The Supreme Court has agreed to hear on October 13 a plea moved by the Sharad Pawar-led faction of the NCP over the disqualification of 40 MLAs of the rebel group led by his nephew, Ajit Pawar. The senior Pawar's faction wants an expeditious decision on the petitions filed by it against the rival group, which affected a vertical split in the party.
The Sharad Pawar group had approached the Supreme Court seeking directives to Maharashtra Assembly speaker Rahul Narwekar to take action against MLAs who shifted loyalty to Ajit Pawar. The party had filed petitions against 40 MLAs over "anti-party" activities.
This comes days after the Elections Commission began hearing Ajit Pawar's petition claiming the party's name and election symbol.
The Sharad Pawar faction is hoping to compel the Speaker to act on its disqualification plea.
Maharashtra NCP president Jayant Patil had filed a writ before the Supreme Court on September 24. A party insider had told Hindustan Times that they had sought "directives to the speaker who has done nothing in over three months since our first disqualification petition was filed before him on July 2."
The NCP had filed three petitions for disqualification of rebel MLAs. The first petition was filed against nine MLAs including Ajit Pawar, second petition was against 20 MLAs and third against eleven MLAs.
{{/usCountry}}The NCP had filed three petitions for disqualification of rebel MLAs. The first petition was filed against nine MLAs including Ajit Pawar, second petition was against 20 MLAs and third against eleven MLAs.
{{/usCountry}}“The objective of the petition is to expedite our case as we are afraid that the speaker will decide in the Ajit faction’s favour. This will help us approach the SC and get them disqualified in a short period of time if the speaker’s decision is against us,” he added.
Last week Sharad Pawar visited Delhi and attended the Election Commission's hearing.
On July 2, Ajit Pawar and eight other NCP MLAs joined the Shiv Sena-BJP government. He later declared that he had the support of 40 lawmakers.
The Ajit Pawar faction has pleaded before the poll panel that his faction is the real NCP and that it should be allowed to use the official name and poll symbol.
With inputs from PTI