EC asks NCP factions to share documents with each other
The Sharad Pawar-led NCP has received a notice from the EC, asking it to present its views on a petition by the Ajit group staking claim on the party’s name and symbol.
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Deputy CM Ajit Pawar arrives at the Vidhan Bhavan on Wednesday. Ganesh Shirsekar The Election Commission of India (EC) on Wednesday asked the two factions of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), led by Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar, to share with each other documents that they had submitted to the poll panel in connection with their dispute, according to a source.
The EC, it is learnt, has asked them to confirm this to the Commission within three weeks, and also share with each other copies of any future submission to the poll panel.
The Sharad Pawar-led NCP has received a notice from the EC, asking it to present its views on a petition by the Ajit group staking claim on the party’s name and symbol.
Confirming having received a letter from the EC, a party leader said that in it, the Commission has “asked us to present our side on the claims made by the other group”. According to this leader, the NCP leadership will issue an official statement on this.
After his rebellion, along with several other NCP leaders, against his uncle and party chief Sharad Pawar, Ajit Pawar joined the coalition government of the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and the BJP and was sworn-in as Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra on July 2. The Ajit faction subsequently claimed support of more than 40 MLAs, out of the party’s 53 legislators in Maharashtra, and wrote to the EC to stake claim on the party name and symbol.
The Sharad Pawar group filed a caveat with the Commission and requested it to hear their side before passing any order.
Praful Patel, Rajya Sabha MP with allegiance to Ajit Pawar, claims that EC will be the ultimate authority to settle disputes, if any, between the two sides.
Along with Patel, all Ajit group leaders have maintained silence on the issue of the split in the party. It has been claimed that the party’s senior leadership decided on June 30 to remove Sharad Pawar from the post of NCP president and appointed Ajit as the new party chief.
Appointed the party’s national working president, Patel later appointed Sunil Tatkare as the NCP’s state chief.
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