The Supreme Court on Wednesday, September 6, asked the Aji Pawer-led National Congress Party (NCP) to issue a disclaimer in newspapers, including Marathi dailies, in 36 hours stating that the NCP's use of the 'clock' symbol remains a subjudice matter.
The deadline to NCP comes ahead of both factions campaigning for upcoming Assembly elections in Maharashtra on November 20. During the hearing, the apex court directed both the factions to not waste energy in courts and instead woo voters for the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly elections.
The Supreme Court bench, comprising Justices Surya Kant, Dipankar Datta, and Ujjal Bhuyan, passed the order after Sharad Pawar filed an application in the apex court against the February 6 order of the Election Commission of India (ECI) recognising the Ajit Pawar-led group as the real NCP.
Senior Advocate Abhishek M Singhvi appearing for the Sharad Pawar faction appealed in the court that Ajit Pawar's party is still flouting the previous orders of the Supreme Court, where the Ajit Pawar's NCP was directed to include a disclaimer in all the campaign materials that the use of the 'clock' symbol is subject to the result of the litigation.
Singhvi pointed out that the March 19 order of the apex court is not being followed by the Ajit Pawar faction of the NCP. They are still playing videos of Sharad Pawar and calling him their God. He said that Ajit's NCP is trying to gain a vote bank in the name of Sharad Pawar.
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The ECI had allotted the NCP's "clock" symbol to the group led by Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar. The NCP, founded by Sharad Pawar, had the "clock" as its election symbol before its split.
Sharad Pawar had moved the apex court against the Election Commission of India (ECI) 's February 6 order recognising the Ajit Pawar-led group as the real NCP.