Sharad Pawar’s faction to approach Supreme Court, to submit three names and symbols to ECI
The faction led by Sharad Pawar in the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) plans to challenge the Election Commission's order in the Supreme Court. They will also apply for interim allotment of a new name and symbol as directed by the poll panel. The Pawar camp is likely to give priority to the 'rising sun' symbol. Sharad Pawar and his daughter held a closed-door meeting with their lawyers and will study the judgment before approaching the court. They are also considering requesting the apex court to club their petition with Shiv Sena's on similar grounds.
Hours after the Election Commission of India (ECI) declared deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar’s faction the real Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and allotted it the party symbol, the camp led by Sharad Pawar has decided to challenge the order in the Supreme Court. A special leave petition is likely to be filed in a day or two, party sources said.
Supriya Sule, national working president of the Pawar-led group, said, “The Election Commission’s verdict is based on the number of MLAs sided with them (Ajit Pawar’s faction). It is against the Supreme Court order that states the legislative strength cannot determine who the party belongs to. We will now approach the apex court.”
The Pawar faction will also apply for interim allotment of a new name and symbol as directed by the poll panel in its verdict. It will submit three names and election symbols for the upcoming elections for six Rajya Sabha seats. “They have asked us to give three names and symbols (for Rajya Sabha polls). We will submit those by Wednesday,” Sule said but refused to share details.
A senior leader from the Pawar camp said the party is likely to give priority to the ‘rising sun’ symbol. “All the three symbols will signify the change with time and would be universal in nature.”
Soon after the verdict, Sharad Pawar and his daughter, Sule, who were in Delhi to attend the budget session of parliament, held a closed-door meeting with their lawyers. Pawar chose not to react to the verdict immediately while Sule said, “We will fight and go before the people.”
A senior party leader said the ECI verdict was on expected lines and that it would be delivered before the Rajya Sabha elections was something Pawar and his colleagues had anticipated.
“We had anticipated the verdict and had prepared to go to the Supreme Court. We will study the judgement and approach the court in a couple of days. We are also examining the possibility of requesting the apex court to club Shiv Sena (UBT)’s and our petitions since the judgement has been given on similar grounds. The apex court has already clubbed our disqualification petitions,” he said.
The party leaders will also discuss whether Pawar should tour the state with public meetings at a handful of places, to take the issue to the people. “We will discuss whether Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray should jointly address a couple of rallies,” he added.