The Election Commission (EC) on Wednesday allotted 'Nationalist Congress Party - Sharadchandra Pawar' as name for the NCP faction led by former union minister Sharad Pawar, a day after the poll body ruled that Ajit Pawar's faction is the real NCP, news agency PTI reported.
The EC decision came shortly after the Sharad Pawar faction submitted three potential names and symbols for their political group.
The news agency reported that the Sharad Pawar group had suggested three names — Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar, Nationalist Congress Party — Sharadrao Pawar and Nationalist Congress Party-Sharad Pawar — to the election commission, besides 'banyan tree' as the election symbol for the party.
The commission acceded to the first preference as a one-time option for the forthcoming election to 6 seats in the Rajya Sabha in Maharashtra.
Earlier on Tuesday, the commission allotted the NCP symbol 'clock' to the group led by Ajit Pawar and directed the Sharad Pawar faction to take a new name and logo by 4 pm on February 7. In case the group fails to do so, all the MLAs claiming allegiance to the former Union minister will be treated as independents.
While the Ajit Pawar faction welcomed the EC verdict, saying that "priority is given to the majority", the Sharad Pawar's camp termed the verdict as "murder of democracy."
Reacting to the verdict, Supriya Sule, Sharad Pawar's daughter and Baramati MP, said the party would go to the Supreme Court against the verdict.
"...Our documents were fine. The founder member and founder leader of this party is only Sharad Pawar...But the atmosphere is something else right now. There is an 'adrishya shakti' in the country which is doing all this. We will fight...We will definitely go to Supreme Court...," Sule said.
"...I think what happened with Shiv Sena is what is happening with us today. So, this is not a new order. Just the names have been changed but the content is the same..." she said.
"This was going to happen. We already knew this. Today he (Ajit Pawar) has choked Sharad Pawar politically. Only Ajit Pawar is behind this. The only one who should be embarrassed in this is the Election Commission. Sharad Pawar is a phoenix. He will rise again from the ashes. We still have the power because we have Sharad Pawar. We will go to the Supreme Court," Sharad Pawar camp leader Jitendra Ahwad told news agency ANI.
Meanwhile, the Ajit Pawar faction today filed a caveat application in the Supreme Court seeking a hearing in case the Sharad Pawar faction files an appeal against the election commission order officially recognising Ajit's faction as the real NCP. This came after the NCP faction led by Sharad Pawar said that it would approach the top court after the EC allocated the party name and symbol to the ‘rebel’ group.
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