Supreme Court issues notice on plea against Maharashtra Speaker's refusal to disqualify Ajit Pawar camp MLAs

The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice on a petition challenging the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Speaker's decision to not disqualify members who defected to the Ajit Pawar faction of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). [Jayant Patil and anr v. Ajit Anantrao Pawar and Ors]..A Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra sought a response from Ajit Pawar and others on a petition moved by the NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) leaders Jayant Patil and Jitendra Awhad..Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi today appeared for the Sharad Pawar faction leaders..Maharashtra Speaker Rahul Narwekar had in February dismissed disqualification petitions filed against the Ajit Pawar faction by the Sharad Pawar-led faction. This led to the instant appeal before the apex court.“The Ajit Pawar faction had an overwhelming Legislative Majority when the rival factions emerged. Ajit Pawar's claim that his faction had the support of 41 out of 53 MLAs is not disputed by the petitioners. Even otherwise the resolution passed by the Ajit Pawar faction shows that prior to joining the Government the Ajit Pawar faction outnumbered the Sharad Pawar faction. It is also imperative to note that the very fact that the Sharad Pawar faction has filed disqualification petitions against 41 MLAs of the Ajit Pawar faction itself indicates the numerical strength of each faction,” the Speaker had held.The cross petitions filed by the Ajit Pawar faction had also been dismissed by the Maharashtra Speaker. The Ajit Pawar camp then moved the Bombay High Court against the Speaker's decision..The Speaker's verdict had come after the rebellion of the Ajit Pawar group that caused a split in the NCP in July 2023.The Sharad Pawar group had first filed disqualification petitions against nine MLAs of the Ajit faction who were sworn in as ministers og the ruling Eknath Shinde-led government. The petitions against the remaining 31 MLAs of the junior Pawar faction were filed later. The Ajit Pawar group also had filed cross petitions against the 10 MLAs of Sharad Pawar group. .Pertinently, the Election Commission of India (ECI) on February 6 ruled that Ajit Pawar's faction was the real NCP, and permitted the faction to use the 'clock' symbol for the party.The poll body had in its order noted that the total number of NCP MLAs in Maharashtra State assembly stood at 81. Out of this, Ajit Pawar had submitted affidavits of 57 MLAs in his support while Sharad Pawar had only 28 affidavits. In view of this, the ECI concluded that the group led by Ajit Pawar enjoyed majority support of the legislators and can lay claim to being the NCP.A challenge to the ECI's decision filed by the Sharad Pawar faction is pending before the Supreme Court.