Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Mar 19: Even while directing the two factions to maintain the status quo on the name and symbol allotted by the Election Commission of India, the Supreme Court on Tuesday slammed the current trend of defection in political parties that end up with the defecting faction being recognised as the “real” party calling it a “mockery of voters.”
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and KV Vishwanathan while hearing a petition of the Sharad Pawar faction of the Nationalist Congress Party, made it clear the situation bypasses the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution, which was put in place to bar defections and the subsequent political instability.
The NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) had gone to court to challenge the award of party name and symbol to the Ajit Pawar faction by the Election Commission. The Sharad Pawar group had sought 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 poll body’s decision was in line with its earlier order that awarded the party name and symbol to the rebel faction of the Shiv Sena led by Eknath Shinde, who subsequently became the Maharashtra Chief Minister.
“When the Election Commission is recognising a faction only on basis of legislative strength and not organisational strength, is it not recognizing a split, which is no longer approved under the tenth schedule,” said Justice J Vishwanathan. “That way, you can engineer defections and claim the party symbol. Will it not be mockery of the voter?” the judge added.
The court said the names and election symbols of the two factions of the Nationalist Congress Party will remain as the Election Commission decided for the Lok Sabha polls advising a status quo. The order, though, is temporary and the matter would be revisited, the court clarified.
The bench directed the Election Commission and State Election Commission (SEC) to recognise the ‘Nationalist Congress Party- Sharadchandra Pawar’ and its symbol ‘man blowing trumpet.’ 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. The bench said the Ajit Pawar faction should make similar declarations in all election related audio-visual advertisements and publicity material like banners and posters.
It asked the Ajit Pawar camp to file its response within four weeks on the Sharad Pawar group’s plea against the February 6 order of the Election Commission recognising the former as the real Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). On February 19, the top court had directed that the Election Commission’s order allotting ‘Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar’ as the party name for the Sharad Pawar faction will continue till further orders.
The NCP, founded by Sharad Pawar, had ‘clock’ as its election symbol before its split. The symbol is now with the Ajit Pawar faction.
