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Days after senior leader of the Ajit Pawar-led NCP, Praful Patel, claimed that the Election Commission of India (ECI) will give its verdict on the party name and symbol by September 30, party MP from Sharad Pawar faction, Supriya Sule, demanded to know who gave him the date when the poll body is an independent authority. The statement created quite a controversy with the Opposition demanding to know the source.
Speaking today, October 1, Supriya Sule said, “I have full faith in EC, but I started feeling uneasy since Praful Patel started giving all the dates… EC is an independent authority then who is giving dates to Praful Patel?…”
But when asked how he came to know about the date of Election Commission verdict date, Praful Patel said he merely guessed a possibility. “Since they (Sharad Pawar led NCP) have been asked to file their submissions by September 8, I speculated that the hearings would be completed within a couple of weeks and the verdict would be out by September 30. It was mere speculation, nothing else,” Praful Patel was quoted as saying by The Times of India.
Meanwhile, Praful Patel has asserted that key appointments prior to June 30 were not as per the Nationalist Congress Party’s constitution and, hence, the only basis on which the Election Commission can decide about which faction represents the party is through electoral majority.
The NCP split on July 2 after Ajit Pawar and eight MLAs joined the Eknath Shinde government. Since then, the Ajit Pawar faction and the group led by party founder Sharad Pawar have claimed they represent the party, claiming to have the majority of MLAs.
“We have 43 MLAs in Maharashtra supporting us as well as six out of nine MLCs. While we believe in the principle of majority, it should be noted that the party can function only within the parameters of its own constitution. We never had our internal elections as per the constitution of the party so all the appointments prior to June 30 are unconstitutional,” Praful Patel claimed.
“Therefore,the only test based on which the Election Commission (of India) can decide (to whom the party, name, symbol belongs) is by number of elected representatives,” he said.
(With agency inputs)
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Updated: 01 Oct 2023, 08:19 PM IST
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