The Election Commission (EC) on Tuesday declared Ajit Pawar’s faction as the official Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), bringing an end to months of speculation regarding the factional dispute with his party’s founder and uncle, Sharad Pawar. In its ruling, the EC also assigned the NCP symbol “Wall Clock” to the faction led by Ajit Pawar. According to the EC, the decision was made following established criteria for the viability of such a petition, which included assessing the aims and objectives outlined in the party constitution, examining the party constitution itself, and evaluating both organisational and legislative majorities.
The Election Commission dealt a significant blow to Sharad Pawar, the founder of the NCP two decades ago, by offering him a one-time opportunity to name his new political entity and submit three preferences for it. This concession must be utilised by February 7, 2024. If Pawar’s faction fails to meet this deadline by 4 pm on Wednesday, February 7, 2024, all the MLAs claiming loyalty to the former Union minister will be considered independents.
In response to the EC’s order, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar stated that he “accepts with humility” the Election Commission’s decision to declare his faction as the legitimate NCP. The NCP leader’s reaction came shortly after the poll panel announced that the Ajit faction is the authentic NCP.
The Sharad Pawar camp condemned the Election Commission’s decision to declare the Ajit Pawar faction as the legitimate Nationalist Congress party, describing it as a “murder of democracy” and alleging that it was made under pressure.
Meanwhile, former Union Minister Praful Patel welcomed the ruling. “This is a travesty of democracy. What transpired is regrettable,” former Maharashtra minister Anil Deshmukh remarked. Deshmukh also cited a similar occurrence in the case of Shiv Sena, alluding to the Election Commission’s recognition of the Eknath Shinde-led group as the authentic Shiv Sena after Shinde rebelled against Uddhav Thackeray in 2022.
After the verdict, Supriya Sule stated that party workers are with Sharad Pawar, and he will rebuild the party.
In its 141-page order, the EC stated that the “test of legislative majority” helped Ajit Pawar’s faction secure the NCP symbol. “…the Commission had examined the applicability of all three tests: the ‘Test of Aims and Objectives of the Party Constitution,’ the ‘Test of Party Constitution,’ and the ‘Test of Majority’ to adjudicate the present dispute case,” it said.
“The Commission scrutinised the affidavits of support filed by both factions and concluded that the group led by the Petitioner enjoyed majority support among the legislators. In light of these findings, this Commission holds that the faction led by the Petitioner, Ajit Anantrao Pawar, is the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and is entitled to use its name and reserved symbol ‘clock’ for the purposes of the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968,” the EC said.
In a detailed order, the EC further stated that neither of the two factions contended that they adhered to the aims and objectives of the party constitution while accusing the other of violating it.
On the aspect of the ‘Test of Party Constitution,’ the EC found that although both factions had no dispute over the party constitution, they were not adhering to the same. Consequently, this test also failed to yield any determinative result. The EC stated that it examined the affidavits of support filed by both factions and concluded that the group led by the petitioner (Ajit Pawar) enjoyed a majority among the legislators. The commission noted serious inconsistencies in terms of timelines in the claims of the Sharad Pawar group, which undermined the reliability of their claim to organisational majority.
Ajit Pawar had garnered the support of a majority of NCP MLAs in July last year and backed the BJP-Shiv Sena government led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde in Maharashtra. In July last year, Ajit Pawar, along with 40 MLAs, rebelled against his uncle and NCP founder Sharad Pawar to join the BJP-Sena government. Both factions asserted that they were the authentic NCP. Two days before rebelling against Sharad Pawar, Ajit Pawar had approached the EC, staking a claim to the party name and symbol and subsequently declaring himself as the party president.