New Delhi: NCP leader Ajit Pawar approached the Election Commission on June 30 to stake claim to the party name and symbol. He also declared himself president with the support of 40 lawmakers, sources said, two days before he rebelled against his uncle Sharad Pawar and joined the Maharashtra government on June 4.
A day after the rebellion became public with the swearing-in of Ajit Pawar as deputy chief minister and eight other MLAs as ministers in the BJP-Shiv Sena government, the Sharad Pawar-led group filed a caveat via email with the Election Commission on July 3.
The sources stated that the petitions and cross-petitions will be handled "as per extant legal framework" by the polling panel.
According to the sources, on June 30 Ajit Pawar filed a petition with the ECI under para 15 of the Election Symbols Order, which addresses claims by breakaway organisations and opposing factions of recognised parties on the party name and symbol.
A resolution "unanimously" choosing Ajit Pawar as president of NCP was not dated but was received by the ECI on July 5 together with 40 affidavits of MPs, MLAs, and MLCs dated June 30.
The Ajit Pawar side provided a list of MPs, MLAs, and MLCs, but only 32 MLAs showed up to the show of strength at MET College, leaving them four short of the necessary 36 for a majority.
According to the sources, on July 3, the ECI also received an email from the president of the Maharashtra NCP, Jayant R Patil, who filed a caveat asking the poll panel to hear them (the Sharad Pawar group) before issuing any instruction related to the factional conflict.
Patil informed the ECI in a letter dated July 3 that a disqualification case had been initiated against nine MLAs of the NCP, including Ajit Pawar, with the relevant body.
In the next days, the Election Commission will likely evaluate applications and request that both parties exchange documents filed to it.
On Sunday, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), which Sharad Pawar had created in 1999, split apart, with Ajit Pawar entering the Shiv Sena-BJP coalition government in Maharashtra with the support of more than 40 of his party's MLAs.
On Sunday, the Maharashtra government unexpectedly expanded its cabinet to include nine NCP MLAs, including Ajit Pawar.
The actual NCP, according to Ajit Pawar and his senior party leaders Praful Patel, Chhagan Bhujbal, and Dilip Walse Patil.
As the true NCP, Sharad Pawar claimed leadership and ousted Patel and Lok Sabha lawmaker Sunil Tatkare.
It also attempted to have the nine MLAs who were sworn in as ministers on Sunday disqualified by writing to the speaker of the Maharashtra Assembly, Rahul Narwekar.—Inputs from Agencies