Ajit Pawar Faction’s Request to Disqualify Ten Sharad Pawar Faction MLAs is Received by the Bombay High Court

The Maharashtra Assembly Speaker’s decision to not remove the 10 MLAs from the Sharad Pawar group was challenged in a case filed by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar’s side, and the Bombay High Court has responded.

The notice was sent out by a division bench of the high court, consisting of Justices GS Kulkarni and Firdosh Pooniwalla. The petition is scheduled to be heard on March 14.

In support of Ajit Pawar Faction Chief Whip Anil Patil, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi argued that the Sharad Pawar faction should be disqualified and that the Election Commission and Assembly Speaker had recognized the Ajit Pawar faction as the legitimate Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

The top whip of the Ajit Pawar side, Anil Patil, has contested the Maharashtra Assembly Speaker’s order from February 15.

The Ajit group submitted applications to disqualify MLAs from the Sharad Pawar side, but the Speaker rejected them.

The appeal, submitted by Advocate Shrirang Varma, said that the MLAs from the Sharad Pawar group had to be dismissed as the Speaker had acknowledged the Ajit Pawar party as the legitimate NCP.

The appeal argued that the Speaker erred in failing to exclude the Sharad Pawar group and in incorrectly evaluating the arguments of the Ajit Pawar faction.

Following the party split in July 2023, when Ajit Pawar’s group joined the government headed by Eknath Shinde, the Speaker issued his decree.

Sharad Pawar then filed petitions for the Ajit Pawar faction’s disqualification. In response, the Ajit Pawar group filed cross-petitions to have the Sharad Pawar faction disqualified.

Additionally, the Ajit Pawar group was just granted permission by the Election Commission to use the NCP’s “clock” emblem.

The highest court is now considering Sharad Pawar’s appeal against the ECI’s decision.