SC clears ‘NCP-Sharadchandra Pawar’ name for upcoming polls

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday, granted permission for the Sharad Pawar-led faction to use ‘Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar’ as its name and the ‘man blowing turha’ symbol for the upcoming Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.

Justices Surya Kant and KV Viswanathan presided over the bench that approved the request which passed the order on a plea by the Sharad Pawar group seeking to restrain the Ajit Pawar faction from using the ‘clock’ symbol for the polls, as allotted by the Election Commission, on the ground that it is disrupting the level playing field.

The NCP, founded by Sharad Pawar, had ‘clock’ as its election symbol before its split. The symbol is now with the Ajit Pawar faction.

The bench directed both the Election Commission and State Election Commission to acknowledge the ‘Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar’ and its symbol, ‘man blowing turha’.

Furthermore, it instructed the Election Commission to not allocate the ‘man blowing turha’ symbol to any other party or independent candidate.

Additionally, the Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar-led faction was mandated to publish a public notice in English, Hindi, and Marathi newspapers, declaring the ‘clock’ symbol as sub-judice and subject to adjudication.

The bench said the Ajit Pawar faction should make similar declarations in all election related audio-visual advertisements and publicity material like banners and posters. It had instructed the Ajit Pawar faction to submit their response within four weeks regarding the plea filed by the Sharad Pawar group against the Election Commission’s February 6 decision recognizing the former as the legitimate Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

Previously, on February 19, the court had ruled that the Election Commission’s order assigning the name ‘Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar’ to the Sharad Pawar-led faction would remain in effect until further notice.