The Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar factions of the NCP on Friday (November 24) submitted their responses to Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar in connection with disqualification petitions filed against the rival groups. The party underwent a split on July 2 this year in which Ajit Pawar along with eight NCP MLAs quit the Opposition ranks and joined the state government. Both sides of the party have staked claims to the party’s name and symbol and have filed petitions to the Speaker seeking disqualification of those owing allegiance to the other faction.
Number of responses by both factions
According to sources, Ajit Pawar faction submitted 40 responses while the Sharad Pawar-led group submitted 9 responses.
"The hearing related to the disqualification petitions filed by NCP legislators is expected to be held next week. The concerned authorities will have to go through the documents and responses submitted by both sides," Vidhan Bhavan sources said.
The NCP is recognised as one unit in both Houses of the Maharashtra Legislature, they added.
Separate hearings of both rival factions are underway at the Election Commission and the Supreme Court.
What has the ECI done so far?
The Election Commission had written to both factions of the party earlier acknowledging the split and had also directed both leaders to share documents, submitted to the polling body, with each other.
The Commission in July had also issued a show-cause notice to the NCP group led by Sharad Pawar following a petition filed by the Ajit Pawar faction.
The petition claimed that Ajit Pawar should be declared NCP president and should be allotted the party's symbol as per the provisions of the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968.
(With PTI inputs)
