The Supreme Court on Friday said it will consider a plea by Sharad Pawar challenging an Election Commission order recognizing the Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar-led faction as the authentic Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) for early listing.
A bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) D Y Chandrachud acknowledged the submissions of senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, representing the veteran leader, emphasizing the urgent need for listing the plea following a recent order by Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar.
Narwekar ruled that the NCP faction led by Ajit Pawar constituted the genuine NCP and that constitutional anti-defection provisions couldn’t suppress internal dissent.
Previously, on February 6, the poll panel declared the Ajit Pawar faction as the legitimate NCP and allocated the party’s ‘clock’ symbol to the group.
Singhvi remarked, “Now the Sharad Pawar group will be under the party whip when the assembly starts functioning… our case is worse than Uddhav Thackeray as we have not been allotted any alternate poll symbol,” urging urgent listing of the plea on February 19. “I will just see,” responded the CJI. Sharad Pawar filed the plea in his personal capacity through lawyer Abhishek Jebaraj on Monday evening.
Prior to this, the Ajit Pawar faction had filed a caveat in the Supreme Court through advocate Abhikalp Pratap Singh to ensure no ex-parte order is passed in favor of the Sharad Pawar group if the latter moves the top court.