Mumbai:
Maharashtra Chairman Rahul Narwekar on Thursday referred to last week's Election Commission order – which recognized Ajit Pawar as the leader of the 'real Nationalist Congress Party' – and rejected petitions seeking disqualification of MLAs who revolted against Sharad Pawar last year, which led to a rift and a struggle for control of the NCP.
Mr Narwekar said the MLAs who joined Ajit Pawar in their rebellion against his uncle – and were allies of the BJP and a similar breakaway faction of the Shiv Sena – to form a new government could not be disqualified simply because they had questioned the latter. This, he said, was only an “internal dissent” and could not amount to apostasy, which would have led to disqualification.
“The party leadership cannot use the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution (which deals with anti-defection provisions) to suppress dissent from large numbers of members by threatening to disqualify them,” he said.
The sequence of events leading up to the split was due to discord within the undivided NCP, he added.
Mr. Narwekar also noted the “overwhelming” support that Ajit Pawar's camp had at the time of the split, saying, “I am therefore of the opinion that (the) Ajit Pawar-led NCP is the real political party…legislative majority (and) this is beyond dispute,” he said, “all petitions seeking disqualification are dismissed.”
Therefore, decisions of the Ajit Pawar faction are the “will of the NCP”, he ruled.
The Supreme Court last month gave Mr Narwekar time till February 15 to decide disqualification petitions against MLAs affiliated with Ajit Pawar's group.
Before the split, the NCP had 53 MLAs. After the dust settled, 41 sided with Ajit Pawar, leaving 12 with Sharad Pawar, as he tried to reassert control over the party he helped found in 1999 and has led ever since.
Last week, the Election Commission said the Ajit Pawar faction would be recognized as the 'real NCP', giving it control over the party name and symbol (a clock) weeks before the Lok Sabha elections and polls to fill six vacant are completed. Rajya Sabha seats in the state.
READ | Ajit Pawar's faction named Real NCP in a setback for Sharad Pawar
The poll panel gave Sharad Pawar just hours to decide on a new name, and his faction was eventually renamed the Nationalist Congress Party Sharadchandra Pawar.
READ | Sharad Pawar's party has been renamed by the Election Commission
Sources said the Commission's decision was based on the numerical strength of the two factions, something Mr Narwekar referred to and relied on in this case too.
An irate NCP termed the Election Commission's actions as 'murder of democracy'.
“The whole world knows who founded the NCP. So what the Election Commission has done despite this is the murder of democracy…,” said Anil Desmukh, a former minister.
Sharad Pawar's camp has approached the Supreme Court over the European Commission's order.
The decision played out like the Sena-Sena fight, in which the faction led by Eknath Shinde (who was made Chief Minister after revolting and allying with the BJP) was called the 'real Sena', resulting in Weeks before the elections, Uddhav Thackeray had to race to find a new identity for the party his father founded.
With input from agencies
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