NCP (SP) working president Supriya Sule on Friday slammed the Election Commission over the splits in the NCP and Shiv Sena, describing the developments as unconstitutional and a threat to democracy.
Addressing reporters, Sule alleged that the poll panel had acted unfairly against the Sharad Pawar-led faction and maintained that ownership of a political party lies with its founders, not elected legislators.
The splits engineered in the NCP and Shiv Sena were "wrong", did not fit within the constitutional framework and were "dangerous for democracy", she said, alleging that the Election Commission and its machinery had been misused.
The NCP, founded by Sharad Pawar in 1999, was vertically split after Ajit Pawar joined the Eknath Shinde-led Mahayuti government in July 2023. He was appointed the deputy CM at that time. Pawar's stint in the same post continued after Devendra Fadnavis came to the helm as CM following the November 2024 assembly polls.
The claim over the (NCP's) party name and poll symbol had seen a bitter contest between the two factions, with Ajit Pawar's camp getting the original 'NCP' name and analogue alarm clock poll symbol.
Sharad Pawar was a founder member of the NCP, she said, claiming that its constitution did not provide for MLAs and MPs to decide ownership of the organisation.
She said that the party had submitted all relevant evidence before the courts but the Election Commission had treated the Sharad Pawar faction unfairly.
"I say this with a heavy heart because we do not like criticising institutions. But unfortunately, the Election Commission acted in a very wrong manner and injustice was done to the party," she said.
The Baramati MP further said that the Shiv Sena belonged to Uddhav Thackeray, and argued that the party's founder Bal Thackeray had handed over the organisation to his son during his lifetime.
"If someone had a different view, they could have formed a separate party, as Raj Thackeray did," she said, adding that building a party on one's own strength is something to be appreciated.
The Shiv Sena split in June 2022 after Eknath Shinde and 39 party MLAs rebelled against its leadership, leading to the collapse of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government then helmed by Uddhav Thackeray. Shinde then joined hands with the BJP to form a government, and became the chief minister.
The Election Commission later recognised the Shinde faction as the real Shiv Sena and granted it permission to use the bow and arrow symbol, while the Thackeray-led camp was allotted the name of Shiv Sena (UBT) and ‘mashaal’ (flaming torch) as its symbol.
(With inputs from PTI)