SC Issues Notice On Plea By Sharad Pawar Faction Against Maharashtra Assembly Speaker's Decision

Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar in February had held that the NCP faction led by Ajit Pawar, who rebelled against his uncle Sharad Pawar and joined the BJP-Shiv Sena government, was the real Nationalist Congress Party.

New Delhi:The Supreme Court on Monday sought a response from Ajit Pawar and his 40 MLAs on a plea filed by the Sharad Pawar faction against the decision of the Maharashtra Assembly Speaker, Rahul Narwekar, declaring the faction led by the Deputy Chief Minister as the real Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, representing the Sharad Pawar faction, submitted before a bench led by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud that the matter requires an urgent hearing bearing in mind the short remnant tenure of the Maharashtra assembly. The state Assembly’s term will expire in November this year.

The bench, also comprising Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, said the court will hear the plea filed by Jayant Patil and Jitendra Awhad, lawmakers of the Sharad Pawar faction, just after hearing a similar petition of the Uddhav Thackeray faction.

The bench said it will issue notice on the plea filed by the Sharad Pawar faction. "We will issue notice, all objections including on grounds of maintainability will be decided at final disposal," said the bench, adding that liberty is granted to serve the other respondents with 'dasti'.

The Thackeray faction had also filed a similar petition against the Speaker's decision favouring Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and his MLAs.

The Speaker in February had held that the NCP faction led by Ajit Pawar, who rebelled against his uncle Sharad Pawar and joined the BJP-Shiv Sena government, was the real Nationalist Congress Party. The Speaker had rejected the disqualification petitions filed by the rival groups seeking disqualification of each other's MLAs.