The Supreme Court will hear on Monday a plea of Sharad Pawar challenging an Election Commission order recognising the Ajit Pawar-led faction as the real Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
A bench of Justices Surya Kant, Dipankar Datta and KV Viswanathan is likely to hear the matter.
Earlier, the faction led by Ajit Pawar filed a caveat in the Supreme Court to prevent any ex-parte order from being issued in favour of the Sharad Pawar-led faction in case they approach the top court.
On February 16, the Supreme Court agreed to promptly schedule a hearing for the plea following a request from Sharad Pawar, who expressed concern that a whip might be issued by the faction led by Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar.
The veteran leader urgently sought a hearing for his plea in light of recent developments, including the February 15 order from Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar. This came amidst apprehensions within Sharad Pawar’s group about potential repercussions for any violations of the whip by his MLAs.
The Speaker had held that the Ajit Pawar-led camp is the real NCP and that the anti-defection provisions in the Constitution cannot be used to stifle internal dissent. Earlier, the Election Commission of India had allotted the NCP name and the symbol to the Ajit Pawar camp.
The special Maharashtra assembly session is beginning on February 20.
On Saturday, Sharad Pawar accused Narwekar of injustice in granting rights over the party name and symbol to the faction led by Ajit Pawar. Sharad Pawar, who founded the NCP in 1999, said that such an action had never occurred before, emphasizing that the party was taken away from its founder.
While adressing the media, the senior Pawar criticized the Speaker’s decision, alleging that it was made through a “settlement”.
Pawar also said that that the legal battle for the party name and symbol would continue in the Supreme Court, and has requested the top court to hear the matter urgently, in view of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. “Our struggle to reclaim our name and symbol will carry on in the Supreme Court. We will demonstrate to the court how the decision of the Assembly Speaker is unjust to us. It epitomizes the misuse of power by a Speaker,” the 83-year-old leader said.
In July last year, Ajit Pawar, currently serving as the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, led a faction of NCP MLAs away from the party and extended support to the BJP-Shiv Sena government under the leadership of Eknath Shinde.