In a major political development, the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Tuesday recognized the faction led by Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar as the legitimate Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), awarding it the party's "Clock" symbol. This decision comes as a setback to Sharad Pawar, Ajit's uncle and veteran NCP leader, who now heads a separate faction.
Maharashtra deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said, This was an expected decision. If we look at the kind of decisions given by the Election Commission at different times in the last 10-15 years in such matters, then these are similar decisions. We were confident that Ajit Pawar will get it. He has the majority and the organization is also with him, the majority on both sides seems to be with him, I congratulate Ajit Pawar. In 2019, a mandate was broken, and the public mandate was cheated, but today's decision has shown the power of democracy.
Following the ECI's ruling, Ajit Pawar addressed a press conference and said, In democracy, priority is given to majority which is why the poll commission has allotted the party name and symbol to us. He said 50 MLAs are with us (NCP) besides most of the district presidents in the state and chiefs of the party cells (frontal organisations).