New Delhi: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) founder Sharad Pawar has filed a fresh application in the Supreme Court, in a pending proceeding before it, seeking a direction to restrain the Ajit Pawar faction from using the 'clock' symbol for upcoming assembly polls in Maharashtra.
Sharad Pawar has sought direction from the top court that Ajit Pawar should apply for a fresh symbol for the purpose of contesting the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly polls.
The applications said the immediate case of the petitioner (Sharad Pawar) is that during the recently concluded Indian general election (Lok Sabha), where the Sharad Pawar faction contested on the 'man blowing turha' symbol and Ajit Pawar on the 'clock' symbol, registered voters on the ground were faced with immense confusion and dilemma in respect of who represented the Nationalist Congress Party.
"This confusion inevitably resulted in Respondent No. 1 (Ajit Pawar) securing unfair electoral gains and the petitioner suffering the loss of votes in the said elections," said the application.
“In view of the above, the petitioner filed IA on September 24, 2024, seeking directions to file additional documents evidencing large-scale confusion caused and engineered in the minds of the people due to misleading statements of respondent No. 1 (Ajit Pawar) and his representatives. In fact, respondent No. 1 has been leveraging upon the existing confusion in the minds of the people due to the long-standing association between the 'Clock' symbol and the petitioner," said the application.
The application said that the Ajit Pawar faction should not be allowed to use the ‘clock’ symbol till the apex court adjudicated on the appeal filed by Sharad Pawar against the Election Commission of India (ECI) recognising Ajit Pawar faction as the real NCP and awarding the 'clock' symbol to it. The application requested the apex court to "ensure fairness and a level playing field by omitting any confusion in the minds of the electorate in relation to the 'clock' symbol reserved for the Nationalist Congress Party and the 25-year-long synonymity of the Petitioner with it, as its National President."
The application said: “In appreciation of the fact that the degree of confusion amongst the voters was prevalent in the recently concluded Parliamentary Elections, the confusion would potentially be greater in the upcoming Assembly elections due to the relatively smaller size of the Constituencies”.
"Moreover, the degree of confusion is directly proportional to the impact on the electorate and hence possesses a greater propensity in disrupting the conduct of free and fair elections”, it added. The apex court is scheduled to hear the matter on October 15.
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