NCP party name-symbol row: Election Commission to hear pleas of Sharad Pawar, Ajit Pawar

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Sharad Pawar and the other by Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar. Today is the first hearing of the case before ECI. Earlier in July, Ajit Pawar approached the Election Commission staking claim to NCP.

Later, the Election Commission wrote to both factions of the party acknowledging the split and also directed both Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar to share documents, submitted to the polling body, with each other. NCP MP Supriya Sule earlier this month said that there is no internal conflict in the party While Ajit Pawar had said that he will accept the final decision by the polling body. "Election Commission will give the final decision...After getting the dates, both sides will be represented before the Election Commission...I will accept the final decision that comes after that," he said.

Ajit Pawar had filed the petition before the ECI on June 30, and while he was sworn in as deputy chief minister on July 2, his notice reached the ECI office on July 5. Ajit Pawar had submitted the petition along with affidavits of MPs, MLAs, and MLCs to support his claim. In other news, NCP Chief Sharad Pawar on Thursday launched an attack on the BJP-led central government over the arrest of AAP MP Sanjay Singh in connection with a liquor excise policy case, accusing the BJP of misusing agencies like the CBI and ED against the opposition.

"I feel when they get nothing against the opposition, then agencies like ED and CBI are misused," he said. The ED on Wednesday arrested AAP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh in connection with the now-scrapped liquor policy case. The AAP MP's arrest triggered sharp reactions from the leaders of the INDIA bloc.