Officials with knowledge of the situation revealed to News18 that the Election Commission of India has now recognized that there are two divisions in the Maharashtra-based Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), weeks after the dispute between the two groups was brought to the election body. “The commission has determined that there are two factions based on all the documents the ECI has received from the party. On October 6, they will have a personal hearing, an official informed.
The conflict is over possession of the party’s original emblem. The conflict reached the Election Commission of India (ECI) in July when renegade leader Ajit Pawar submitted a petition under the Symbols Order, 1968 to the election body along with affidavits from “40-odd MLAs/MLCs/MPs” and a resolution unanimously choosing him as the NCP president.
Additionally, on July 3, party chief Jayant R Patil sent an email requesting a caveat. The election commission also got a letter from Patil on July 3 alerting them that nine members of the Maharashtra legislature had disqualification cases filed against them before the appropriate authorities.
When the issue was first reported, the ECI said that “action will be taken by the Commission in accordance with the extant legal framework.”
The nephew of NCP founder Sharad Pawar abruptly left the party in June when it became known that there had been tensions between the two.
As deputy chief minister of Maharashtra, Ajit Pawar joined the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena-BJP cabinet in July.
Ajit Pawar said that he was the NCP’s president on the basis of a resolution “signed by an overwhelming majority of members of NCP” on June 30.
The NCP is now led by Sharad Pawar, while Supriya Sule, his daughter, serves as acting president.
Following protests from the Sharad Pawar camp officials, the X account of the NCP belonging to the Ajit Pawar faction was banned this week.
Ajit Pawar’s team used the “NCP Speaks 1” account as a venue to distribute crucial party information and announcements pertaining to its leaders.
