Sharad Pawar has filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court before the hearing of NCP vs NCP election symbol dispute. In this affidavit, he has said that Ajit Pawar tried to create confusion in the minds of voters regarding the clock election symbol. An attempt was made to take unfair advantage of the goodwill associated with the clock election symbol. Sharad Pawar sought permission to present six documents to prove the allegations.
Sharad Pawar founded NCP in 1999 with PA Sangma and Tariq Anwar. But last year the rebellion led by Ajit Pawar divided the party. After this, Ajit Pawar along with 40 MLAs joined the BJP-Shiv Sena government led by Eknath Shinde. Ajit was made Deputy CM. The matter reached the Election Commission.
The Election Commission declared Ajit Pawar camp as the ‘real’ NCP and allotted it the party name and ‘clock’ election symbol. Sharad Pawar camp challenged this in the Supreme Court. The court then allowed the Sharad Pawar camp to use ‘Rashtriya Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar)’ as its name and the trumpet election symbol as its symbol for the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.
The court allowed the Ajit Pawar faction to continue using the ‘NCP’ party name and ‘clock’ election symbol for the elections. Sharad Pawar camp opposed this. The matter is pending in the Supreme Court. Sharad Pawar accused Ajit Pawar’s faction of violating court orders by using NCP’s name and symbol.