In a significant development, the disqualification petitions submitted by the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), under the leadership of Sharad Pawar, to Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar have shed light on the clear division within the party. Sharad Pawar now commands the support of only 11 MLAs, while Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, who aligned with the BJP on July 2 in a rebellion against his uncle Sharad Pawar, has secured the support of 41 MLAs.
Both sides had refrained from disclosing the exact count of supporting MLAs. However, more than two months later, they have now officially disclosed the numbers.
Those presently standing in support of Sharad Pawar include Jayant Patil, Jitendra Awhad, Rohit Pawar, Anil Deshmukh, Rajesh Tope, Balasaheb Patil, Sandip Kshirsagar, Sunil Bhusara, Sumantai Patil, Prajkt Tanpure, and Ashok Pawar.
The NCP has a total of 53 MLAs, with 41 siding with Ajit Pawar and 11 with Sharad Pawar. Notably, Nawab Malik, an NCP MLA recently released on bail, has not received a disqualification notice and is yet to declare his political stance.
On September 7, the Sharad-led NCP submitted a third letter, signed by MLA Jitendra Awhad, which included 11 more MLAs, requesting Speaker Rahul Narwekar to disqualify them. This addition came on top of the initial 29 names already submitted.
Awhad confirmed to the Indian Express, “Yes, we have submitted the letter to the Speaker.”
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The initial list, submitted on the same day when nine NCP MLAs were sworn in as ministers on July 2, requested their disqualification. Later, another letter, signed by NCP state president Jayant Patil, included 20 more names. The party had also named four MLCs – Satish Chavan, Vikram Kale, Aniket Tatkare, and Amol Mitkari. In Awhad’s recent letter, the party added another MLC, Ramraje Naik-Nimbalkar.
Ajit Pawar’s faction has taken its claim for the NCP’s party name and symbol to the Election Commission. The Election Commission had requested a response from the Sharad Pawar group regarding this matter. Sources within the Sharad Pawar faction have revealed that they requested a 14-day extension to submit their response.
“It was to give additional time to 11 MLAs before submitting their names in the disqualification petition. Their names were added after they chose to side by Ajit Pawar,” a leader from the Sharad Pawar group mentioned.