New Delhi: The Ajit Pawar faction said it has the support of 42 of the party’s 53 MLAs, six of the nine MLCs in Maharashtra and all seven MLAs in Nagaland, besides one in four in the Lok Sabha and one in three in the Rajya Sabha. Is.
The battle for control of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) began before the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Friday with the first hearing on the Ajit Pawar-led faction’s claim over the 24-year-old party’s name and election symbol.
NCP patron Sharad Pawar personally attended the first hearing at the ECI office in New Delhi. Whereas, senior advocates represented Ajit Pawar’s faction.
In an affidavit, the Ajit Pawar faction said it has the support of 42 of the party’s 53 MLAs, six of the nine MLCs in Maharashtra and all seven MLAs in Nagaland, besides one in four in the Lok Sabha and one in three in the Rajya Sabha. Is received.
Affidavits of party workers, leaders and elected representatives were presented before the Commission.
Ajit Pawar faction presented its stand on Friday. The next hearing is to be held on Monday.
Advocates for the Ajit-led faction said it alleged that Sharad Pawar never followed democratic principles in the functioning of the NCP and ran the party arbitrarily.
real political party,” the Ajit Pawar faction said in the affidavit, adding, “Under the circumstances, the petitioner states that he enjoys overwhelming support in the organizational wing as well as the legislative branch of the NCP and hence the petitioner-led faction has been declared illegal by the Hon’ble Commission. By recognizing the present petition the present petition may be allowed.”
HT could not independently verify the authenticity of the affidavit.
Sharad Pawar was represented by senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi. Ajit Pawar was represented by senior lawyers NK Kaul and Maninder Singh.
Singhvi objected to the ECI’s decision to call the hearing, saying the Election Commission cannot take a decision without hearing his side. “Your jurisdiction depends on whether there is a dispute or not,” he said, but the election panel rejected this.
“The commission heard us but said it would not take a decision at this stage, but assured us that once the petitioners complete their arguments, they would hear us,” Singhvi said. Will be taken collectively later.
He alleged that the documents submitted by the Ajit Pawar faction were either forged or incorrect. “They do not want an organizational test because they know that 99% majority of the NCP cadre is with the person standing next to me (Sharad Pawar),” he said.
On 2 July, Ajit Pawar joined the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party government as Deputy Chief Minister along with eight other ministers. The same day, he moved the ECI under a symbol order for the use of NCP’s name and clock symbol.
The faction said it elected Ajit Pawar as the new national president of NCP in the meeting held on June 30. After this Ajit Pawar appointed Praful Patel as the new working president. Taking cognizance of the petition filed by the Ajit-led faction, the ECI decided to begin hearing on the split in the NCP on October 6.
On July 3, the Sharad Pawar-led NCP moved a disqualification motion against nine MLAs, including Ajit Pawar, who was inducted as ministers in the coalition government. A copy of this was sent to the EC. On July 6, the Pawar faction decided to expel all nine MLAs, including acting president Praful Patel and general secretary Sunil Tatkare. This decision was taken in the party’s working committee held in Delhi. Later, the Pawar-led party filed disqualification petition against 31 MLAs and five MLCs for anti-party activities.
