Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar on Thursday dismissedthe disqualification application by the Sharad Pawar faction against the Ajit Pawar faction. The Speaker ruled it was not defection, Ajit Pawar and others’ actions and statements between June 30 and July 2 last year were intra-party dissent.
“All the petitions seeking disqualification of MLAs are rejected,” Narwekar further said. Narwekar started reading out his ruling on disqualification petitions filed by the warring factions led by deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar and his uncle Sharad Pawar on Thursday evening.
The disqualification petition against MLAs of Sharad Pawar group was also rejected. The Election Commission of India (ECI) recently allotted the party name ‘NCP’ and poll symbol ‘clock’ to the Ajit Pawar-led group. It has also allotted ‘Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar’ as the party name for the group led by Sharad Pawar.
Having lost control over the party he founded, veteran politician Sharad Pawar has moved the Supreme Court against the Election Commission order recognising the faction led by his estranged nephew Ajit Pawar as the real Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
Pawar, who founded the NCP with former Lok Sabha speaker Purno Sangma and Tariq Anwar in 1999 after their expulsion from the Congress, filed the petition through lawyer Abhishek Jebaraj on Monday evening.
Before the Maratha stalwart approached the apex court, the Ajit Pawar faction had filed a caveat through advocate Abhikalp Pratap Singh to ensure that no ex-parte order is passed in favour of the Sharad Pawar group. In a body blow to Sharad Pawar, the Election Commission announced on February 6 that the Ajit Pawar faction is the real NCP.
