NCP disqualification pleas verdict: Ajit Pawar faction had "overwhelming" legislative majority, says Speaker

Rahul Narvekar. File Pic/Ashish Raje

Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar on Thursday held that the Ajit Pawar faction had "overwhelming" legislative majority when the party split while pronouncing the NCP disqualification pleas verdict, reported the PTI.

Rahul Narwekar said that the Ajit Pawar-led group was the real Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) when two factions emerged in July 2023, and dismissed disqualification petitions filed by both the Ajit and Sharad Pawar-led factions, reported the PTI.

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"All the petitions seeking disqualification of MLAs are rejected," Rahul Narwekar said, reading out the ruling at the legislature complex in Mumbai.

The disqualification petitions were filed by the rival factions led by Sharad Pawar and his nephew Ajit Pawar after Ajit Pawar joined the Shiv Sena-BJP government in Maharashtra in July 2023 along with his followers, and was sworn in as deputy Chief Minister.

Questioning party founder Sharad Pawar's decisions or defying his wishes did not amount to defection but it was only internal dissent, Rahul Narwekar said in the ruling, adding that the tenth schedule of the Constitution, which deals with anti-defection provisions, was misused in this case, according to the PTI.

Party leadership can not use tenth schedule to stifle dissent of large number of members by threatening to disqualify them, Rahul Narwekar said.

The events that unfolded in the NCP (in July 2023) were clearly in the nature of intraparty dissent, the ruling held.

Decisions of the Ajit Pawar faction constituted the 'will of the NCP political party', he said.

Rahul Narwekar's ruling followed the decision of the Election Commission last week to hold the Ajit Pawar-led party to be the real NCP.

Reacting to the Speaker's decision, Supriya Sule, MP of the NCP - Sharadchandra Pawar party, said it was a "copy-paste" of Narwekar's earlier decision in the Shiv Sena disqualification case.

Meanwhile, an "invisible power" was trying to finish off the NCP and Shiv Sena, both important Maharashtra-based parties, she alleged.

"What can you expect from Narwekar? His decision is laughable and copy-paste of what he has done in the case of Shiv Sena where the factions led by chief minister Eknath Shinde and Uddhav Thackeray had filed disqualification petitions. An invisible power is actively trying to finish off Shiv Sena and NCP, two important state-based parties," the Baramati MP told reporters, according to the news agency.

(with PTI inputs)