Read Time: 06 minutes
"We need a very uncategorical and unconditional undertaking from you that you will not use his picture..there will not be any overlapping with your party and theirs..", court has ordered.
The Supreme Court on Thursday has asked the Ajit Pawar led faction of NCP to file an undertaking before it that it would not use Sharad Pawar's pictures in its posters.
"You give us in writing that you will not use his picture, or else we will order you not to..you tell your party workers not to use the picture..you have chosen to separate from him...how can you use his photo..", Justice Surya Kant told Senior Advocate Maninder Singh appearing for Ajit Pawar's group.
When the matter was taken up today, Senior Advocate AM Singhvi made s submission that the Ajit Pawar faction's use of Sharad Pawar's photo along with the clock symbol was downright deception and misleading.
"This is blatant deception, they are piggybacking on my goodwill...with great respect this will actually be comic if not tragic for me..it is brazen, it is making a fool of the whole public and the nation..if this was an IPR matter your lordships would have been furious..", Singhvi added.
Agreeing with his submission, the bench also comprising Justice KV Vishwanathan directed Ajit Pawar's group to abstain from it noting that for they were enchashing Sharad Pawar's popularity. "..when the elections come you need his name, otherwise you want to be separate..", the bench added.
Court has further advised both the sides to come out with public notices clarifying their identity.
Two days back, Senior Advocate AM Singhvi had told court that the Sharad Pawar faction wanted that both parties to use a non-clock symbol. "Sharad Pawar has created this whole organisation..people would vote for the clock symbol thinking it is Sharad Pawar..", the court was told.
Earlier, Singhvi had told a CJI led bench that Pawar may be forced to face a whip issued by the Ajit Pawar faction on commencement of the Assemble session next week.
Sharad Pawar had approached the Supreme Court a few days back challenging the ECI's decision in favour of Ajit Pawar, who broke away from the Sharad Pawar camp to join the Shiv Sena-BJP government in Maharashtra with eight NCP MLAs.
The ECI had ruled that Ajit Pawar's faction was the real NCP and permitted the faction to use the 'clock' symbol for the party. In its order, ECI said total number of NCP MLAs in Maharashtra State assembly stood at 81, out of which, Ajit Pawar submitted affidavits of 57 MLAs in his support while Sharad Pawar had only 28 affidavits.
Notably, Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar also recognized the Ajit Pawar-led faction as the legitimate NCP and dismissed all disqualification petitions against both the Sharad Pawar faction and the Ajit Pawar faction.
The Speaker's decision acknowledged that the Ajit Pawar faction had the support of the majority of MLAs and further noted that the collective dissent would remain a dissent within the political party even when it began to be raised publicly.
Case Title: Sharad Pawar vs. Ajit Pawar
Please Login or Register
