Poll panel allows Sharad Pawar’s NCP to accept contributions

In the meantime, the EC had given the party the use of the name NCP-Sharadchandra Pawar and the symbol “man blowing turha”.

Poll panel, Sharad Pawar, NCP, election commission of India, Maharashtra Assembly polls, Nationalist Congress Party, Supreme Court, Sharad Pawar, Ajit Pawar, Indian express news

NCP chief Sharad Pawar (File Photo)

Ahead of Maharashtra Assembly polls later this year, the Election Commission Monday allowed the Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar (NCP-SCP) to accept contributions, till the Supreme Court decides on the petition between Sharad Pawar and his nephew, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar.

After the EC decided that the Ajit Pawar group represented the real NCP and gave it control of the party name and symbol , Sharad Pawar moved the apex court.

In the meantime, the EC had given the party the use of the name NCP-Sharadchandra Pawar and the symbol “man blowing turha”.

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Acting on Supreme Court orders, the EC had provisionally reserved the symbol for the party in the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections. The party then approached the EC asking it to issue a communication allowing it to receive voluntary contributions, which political parties are allowed to under the Representation of the People Act, 1951.

On Monday, when a delegation of NCP-SCP leaders met the Commission, the EC allowed the party to accept voluntary contributions from any person or company other than a government company, as per the RP Act.

NCP MP Supriya Sule said: “ I am grateful to the EC for…allowing us to raise money in a legal, transparent way.”

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