Hearing on Sharad Pawar's petition in Supreme Court today: Demand to stop Ajit faction from using 'clock' symbol in Maharashtra Assembly elections.

A hearing will be held in the Supreme Court on Wednesday regarding the election symbol of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). Sharad Pawar has filed a petition for this. NCP is divided into two groups. One group is of Ajit Pawar and the other is of Sharad Pawar. There is a dispute between the two regarding the original symbol of the party, the clock.

A hearing in this matter was also held in the Supreme Court on October 24, in which the court gave relief to the Ajit Pawar faction. The court had said that Ajit faction's Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) can use the 'clock' symbol in the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly elections, but it will have to write in the election banners and posters that it is a matter of dispute and sub-judice. .

The bench of Justice Surya Kant, Justice Dipankar Dutta and Justice Ujjwal Bhuiyan had directed Ajit Pawar's lawyer to file a new affidavit. Also warned that if the order was violated, she herself would initiate a contempt case.

In fact, in the petition of Sharad group, it has been said that Ajit group is not following the court's order, hence it should be stopped from using the 'clock' symbol in the Maharashtra Assembly elections. Also, Ajit group should be instructed to apply for a new symbol.

On 22 January, the Election Commission issued a logo of a man playing a trumpet to the Sharad faction.

Court said- Do not create embarrassing situation for yourself by disobeying orders Justice Surya Kant had told Ajit Pawar's lawyer Balveer Singh – Once we have issued the instructions, it will have to be followed. You file a reply and give a fresh affidavit that you have not committed any violation in the past and will not commit any violation in future also. We expect both parties to follow our instructions. Don't create an embarrassing situation for yourself.

Voting in Maharashtra on 20th November, counting of votes on 23rd November The Election Commission had announced the date of Maharashtra Assembly elections on 15 October. Voting will be held on all 288 seats in the state in a single phase on November 20. The results will come on 23 November.

February 6: Election Commission considered Ajit faction as the real NCP, Sharad reached Supreme Court. Ajit Pawar's supporters celebrate at the NCP office in Mumbai after the Election Commission's decision on 6 February. The Election Commission had also considered Ajit Pawar faction as the real NCP on February 6 this year. Also, the Commission had asked Sharad Pawar to give three names for the new political party by 4 pm on February 7.

15 February: Speaker of Maharashtra Assembly described Ajit's faction as the real NCP. Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narvekar was ordered by the Supreme Court to give its verdict on the disqualification of NCP MLAs by February 15. On February 15, Narvekar had given recognition to Ajit Pawar faction as the real NCP. He had also rejected the demand for disqualification of Ajit group MLAs.

Ajit had said on July 5- Now I am NCP Chief

In the hearing on July 29, the court had sought answers from Ajit group. The Sharad faction had filed a petition against the Maharashtra Assembly Speaker declaring Ajit's faction as the real NCP. The case was heard by a bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pastorwala and Justice Manoj Mishra. The court had sought answers from Ajit Pawar and 40 MLAs of his group in the matter.

Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for the Sharad faction, demanded an early hearing, arguing that the tenure of the Assembly would end in November. On this, the bench said that this petition of Sharad group will be heard after hearing the similar petition filed by Uddhav Thackeray group.

CJI said that we will issue notice and finally all the objections will be heard. There is freedom to give Dasti (a method of giving notice) to other respondents also. In fact, the Uddhav Thackeray faction has also filed a petition in the Supreme Court against declaring Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and his faction as the real Shiv Sena.

NCP limited to only 2 states NCP was stripped of its national party status on April 10, 2023, based on the then-current election results of 2000. Now it is recognized as a regional party only in Maharashtra and Nagaland.