Mumbai: The Election Commission of India Tuesday recognised the Ajit Pawar-led faction of the Nationalist Congress Party as the official party and granted it the party’s “clock” symbol.
The decision, which comes nearly a year after the election body recognised Eknath Shinde-led faction of the Shiv Sena as the official Shiv Sena, deals a major blow to the Sharad Pawar faction.
In its order, the ECI said that the “test of legislative majority” helped the Ajit Pawar faction — which rebelled and broke away from the Sharad Pawar faction in June last year — clinch the NCP symbol.
“Ajit Pawar faction enjoyed majority support of legislators. (The) commission holds that Ajit Pawar is the Nationalist Congress Party and is entitled to use its name and reserved symbol of ‘clock’,” the ECI order said, adding that the Sharad Pawar faction will be recognised as a separate party.
According to the ECI, 41 MLAs from Maharashtra and seven from Nagaland are with Ajit Pawar. Two MPs are also with the faction, the election body said.
For the Rajya Sabha election on 27 January, the Sharad Pawar faction can claim a new name, for which they should provide three choices, the ECI said, adding that the faction has until 4 pm on 7 February to file their application, failing which the MLAs will be treated as independents.
The Sharad Pawar faction of the NCP has called the development a “murder of democracy”.
“We all know that NCP was formed by Sharad Pawar and he was the president of the party. But this way the decision taken, because of pressure, is a murder of democracy. This is unfortunate,” Anil Deshmukh, former home minister of Maharashtra and an MLA of the Sharad Pawar faction, told the media.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
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