NEW DELHI: NCP veteran Sharad Pawar has filed a fresh plea in the Supreme Court to prevent the Ajit Pawar faction from using the ‘clock’ symbol for the upcoming Assembly polls in Maharashtra.
In his petition, Sharad Pawar cited that his party lost votes in the Lok Sabha polls as the Ajit faction fought with the ‘clock’ symbol, confusing the voters as to who represented the NCP.
He urged the top court to pass appropriate orders restraining Ajit from using the ‘clock’ symbol until the SC decides his appeal against the ECI order.
The NCP veteran has prayed to the court that Ajit Pawar be directed to move the Election Commission of India (ECI) for a fresh symbol.
Sharad Pawar has also urged that the Ajit Pawar faction be not allowed to use the ‘clock’ symbol till the SC adjudicates on the appeal filed by him against ECI recognising Ajit as the real NCP and awarding it the ‘clock’ symbol.
Notably, Sharad Pawar had been temporarily given the symbol of ‘man blowing a turha’ by the EC. The main petition between the two factions would likely to come up for hearing on October 15.
In its March 19 order, the apex court had directed the Ajit Pawar faction to issue a public notice in English, Hindi and Marathi media, mentioning in all of its campaign advertisements that the ‘clock’ symbol allotted to it is subject to the adjudication of the plea filed by Sharad Pawar-led faction pending before the SC.
The court earlier stated that there should be no dispute between Ajit and Sharad faction. It also directed the Ajit group to “meticulously comply” with the earlier direction with respect to adding disclaimers in their poll campaigns that they would use the ‘clock’ with a disclaimer that the matter was sub-judice in the top court.
On February 12, Sharad faction had moved SC challenging ECI’s decision to recognize Ajit faction as the real NCP.
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