Sharad Pawar urges ECI to disqualify Ajit & 39 others – Times of India

MUMBAI: The NCP faction led by Sharad Pawar has urged the Election Commission of India (ECI) to disqualify deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, the eight other cabinet members who were sworn-in with him, and all the 31 legislators supporting him for anti-party activities.
Reports suggested that among the members against whom the Sharad Pawar faction sought disqualification proceedings were four members of the legislative council.
“We believe that there is no split in NCP under the leadership of Sharad Pawar. As such, the steps taken by Ajit Pawar, eight cabinet members and 31 legislators supporting him amount to anti-party activities. Therefore, they should be disqualified as per the provisions of the 10th Schedule of the Constitution,” an NCP politician said.
Assembly speaker Rahul Narwekar too had said there was no split in the NCP as there was no application before him to declare a split.
The NCP politician said that following a petition filed by the Ajit Pawar faction before the ECI on June 30, the Sharad Pawar faction on Thursday filed a 500-page reply before the ECI. In his application, Ajit Pawar had urged the ECI to declare him as the president of the NCP in place of Sharad Pawar and allot his faction the ‘clock’ symbol and party name.
Following the reply filed by the Sharad Pawar faction, it is for the first time that the exact number of legislators with Ajit Pawar has come to light. From the affidavit it also appears that out of 53 legislators, Sharad Pawar is left with only 13.
The Sharad Pawar faction has rejected all points raised by Ajit Pawar in his petition.
The senior Pawar said that Ajit Pawar had not been able to even demonstrate prima facie that there exists a dispute under the Symbols Order. He said that even the ECI has not made any determination that there is any dispute and that on this ground itself the documents submitted by Ajit Pawar should be rejected. “We submitted that we were not obligated to rebut mala fide claims of an unrecognised group of motivated individuals, who continue to work against the constitution,” he said.
The Sharad Pawar faction said that Since it is an admitted position that before July 1, neither did Ajit Pawar raise any grievance nor avail any internal remedy to discuss the issues raised in the petition, therefore, filing of a petition is premature and does not even evidence the existence of dispute, and hence the petition should be rejected.
In Pune, Jayant Patil, president of the state unit of the NCP led by Sharad Pawar, said that if the ECI handed over the party name and symbol to Ajit Pawar, his faction would challenge it in the SC.