Sharad Pawar moves Supreme Court against misuse of his photos, clock symbol by Ajit Pawar’s NCP camp

The ruling Mahayuti comprising BJP, NCP and Shiv Sena clinched a landslide victory in the Maharashtra Assembly elections.

Earlier, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Ajit Pawar on Tuesday night informed his party legislators that no discussion was held between him and senior leaders of the NCP(SP) led by Sharad Pawar about a merger. (PTI/ Express File Photo)

Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) leader Sharad Pawar has approached the Supreme Court accusing rival Ajit Pawar camp of continued misuse of his photos and the disputed clock symbol for its campaign in the recently concluded Maharashtra Assembly polls to “unduly benefit from the goodwill associated with it”.

Sharad Pawar said this in an interim application filed before the top court where he has challenged the Election Commission’s February 6 decision to recognise the Ajit Pawar group as the official NCP.

Hearing the appeal on November 6, the top court had asked Ajit Pawar faction to issue a disclaimer over the contentious ‘clock’ election symbol stating that its allocation is subjudice.

Alleging that the Ajit Pawar camp continued to flout the direction, the Sharad Pawar in its interim application, sought the court’s permission to file additional documents which he said “establishes the ongoing and blatant non-compliance of the directions of the Hon’ble Supreme Court till date.”

Sharad Pawar’s application also enclosed copies of screenshot of what he said was a post deleted by Amol Mitkari, MLA from the Ajit Pawar camp, “of the video of Mr Sharad Pawar along with clock symbol praising Ajit Pawar dated 12 November 2024…copy of photos of banners of election campaigning by” Ajit Pawar “dated 18.11.2024 with Clock Symbol without any disclaimer in Baramati Vidhan Sabha Constituency” and few other similar snaps.

“The same”, contended Sharad Pawar, “are contemporaneous evidence of the non-compliance of the” court’s “order…by” Ajit Pawar “till date; in an attempt to engineer confusion in the minds of the electorate in relation to the “Clock” symbol & unduly benefit from the goodwill associated with it, whilst the captioned matter is sub-judice”.

Days before the Assembly elections, the Supreme Court on November 13 had advised the Ajit Pawar camp to desist from using photos of rival Sharad Pawar in their campaign material and “instead try to stand on its own legs”.

Story continues below this ad

The ruling Mahayuti comprising BJP, NCP and Shiv Sena swept the Maharashtra Assembly elections, winning 230 of the 288 seats.

Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram