Supreme Court Setback For Sharad Pawar, Clock Symbol Stays With Ajit Pawar

The clock symbol of the Nationalist Congress Party will stay with Ajit Pawar, the Supreme Court said today in a setback for veteran leader Sharad Pawar ahead of the Maharashtra assembly election. The court, however, added that the Ajit Pawar faction has to "meticulously" follow its earlier order and add disclaimers in election advertisements, clarifying that the court is yet to take a final decision in the matter. 

"If we feel that a deliberate attempt is being made to violate our order, we can initiate suo motu contempt proceedings," said the bench of Justices Surya Kant, Dipankar Datta and Ujjal Bhuyan.

The earlier temporary order came when the Sharad Pawar faction had approached the top court, challenging the Election Commission's decision to award of the party name and election symbol to the Ajit Pawar faction. It had asked that both factions be given new symbol ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

This time, the NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) had gone to court, complaining that the Ajit Pawar faction flouted its order and did not add any disclaimer in its election posters and banners, creating "large scale confusion" in the minds of voters during the Lok Sabha election.

Today, the bench issued a notice to Ajit Pawar's faction, directing that it should not create "an embarrassing situation" for itself.

"Please file a fresh undertaking as well that you will not violate our directions present as well as till the end of elections. We expect both sides to comply our directions. Please don't create an embarrassing (situation) for you," Justice Kant said.

Sharad Pawar had founded the NCP with former Lok Sabha Speaker Purno Sangma and Tariq Anwar in 1999 after their expulsion from the Congress. In July last year, Ajit Pawar - complaining about Sharad Pawar's leadership -- had walked away with a majority of MLAs and supported the BJP-Shiv Sena government led by Eknath Shinde. 

On February 15, Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar - in response to complaints by Sharad Pawar's faction -- maintained that the faction led by Ajit Pawar was the real NCP. The anti-defection law cannot be used in this case since it was a matter of internal dissent and he had the numbers, he had said.

Shortly after, the Election Commission allotted the NCP symbol 'clock' to the Ajit Pawar group and allowed the Sharad Pawar faction to call itself the "Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar" and use the "Man blowing Turha" as its symbol. 

The NCP, founded by Sharad Pawar, had 'clock' as its election symbol before its split and the veteran leader had objected, contending that it would confuse voters.

When the matter reached the top court, the judges had declared that the Election Commission's decision stands till further orders. But the name and photographs of Sharad Pawar cannot be used by the Ajit Pawar faction for political gains, they had said.