SC to hear Sharad Pawar’s plea against Election Commission verdict on 'real NCP' tomorrow

livemint.com:

Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Monday a plea by Sharad Pawar against the Election Commission’s decision to recognise the faction led by Ajit Pawar, Deputy Chief Minister of Maharastra, as the real Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). A bench of Justices Surya Kant, Dipankar Datta and KV Viswanathan is likely to hear the petition filed by the former cabinet minister plea on Monday i.e. February 19.

On February 16, Pawar’s counsel senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi requested the top court to urgently consider the matter given the Maharashtra Assembly session coming up in the week. The petition stated that the senior Pawar’s MLAs are likely to face a whip that may be issued by the faction led by the Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister. The veteran leader sought an urgent hearing of his plea in view of consequential fear of facing action for possible violations of the whip by his MLAs after the February 15 order of Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar.

It is important to note that Maharashtra Speaker Narwekar held that the NCP faction led by Ajit Pawar was the real NCP and that the anti-defection provisions in the Constitution cannot be used to stifle internal dissent. The special Maharashtra assembly session is beginning on February 20. Earlier on February 6, the Election Commission announced the Ajit Pawar faction is the real NCP and allotted the party's 'clock' symbol to the group.