Days after the Election Commission of India allotted the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and symbol to the Ajit Pawar faction, Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar on Thursday declared the camp as the real NCP when the two factions emerged in 2023.
The development comes days after the Speaker declared Eknath Shinde-led faction as the real Shiv Sena, while rejecting petitions filed by the two sides against each other.
“It set a precedent for the Speaker to decide which is the real political party for the purpose of adjudicating disqualification petitions. The other issue is whether the respondents incurred disqualification on account of their alleged acts of omissions or conduct,” the Speaker said, reading out his ruling on disqualification petitions filed by the warring factions led by deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar and his uncle Sharad Pawar on Thursday evening.