NCP symbol fight: EC hears Sharad Pawar, Ajit factions, next hearing on Monday

Mumbai: The Sharad Pawar faction of the NCP has asked the Election Commission of India (ECI) to not freeze the party symbol or name till the entire process of hearing the dispute of who is the real NCP is decided by the poll body. The development came during a hearing at the EC in New Delhi where Ajit and Sharad Pawar argued why their factions should be recognised as the real NCP.

The Ajit Pawar camp, however, in its affidavit to the EC has asked it to rule in its favour highlighting the EC's order earlier this year when it gave the Shiv Sena name and party symbol to the Eknath Shinde faction as it had more MLAs and MPs than the Uddhav Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena.

On Friday, the Sharad Pawar camp again argued that there was no split in the party and that the main NCP remains intact and is with the senior Pawar. The Sharad Pawarfaction told the EC that it has already moved a disqualification petition against Ajit Pawar and 8 other MLAs who have violated the party decision and aligned with the Shinde-led Shiv Sena.


The Ajit faction, however, argued that Sharad Pawar ran the NCP autocratically and took decisions arbitrarily. The Ajit faction also questioned the election of Sharad Pawar as party president by claiming that the entire process was not transparent. It claimed that there was no intra party democracy and elections to party posts were not being held.