Deja Vu: NCP's split is similar to Shiv Sena and here's how EC might settle the rift

livemint.com:

Maharashtra has been high since Uddhav Thackrey took oath as chief minister in 2019 in alliance with NCP and Congress. During his term, it was reported several times that many Shiv Sena leaders are in contact with BJP and the alliance may not last for long. Similarly, for long Ajit Pawar's close association with BJP leaders was well known and it even resulted in one alliance in 2019, but later Ajit Pawar backtracked.

In June 2022, Eknath Shinde proved the reports right when he walked away from the government with 40 Shiv Sena MLAs. Uddhav Thackrey had to resign after some political drama and Eknath Shinde took oath as the chief minister after joining hands with the BJP. Exactly, one year after Shinde, Ajit Pawar walked away from the MVA and joined the Maharashtra government with 8 other NCP MLAs.

Another similarity between Shiv Sena and NCP split is that both Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar have not left their parties, but have claimed control over their original parties. In February 2023, the Election Commission of India gave a decision in favor of the Eknath Shinde faction of Shiv Sena and allowed them to retain the party name and symbol while giving a different name and symbol to the Uddhav Thackrey faction. Ajit Pawar has also knocked on the door of the Election Commission seeking control over the party.

The faction has termed Ajit Pawar as the new chief of the party and has claimed control over the majority of NCP leaders and workers. As both Shiv Sena and NCP splits look similar, the Election Commission may use the same benchmarks to decide who controls the NCP. In Shiv Sena's case, the poll body used tests like the “Test of Party Constitution" and Test of Majority".