasi-judicial capacity, it may decide to issue an interim order freezing the party name and 'alarm clock' symbol and ask the warring factions to choose a different party name and symbol until the dispute is decided.
It had done so in the case relating to the recent split in Shiv Sena, going only by the documents filed by the factions led by Uddhav Thackeray and Eknath Shinde rather than starting hearings, in view of the "urgency" arising out of the Andheri East assembly bypoll.Of course, the EC - when not forced by an immediate bypoll or poll - may also hear initial arguments of the factions to decide whether there is a genuine split in the party, before issuing an interim order freezing the party name and symbol until final adjudication of the dispute.