Blow to Sharad Pawar as party name & symbol go to nephew Ajit
In a turn of events reminiscent of what happened to Shiv Sena a year ago, the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Tuesday, February 6 ruled that the Ajit Pawar-led faction of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) is the real NCP and therefore, has the right to use that name as well as the current symbol of a clock.
The decision is being seen by political experts as one likely to have a positive impact for Narendra Modi and the BJP in the general election as the Ajit Pawar faction was formed to support the BJP-Shiv Sena government in Maharashtra.
Party co-founder Sharad Pawar has been given a “one-time option” to claim a name, and given time till Wednesday, February 7. Ajit Pawar is the nephew of Sharad Pawar.
The very short time period given is in view of the fact that Rajya Sabha elections are due on February 27.
The ruling came after more than 10 hearings spanning six months.
In February 2023, the ECI had ruled that the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena faction was the real Shiv Sena.
The reasons given were that it had the support of the majority of MPs and MLAs, and the 2018 constitution of the party, which the Uddhav Thackeray-led faction had relied upon to claim the party name and symbol for itself, was flawed as it did not incorporate the amendments brought in to the 1999 version of the constitution (which, therefore, was relied upon by the ECI).
The Shinde faction got the right to the original name as well as the original bow-and-arrow symbol.
The faction led by Uddhav Thackeray, the son of the party’s founder, Bal Thackeray, was given the name ‘Shiv Sena (UBT)’ and the symbol of a flaming torch.
For its ruling on the NCP, the Commission said it used the ‘test of legislative majority’ to decide in Ajit Pawar’s favour. Last July, 40 of the party’s 53 MLAs sided with the nephew in supporting the BJP-Shiv Sena government of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.
The Commission said the other two tests for deciding on such issues—the test of aims and objectives of the party’s constitution, and the test of the party’s constitution—could not be applied in view of disputed internal organisational elections.
A similar reasoning was applied for the Shiv Sena as well.
The ECI said it hoped political parties would adopt good disclosure practices in organisational elections and internal party democracy through wider public disclosure of party constitution and amendments, party election dates, names of candidates, electoral colleges, list of elected office-bearers, etc.
Supriya Sule, daughter of Sharad Pawar, reacted to ECI ruling by saying that its decision “is the victory of the adrishya shakti (‘invisible power.’)” [implying the BJP] and that the decision “is a huge conspiracy against Maharashtra and Marathi people”.
