The Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed the Sharad Pawar faction to use ‘Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar’ as its name for the upcoming Lok Sabha and Assembly polls in the country.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and KV Viswanathan also permitted the NCP bloc led by the veteran politician to use as its symbol ‘man blowing turha’ (a traditional trumpet also known as tutari).
The bench passed the order on a plea by the Sharad Pawar group seeking to restrain the Ajit Pawar faction from using the ‘clock’ symbol for the polls, as allotted by the Election Commission, on the ground that it is disrupting the level playing field.
The NCP, founded by Sharad Pawar, had ‘clock’ as its election symbol before its split. The symbol is now with the Ajit Pawar faction.
The bench directed the Election Commission and State Election Commission (SEC) to recognise the ‘Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar’ and its symbol ‘man blowing turha’.
It also asked the EC to not allot the ‘man blowing turha’ symbol to any other party or an independent candidate.
It asked the Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar-led faction to issue a public notice in newspapers in English, Hindi and Marathi saying that the ‘clock’ symbol is sub-judice and its use is subject to adjudication.