‘Clock’ ticking? Poll clash may lead to NCP symbol being frozen

The Ajit Pawar faction has staked a claim to the party’s name and election symbol and hearing over the dispute is on before the poll body.

Mumbai: The two factions of the Nationalist Congress Party are preparing for another round of clash as they are likely to contest the upcoming assembly elections that have been announced in five states. In such a situation, the Election Commission of India (ECI) may choose to freeze the NCP’s ‘clock’ symbol until the dispute between them is resolved.

The Ajit Pawar faction has staked a claim to the party’s name and election symbol and hearing over the dispute is on before the poll body. The states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram will go to polls starting November 3 (HT PHOTO)

The Ajit Pawar faction has staked a claim to the party’s name and election symbol and hearing over the dispute is on before the poll body. The states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram will go to polls starting November 3.

While the Sharad Pawar faction is yet to decide about fighting elections in other states, the Ajit led faction is likely to contest assembly elections in at least three states. “We are planning to contest elections in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Mizoram. The discussions are on and will be announced subsequently,” said an insider from the Ajit faction.

As part of the INDIA alliance, the Pawar-led faction is in talks with the Congress. “Our discussions with Congress are going on and the decision on contesting elections in other states is likely to be taken in the next two days,” said senior NCP leader Jitendra Awhad.

However, both the factions are also wary that their move would result in freezing of the party’s name and election symbol. “The party may avoid contesting the assembly polls for two reasons. One, we don’t want anti-BJP votes to be divided and second, if we go to contest polls then the rebel faction would raise an objection after which the party’s name and election symbol is likely to be frozen by the poll body,” said a senior leader from Pawar led party.

“We were in the process of contesting elections in all five states but since the matter is yet to be cleared by the election commission, we are not sure if we should go ahead or not,” said Brijmohan Shrivastava, national spokesperson of the Ajit led faction.

On July 2, Ajit Pawar joined the Shiv Sena-BJP government as deputy chief minister along with eight other ministers. The same day, he moved ECI for use of the name and the clock symbol of the NCP.

The faction declared that it has elected Ajit Pawar as the new NCP national president in a meeting held on June 30. Taking cognisance of the petition filed by the Ajit led faction, ECI started hearings over the split from October 6.