A bench of Justices Surya Kant and KV Viswanathan was hearing a special leave petition filed by Sharad Pawar. Last Friday, this petition was mentioned by Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, before Chief Justice DY Chandrachud for an urgent listing, emphasising the imminent risk of Sharad Pawar facing a whip from Ajit Pawar during the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly Session. Singhvi underscored the urgency, noting that Sharad Pawar's faction has not been allotted any party symbol, leaving them vulnerable to Ajit Pawar's directives.
During the hearing today, Singhvi urged the court for a continuation of the interim arrangement approved by the Election Commission of using the name of 'Nationalist Congress Party-Sharad Chandra Pawar' until Rajya Sabha elections scheduled to end on February 27 and a direction to the commission to issue a symbol.
"The interim arrangement is innocuous. The ECI has said that the Ajit Pawar side is the real NCP, but for the Rajya Sabha elections, Sharad Pawar can use the name 'Nationalist Congress Party-Sharad Chandra Pawar' as a one-time measure for the Rajya Sabha elections. There's a Maharashtra state assembly session tomorrow for the Maratha bill, although the main session, which is the budget session, starts from February 26. More importantly, the printing of pamphlets, publications for the national elections will have to start by the end of this month. Technically, Sharad Pawar's faction will be left without a name or a symbol. It is never done that some name or symbol is not given. He is not asking for the name or the symbol of the undivided party. It is also absurd that tomorrow during the assembly session, if Ajit Pawar issues a whip to Sharad Pawar, he will have to vote according to that."
The senior counsel also referred to the apex court's interim order passed in a similar petition filed by Uddhav Thackeray challenging the decision of the Election Commission recognising Eknath Shinde faction as the official Shiv Sena. While refusing to stay the ECI order, last year, the court permitted the Uddhav group to retain the name 'Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray)' and the flaming torch symbol during the pendency of the matter, which the commission had allowed for Maharashtra assembly bye-elections. Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Ajit Pawar faction on caveat, protested, arguing, "He's starting from the Supreme Court on the strength of an order passed in another case."
Despite Rohatgi's objections to the continuation of the ECI's interim arrangement, the bench acceded to the request made on behalf of Sharad Pawar, pronouncing -
"Issue notice. Counter-affidavit to be filed in two weeks. Rejoinder to be filed within one week. Post after three weeks. Meanwhile, the order passed on February 7 by the Election Commission of India granting the petitioner right to use 'Nationalist Congress Party - Sharad Chandra Pawar' shall continue till further orders. The petitioner may approach the ECI for allocation of a symbol and such a symbol shall be allotted within one week of moving the application."
When Rohatgi continued objecting, Justice Viswanathan said, "At some stage, let the voter have some say. It will cause chaos. I don't want to draw analogy but If you're following the politics across the border, the whole thing happened because someone wanted the bat symbol and it was not given."
Background
The petition, filed by Sharad Pawar, contests the ECI's February 6 decision, granting the official 'clock' symbol of the NCP to Ajit Pawar's group. The ECI's decision was based on the criterion of 'legislative majority', with the Ajit Pawar faction possessing 51 out of 81 legislators. While other assessments such as the 'aim and objectives' and the 'organisational majority' tests did not yield definitive outcomes, the commission relied on the legislative majority test to determine the faction's legitimacy.
Recently, Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar declined to disqualify MLAs from either Sharad Pawar's or Ajit Pawar's factions, citing the ECI's order recognising Ajit Pawar as the NCP leader. This decision came amid the ongoing rift within the party, which emerged last July when Ajit Pawar and Praful Patel aligned with the Bharatiya Janata Party-Shiv Sena alliance, resulting in Ajit Pawar's appointment as Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra.
The Ajit Pawar faction subsequently sought the official NCP symbol, while the Sharad Pawar faction petitioned for the disqualification of Ajit Pawar and his supporters under the tenth schedule of the Constitution, alleging defection. Initially, the Supreme Court set a January 31 deadline for the Speaker to decide on the disqualification petitions, which was later extended to February 15.
In response to the developments, the Ajit Pawar-led NCP faction filed a caveat petition in the Supreme Court, ensuring their opportunity to present their case before any decisions regarding the Election Commission's declaration.
Case Details