In a huge setback to Nationalist Congress Party veteran Sharad Pawar, the Election Commission on Tuesday declared the faction led by his nephew Ajit Pawar as the real NCP. The poll panel awarded both the name and the ‘wall clock’ symbol to Ajit’s group, a ruling which the Pawar camp termed as the “murder of democracy”.
"This is the murder of democracy. What happened is unfortunate," said former Maharashtra minister Anil Deshmukh. "The poll panel gave this ruling under pressure from above," he told a TV channel.
Referring to the Supreme Court’s scathing observation on Monday in the Chandigarh mayoral elections results, Deshmukh said it was unfortunate that the ECI gave a similar decision regarding the NCP name and symbol.
"Everybody knows Sharad Pawar founded the Nationalist Congress Party and he has been the party's national president since its inception," he said.
Jayant Patil, another leader in the Pawar group, indicated that they would move the Supreme Court against the EC decision.
“We will approach Supreme Court, it is our last hope,” he said. “We have to stand firm behind Sharad Pawar. The party workers need not worry”.
Patil heads the state unit of NCP Pawar camp.
"The Supreme Court (in the past) had said that even though MLAs shift their loyalty, the party does not follow them. Despite this, the ECI has given a decision based on the elected representatives and their inclination," he added.
The EC has asked the Pawar camp to choose a new name and symbol in view of the upcoming Rajya Sabha election and convey it to the commission by 3 pm on February 7.
The NCP suffered a vertical split after Ajit Pawar walked away with a majority of party MLAs in July last year and supported the BJP-Shiv Sena government led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde in Maharashtra.
The Sharad Pawar camp has the support of only 12 of the 53 NCP MLAs.
