Sharad Pawar
Election Commission assigns new name to Sharad Pawar's party
Mumbai/IBNS: Veteran politician Sharad Pawar's faction has a new name now- Nationalist Congress Party Sharadchandra Pawar- the Election Commission said Wednesday, a day after it declared that the group led by his nephew, Ajit Pawar, is the 'real' NCP and will be allotted its name and symbol (a clock).
The Election Commission said it had accepted "the name of your group/faction as a onetime option for the purpose of the forthcoming election to six seats in the Rajya Sabha from Maharashtra".
The poll body is yet to allot a symbol for the NCP Sharadchandra Pawar.
According to NDTV reports, the Sharad Pawar faction will be given a choice between the rising sun (a variation of what is used by Tamil Nadu's ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam), a pair of glasses (a variation with the Indian National Lok Dal), and a banyan tree.
A challenge, party leaders have admitted, is spreading awareness about any new name so close to an election since voters, particularly in rural areas, will identify the clock image with Sharad Pawar.
Other names considered were Sharad Pawar Congress and Sharad Pawar Swabhimani Paksh.
The Ajit Pawar faction of the NCP earlier in the day filed a caveat application in the Supreme Court, praying that no order should be passed by the top judiciary without hearing them on any possible plea by the rival Sharad Pawar faction against the Election Commission of India (ECI) order related to the party.
The caveat filed through advocate Abhikalp Pratap Singh has pleaded that no ex-parte order should be passed against them if the Sharad Pawar faction moves an appeal against the ECI order officially recognising the Ajit Pawar-led group as the real NCP.
The ECI has also allotted the NCP symbol 'clock' to the Ajit Pawar-led group.
The ECI said the decision was taken based on laid-out tests of the maintainability of such a petition, which included tests of the aims and objectives of the party constitution, tests of the party constitution, and tests of majority both organisational and legislative.
Sharad Pawar has been asked to choose a name for his faction given the upcoming Rajya Sabha election.
They have been asked to convey the name and symbol of their faction to the poll body by 3 pm on Feb 7.
The split followed by the EC decision is seen as a huge loss of face for his 83-year-old uncle.
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