SC to hear Sharad Pawar's plea against order recognising Ajit Pawar-led faction as real NCP

Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar. File Pic

The Supreme Court (SC) on Monday is scheduled to hear the plea of Sharad Pawar challenging an Election Commission order recognising the Ajit Pawar-led faction as the real Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). On February 16, the SC had agreed to urgently list the plea after Sharad Pawar stated that a whip may be issued by the NCP faction led by Ajit Pawar.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant, Dipankar Datta and KV Viswanathan is likely to hear Sharad Pawar's plea, PTI reported. The veteran leader had sought an urgent hearing of his plea in the wake of twin blows suffered by the faction led by him and the consequential fear of facing action for possible violations of whip by his MLAs.

Sharad Pawar had approached the SC after the February 15 order of Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar. Narwekar in his judgement held that the faction led by Ajit Pawar was the real NCP and the anti-defection provisions in the Constitution cannot be used to stifle internal dissent.

Earlier, on February 6, the election commission had also announced that the Ajit Pawar faction is the real NCP and allotted the party's 'clock' symbol to the group.

Ajit Pawar, currently the deputy chief minister of Maharashtra, had walked away with a majority of NCP MLAs in July last year and supported the BJP-Shiv Sena government led by Eknath Shinde.

Rahul Narwekar announced his judgement, dismissed the disqualification petitions filed by the factions led by Ajit Pawar and his uncle Sharad Pawar against each other's MLAs.

Narwekar noted that the Ajit Pawar group had "overwhelming legislative majority" of 41 out of 53 party MLAs when it decided to join the Shiv Sena-BJP government in Maharashtra in July 2023. Thus, the Ajit Pawar group was the "real political party" when the factions emerged, Narwekar said.

Meanwhile, Nagaland Assembly Speaker Sharingain Longkumer has dismissed the disqualification petition against seven Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) legislators in the state, reported PTI.

The Sharad Pawar led NCP national general secretary Hemant Takle had filed the disqualification petition against its seven MLAs on August 30, 2023, alleging that they had indulged in anti-party activities. The seven NCP legislators had given a letter of support in favour of the faction led by Ajit Pawar.

(With PTI inputs)