“We Should Get Back Our Party And Symbol”: Supriya Sule

 NCP-Sharadchandra Pawar leader Supriya Sule on Monday said that the way the party has been snatched away from the founding member was “wrong,” adding that the party and its symbol should be returned.

NCP-Sharadchandra Pawar MP, Supriya Sule said, “The way the party has been snatched away from the founding member, this is very wrong. We should get back our party and sign (symbol)…There is democracy in the country, and this is wrong,” Ms Sule told reporters.

On the Supreme Court’s notice on a plea filed by Nationalist Congress Party – Sharadchandra Pawar chief Sharad Pawar, party leader Jitendra Awhad said, “I am very happy that Supreme Court was quite clear that they wanted to defend and protect the democratic values in this country… tenth schedule clearly says that you cannot have an independent identity until and unless you merge with a political party… According to me, Ajit Pawar’s camp wants to destroy and demolish Sharad Pawar. They want to uproot Sharad Pawar from Maharashtra politics.”

The Supreme Court on Monday ordered that the interim order by the Election Commission of India (ECI) that allowed veteran leader Sharad Pawar to use ‘Nationalist Congress Party–Sharad Chandra Pawar’ would continue till further orders.

“I am grateful to the Supreme Court for its decision and order that the symbol and the party should be returned within eight days,” she added.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and K V Vishwanathan also allowed Sharad Pawar to approach the ECI for symbol allocation and said that it would be allotted within one week of filing the application.

It further issued notice to the Ajit Pawar faction and ECI on the plea of Sharad Pawar against the order of the poll panel officially recognising the Ajit Pawar faction as the real Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

Sharad Pawar moved the Supreme Court, challenging the decision of the ECI to officially recognise the Ajit Pawar faction as the real NCP and the use of party symbols.

On February 6, the poll panel, while applying the test of majority in the legislative wing, ruled that Ajit Pawar’s faction was the real NCP and permitted the faction to use the ‘clock’ symbol for the party.

In its order, the Election Commission had noted that the total number of NCP MLAs in the Maharashtra State assembly stood at 81 and out of this, Ajit Pawar submitted affidavits of 57 MLAs in his support while Sharad Pawar had only 28 affidavits.