Ajit Pawar’s faction is the real NCP, rules Election Commission

The Election Commission on Tuesday recognised the faction led by Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar as the real Nationalist Congress Party and allocated it the “clock” symbol.

In July, Ajit Pawar, along with several MLAs of the Nationalist Congress Party, joined Maharashtra’s coalition government comprising the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Shiv Sena faction led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. Ajit Pawar then became the deputy chief minister.

The move led to a split in the Nationalist Congress Party, with one faction supporting the party founder Sharad Pawar and the other backing Ajit Pawar.

On Tuesday, the polling body said that while it had used the “test of aims and objectives of the party Constitution” and the “test of party Constitution” as well, its decision was based on the “test of legislative majority” as the first two tests proved inconclusive.

“The Commission examined the affidavits of support filed by both the factions and concluded that the group led by the petitioner [Ajit Pawar] enjoyed majority support among the legislators,” the polling body said.

It added: “In view of the aforesaid findings, this Commission holds that the faction led by the Petitioner, Sh. Ajit Anantrao Pawar, is the Nationalist Congress Party [NCP] and is entitled to use its name and reserved symbol ‘clock’ for the...

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