Warring NCP factions led by Sharad Pawar and his nephew Ajit Pawar appeared before the Election Commission on Friday, as the hearing to determine which is the original party commenced.
The Ajit Pawar faction, which moved the EC staking claim to the party name and symbol, argued before the commission that it has the support of 42 of the 53 MLAs in Maharashtra, six of the nine MLCs, all seven MLAs in Nagaland and one member each in the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha.
"Under the circumstances, the petitioner submits that he enjoys overwhelming support in the Organisational Wing as well as Legislative Wing of the NCP and therefore the present petition may be allowed by the Hon'ble Commission by recognising the faction led by the petitioner to be the real Political Party," Ajit Pawar said in his submission to the EC.
At the EC hearing, Sharad Pawar, who was present, was represented by senior lawyer Abhishek Singhvi while senior lawyers NK Kaul and Maninder Singh appeared on behalf of Ajit Pawar. The EC will continue to hear the matter on Monday.
After the nearly two-hour long hearing, Singhvi told reporters that he presented their preliminary objection to the EC - that it is obliged to determine the threshold issue of whether there is a dispute or not and its jurisdiction depended on that. The commission responded that they will not be making a decision on this issue at this stage, Singhvi said.
Singhvi said they have the liberty to challenge the rejection of this plea at a court and a decision will be taken later.
He claimed that the main thrust of the argument of the other side was "very interesting...which is non-existent in law". He alleged the the Ajit Pawar faction did not want the organisation test (to examine who has a majority in organisation) as "they know that 99% of the cadre is with Sharad Pawar, hence they are saying ignore the organisation test".
He said that when disqualification petitions are pending, one cannot apply the legislative majority test to determine who is the real party.
"They are running away from the organisation test, they are out of the legislative test as the Supreme Court says no, But they have invented a test to suit themselves...count the votes got by MLAs, MPs and MLCs. This is one thing I have never heard of. We reserve our right to reply. The EC has assured us it will give us sufficient time to file our reply and make our submissions (sic)," he added.
