The Sharad Pawar camp has criticised the Election Commission’s judgment as a “murder of democracy,” and “pre-decided,” hours after the poll authority declared Ajit Pawar’s faction the legitimate Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), intensifying tensions within the Sharad Pawar faction.

Responding to the EC’s decision, the Sharad Pawar camp labelled it as the murder of democracy, alleging it was made under duress, while former Union Minister Praful Patel welcomed the ruling. The Commission also assigned the NCP symbol ‘wall clock’ to the group led by Ajit Pawar.

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“This is the murder of democracy. What happened is unfortunate,” former Maharashtra Minister Anil Deshmukh said, adding that the poll panel made this ruling “under pressure from above,” reported PTI.

On the contrary, senior NCP leader Praful Patel hailed the ruling, stating that it validates the majority of party workers and elected representatives supporting Ajit Pawar. The Election Commission’s decision on Tuesday concluded months of speculation regarding the factional feud between Ajit Pawar and the party founder, his uncle Sharad Pawar.

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Deshmukh also drew parallels with a similar decision in the Shiv Sena case, referring to the ECI recognising the Eknath Shinde-led group as the legitimate Shiv Sena after he rebelled against Uddhav Thackeray in 2022.

“Everybody knows Sharad Pawar founded the Nationalist Congress Party, and he has been the party’s national president since its inception,” Deshmukh added.

Another NCP MP, Supriya Sule, termed the ECI’s decision to recognise the Ajit Pawar faction as the authentic Nationalist Congress Party as a “victory of invisible power” and a conspiracy against Maharashtra and Marathi people.

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“The ECI’s decision is the victory of the invisible power. This is a huge conspiracy against Maharashtra and Marathi people. However, I am not at all surprised by this decision,” Sule, daughter of NCP founder Sharad Pawar, told reporters in New Delhi, as reported by PTI.

Speaking to reporters in Mumbai, Maharashtra NCP President (Sharad Pawar group) Jayant Patil said they will challenge the ECI decision in the Supreme Court, which is the “last hope.” He highlighted that the NCP was founded by Sharad Pawar, who nurtured it from the grassroots and helped many leaders grow in their political careers.

Sharad Pawar loyalist and former minister Jitendra Awhad also alleged that the ECI decision was “managed” from the top.

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When questioned about the numerous affidavits filed before the ECI by both sides of the NCP ahead of the ruling, Awhad remarked, “The ECI exercise was a circus. It was pre-decided who would get the NCP name and symbol.”

On the other hand, Ajit Pawar stated that the NCP led by him enjoys the backing of a majority of MLAs as well as district presidents across the state. Addressing a press conference after the ECI recognised the faction led by him as the authentic Nationalist Congress Party and allotted it the party symbol, Pawar said, “In democracy, priority is given to the majority, which is why the poll commission has allotted the party name and symbol to us.”

The ECI decision followed the laid-out tests of maintainability of such a petition, which included tests of aims and objectives of the party constitution, the test of the party constitution, and tests of majority both organizational and legislative, the Commission said.

“The test of the majority in the legislative wing found favor in this circumstance of the case, where both groups have been found to be working outside the party constitution and the organisational elections,” the poll authority stated.

(With PTI Inputs)