The Supreme Court on Thursday directed Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar to ask workers of his faction of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) to desist from using the ‘clock’ symbol in ads, news agency PTI reported.
Stating that the allocation of the symbol is an issue that is currently sub-judice, the apex court told the Ajit faction to give advertisements in prominent newspapers to inform people about the matter. It also asked that workers loyal to the Maharashtra deputy CM must be sensitised to use disclaimers to inform public that the allocation of the ‘clock’ symbol is sub-judice.
The development came a day after the bench of Justices Surya Kant and KV Viswanathan asked Pawar to file an affidavit before it in 24 hours, demonstrating how his group has adhered to the bench's earlier direction that mandated that disclaimers be inserted in party ads and public notices, specifying that the ‘clock’ allocated to his side was subject to the ongoing judicial scrutiny.
On March 19, the bench had allowed the Ajit group to keep both the NCP name and ‘clock’ symbol, though with a caveat that the deputy CM's side will give public notices in leading English, Marathi, and Hindi dailies, informing the public that the allocation of the ‘clock’ symbol is subject to the outcome of the petition heard by the court.
{{/usCountry}}On March 19, the bench had allowed the Ajit group to keep both the NCP name and ‘clock’ symbol, though with a caveat that the deputy CM's side will give public notices in leading English, Marathi, and Hindi dailies, informing the public that the allocation of the ‘clock’ symbol is subject to the outcome of the petition heard by the court.
{{/usCountry}}The issue stems from the vertical split in the NCP in July last year, when the party, co-founded by Ajit's uncle Sharad Pawar in June 1999 after the latter was expelled from the Congress, witnessed a vertical split into two groups, with the uncle and the nephew leading one faction each. The united NCP was a constituent of the three-party opposition alliance, Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) along with the Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT); upon split, the Ajit camp joined the ruling coalition of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena.
In February this year, the Election Commission of India (ECI) recognised the Ajit Pawar-led faction as the ‘real NCP’ and gave it the original ‘clock’ symbol. It is this recognition that Sharad Pawar has challenged in the Supreme Court.