Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar will pronounce his verdict on the disqualification plea related to the split in the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) around at 4 pm on Friday. Narwekar on Monday said the hearing on the disqualification plea was over.
The faction led by Sharad Pawar had filed a plea seeking disqualification of Ajit Pawar and the eight MLAs.
Asked on the issue, Narwekar said, "The hearing is over and it will be closed for order on January 31. As requested, the Supreme Court has given an extension to give verdict by February 15. I can assure that it will be out by then."
SC directs the Speaker to pronounce verdict
The Supreme Court on Monday extended the deadline for Narwekar to decide the Sharad Pawar faction's plea seeking disqualification of NCP MLAs belonging to the bloc led by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar till February 15.
The top court had on October 30 last year directed the speaker to decide the petition of Jayant Patil of the Sharad Pawar faction of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) seeking disqualification of the nine MLAs of the Ajit Pawar group by January 31.
During a brief hearing on Monday, a bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra took note of the request of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the speaker, seeking three more weeks for passing the order on the disqualification plea.
Mehta told the apex court the cross-examination of the respondents would be over by January 31 and prayed for three weeks more to be granted for passing the order.
EC snatched NCP from hands of its founders: Sharad Pawar
Meanwhile, Sharad Pawar recently, said the Election Commission's decision to allot the NCP name and symbol to Ajit Pawar-led group was "surprising" as the poll body has "snatched" the party from the hands of its founders and given it to others.
He also said the programme and ideology are important for the people while a symbol is useful for a limited period.
In a setback to Sharad Pawar, the Election Commission on February 6 recognised the Ajit Pawar faction as the real Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and also allotted the party symbol 'clock' to the group led by him.
"I am confident that people will not support the Election Commission ruling against which we have approached the Supreme Court," Sharad Pawar told reporters in Pune.
The Election Commission not only snatched our symbol but also handed over our party to others, he said.
"The EC snatched the party from the hands of those who founded and built it and gave it to others; such a thing never happened before in the country," said Pawar, who founded the NCP in 1999 after breaking away from Congress.
The EC had said that its decision followed the laid-out tests of maintainability of such a petition which included tests of aims and objectives of the party constitution, the test of party constitution and tests of majority, both organisational and legislative.
The poll body has allotted 'Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar' as the party name for the group led by Sharad Pawar.
(With PTI inputs)
