SC seeks Ajit Pawar’s reply on NCP legitimacy dispute

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday sought the responses of Ajit Pawar and his 40 MLAs on a plea moved by the Sharad Pawar faction of the NCP challenging Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar’s decision declaring the group led by the deputy chief minister as the real NCP.

A bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra took note of the submissions made by senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, who appeared in the court of behalf of the Sharad Pawar faction, that the plea needed an urgent hearing keeping in mind the short remnant tenure of the state Assembly. The term of the Maharashtra Assembly expires in November.

“We will issue notice. All objections, including on grounds of maintainability, will be decided at final disposal. Liberty is granted to serve the other respondents with ‘dasti’ (a mode of serving notices),” the CJI said.

Narwekar held on February 15 that the NCP faction led by Ajit Pawar, who rebelled against his uncle Sharad Pawar and joined the BJP-Shiv Sena government in Maharashtra, was the real Nationalist Congress Party. The speaker had rejected the disqualification petitions filed by the rival NCP factions seeking disqualification of each other’s MLAs.