NCP split: SC seeks response of Ajit's side on Sharad Pawar faction's plea against speaker's decision

Maharashtra Speaker Rahul Narwekar held on February 15 that the NCP faction led by Ajit Pawar, who rebelled against his uncle Sharad Pawar and joined the BJP-Shiv Sena government in the state, was the real NCP. FIle pic

The Supreme Court (SC) on Monday sought the responses of Ajit Pawar and his 40 legislators on a plea moved by the Sharad Pawar faction of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) challenging the state Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar's decision to declare the group led by the Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister (CM) as the real NCP.

A bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra took note of the submissions made by senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, who appeared in the court on behalf of the Sharad Pawar faction, that the plea needed an urgent hearing keeping in mind the short remnant tenure of the state Assembly.

The term of the Maharashtra Assembly expires in November.

The bench said it will hear the plea filed by Jayant Patil and Jitendra Awhad, lawmakers from the Sharad Pawar faction of NCP, just after it has heard a similar petition of the Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray camp of the Shiv Sena.

The Thackeray group has filed a similar petition contesting the speaker's decision in favour of Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and his legislators that they represent the real Shiv Sena.

"We will issue notice. All objections, including on grounds of maintainability, will be decided at final disposal. Liberty is granted to serve the other respondents with 'dasti' (a mode of serving notices)," the CJI said.

Narwekar held on February 15 that the NCP faction led by Ajit Pawar, who rebelled against his uncle Sharad Pawar and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-Shiv Sena government in Maharashtra, was the real NCP.

The speaker had rejected the disqualification petitions filed by the rival NCP factions seeking disqualification of each other's MLAs.

The anti-defection law provisions in the Constitution's 10th schedule cannot be used to stifle internal dissent, the speaker had noted, while also holding that the Ajit Pawar faction had "overwhelming legislative majority" - 41 of the 53 party legislators - when the party split last year in July.

The Ajit Pawar group was, thus, the "real political party", Narwekar said, delivering a blow to Sharad Pawar and his supporters.

The ruling, which followed the Election Commission's (EC) decision holding the Ajit Pawar-led faction as the real NCP, was criticised by the Sharad Pawar faction as "copy-paste" of Narwekar's earlier decision on the disqualification petitions filed by the rival Shiv Sena factions.

"All the petitions seeking disqualification of MLAs (Members of Legislative Assembly) are rejected," Narwekar had said.

Questioning then party supremo Sharad Pawar's decisions or defying his wishes did not amount to defection but was only internal dissent, he had added, emphasising that the 10th Schedule of the Constitution, which provides for disqualification of a legislator in case of defection, was misused in this case.

A party leadership cannot use the 10th Schedule to stifle the dissent of a large number of members by threatening to disqualify them, Narwekar had said.

"Making and breaking into new forms, forging new alliances, undoing old relationships and striking out in unknown directions.... This is in the very nature of politics as we see it unfolding before our eyes. It is the reality of politics today. Surely, every such action cannot qualify as defection within the meaning of the 10th Schedule," the Maharashtra Speaker had said in his verdict.

Prior to this, the Sharad Pawar group had on February 13 moved the top court by filing a separate plea against the EC's order recognising Ajit Pawar's faction as the real NCP a week earlier. The poll panel also allotted NCP's election symbol, the "clock", to the group led by Ajit Pawar. EC considers the support enjoyed by each claimant in a party's organisational and legislative wings in case of a split, besides examining its constitution and the list of office-bearers that was submitted to it when the party was united, before allotting the election symbol.

Sharad Pawar had founded NCP with former Lok Sabha speaker Purno Sangma and Tariq Anwar in 1999 after their expulsion from the Congress.

(With PTI inputs)