Its order now was based mostly on the identical take a look at that had shaped the premise of the decision within the Shiv Sena vs Shiv Sena case — the celebration’s legislative energy.
Talking to reporters in Delhi, Supriya Sule, an MP and a part of the faction led by her father Sharad Pawar, stated she was not shocked by the EC’s order. “It was expected that they will do to us what they did to the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray faction).”
“We will go to the Supreme Court because in the end, this party belongs only to (Sharad) Pawarsaheb. The entire world knows this. The way an invisible power has snatched it from him… we will see,” Sule, who represents the Pawar house turf Baramati, stated.
Praful Patel, a Rajya Sabha MP who has aligned himself with the Ajit Pawar-led celebration, stated on social media platform X: “With humility, we accept the decision of the Election Commission. Our commitment to serving the people remains unwavering…”
Shinde, now the Maharashtra CM, had rebelled in opposition to the Uddhav Thackeray-led undivided Shiv Sena and toppled the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) authorities headed by Thackeray in June 2022.
Shinde, supported by nearly all of MLAs, joined fingers with the BJP to kind a authorities with himself as CM. Each side filed disqualification petitions in opposition to one another, whereas Shinde additionally claimed the Shiv Sena’s title and image within the EC.
The EC dominated in Shinde’s favour in February 2023.
In July 2023, Ajit Pawar did what Shinde had performed a yr in the past. He rebelled in opposition to the Sharad Pawar-led undivided NCP with nearly all of MLAs and joined fingers with the ruling allies. Ajit Pawar was appointed deputy CM within the Maharashtra authorities.
Additionally Learn: ‘Triumph of truth’, ‘win for morality’: Uddhav & Shinde each declare victory after SC order on Sena vs Sena row
NCP vs NCP and Sena vs Sena
The EC in its order famous that within the dispute between the 2 factions of the NCP, the struggle over the image predated the problem of either side serving disqualification notices in opposition to one another, in contrast to within the Shiv Sena vs Shiv Sena dispute the place it was the opposite manner spherical.
The EC said that on 1 July, it obtained a petition dated 30 June from Ajit Pawar saying that Sharad Pawar, “claiming to be the national party president”, was “running the party in total disregard of its constitution and rules”.
Ajit Pawar, MLA from Baramati, led a rise up and joined the Shinde-led state cupboard solely on 2 July.
In each circumstances, the EC thought of the identical three checks to settle the dispute over the celebration title and image — take a look at of goals and aims, celebration structure and take a look at of majority within the celebration organisation and legislative wing.
In each circumstances, the EC gave the explanation why the primary two checks and the take a look at of organisational majority couldn’t be utilized.
For the take a look at of goals and aims, the EC order talked about eight factors from the celebration’s official aims. These are selling nationalism, sustaining the unity and integrity of India, selling financial development, strengthening the rule of regulation and constitutional order, empowerment of weaker sections and selling science and know-how, amongst others.
The EC stated that within the current dispute, neither of the 2 factions had made any substantial declare that their facet was following the goals and aims of the celebration and that the opposite facet was not. “Therefore, the application of this test will not lead to any conclusion,” it stated.
Within the dispute between the Shinde-led and Thackeray-led factions of the Shiv Sena too, the EC had stated neither of the 2 factions had made any vital arguments, and that the take a look at of the celebration’s organisational energy and which faction weighed extra on this scale was discovered to be “indeterminable and non-conclusive”.
Shifting on to the take a look at of the celebration’s structure, the EC stated that in its earlier orders it had discovered this take a look at to be of little assist because the act of expulsion and counter-expulsion occurs each time there’s a dispute amongst rival factions.
The EC stated that the Sharad Pawar-led faction expelled Ajit Pawar and the opposite dissenting MLAs with out “adhering to the provisions of the party constitution”. However, the Sharad Pawar faction has claimed that Ajit Pawar was elected because the chief of the celebration by the celebration’s MLAs, which can also be not according to the celebration’s structure.
So, the EC concluded that the take a look at of the celebration’s structure couldn’t be thought of as “both the factions have been found to be violating the provisions of the party constitution”.
In its verdict within the Shiv Sena case, the EC had criticised the undivided Shiv Sena’s structure as “undemocratic”, saying that the electoral faculty that’s speculated to elect the celebration president is nominated by none apart from the celebration president himself.
The take a look at of majority
To use the take a look at of majority, the EC thought of organisational in addition to legislative majority.
The EC famous that the NCP adopted a pyramid-like construction the place the existence of the upper physique depends on the existence of the decrease physique construction. Within the celebration, the delegates of the block committees kind the state committee. Additional, a tenth of the state committee members kind the nationwide committee, and all presidents of the state committees additionally kind a part of the nationwide committee. All members of the state committees are delegates of the nationwide conference.
From amongst these delegates, 10 proposers are required to “propose the name of one of the delegates as a candidate to the election for the NCP president’s post,” the EC stated.
The EC added that there have been no particulars to point out whether or not elections to the posts of block committees, district committees and state committees had been even held.
“It was argued that neither the election of the petitioner (Ajit Pawar faction) as party president by MLAs was as per the party constitution nor the alleged open national convention was called as per the party constitution… the petitioner’s faction was also not acting according to the provisions of the party constitution, and assessing the organisational support base on their claims will be futile,” the EC stated.
Within the Shiv Sena matter too, the EC had stated that the take a look at of majority within the organisational wing couldn’t “yield determinable or satisfactory finding”.
So, in each circumstances, it was the celebration’s legislative energy that led the EC to take a call on which faction ought to get the celebration’s image.
The EC stated the full variety of legislators with the NCP (MPs, MLAs, and MLCs) stands at 81. Fifty-seven affidavits had been filed in help of Ajit Pawar whereas 28 affidavits had been filed in favour of Sharad Pawar. 5 MLAs and one Lok Sabha MP submitted affidavits for each. Even when these six affidavits had been thought of in favour of the Sharad Pawar faction, the Ajit Pawar faction would nonetheless have a numerical majority, the EC defined.
Whereas giving its order within the Shiv Sena vs Shiv Sena dispute, the EC had stated that the popularity of a political celebration relies on the variety of votes it polls in elections to legislative assemblies and the Lok Sabha, in addition to the variety of its elected representatives. It added that the take a look at of legislative majority confirmed “qualitative superiority in Shinde’s favour”.
EC vs Supreme Court docket
In case of the dispute between two factions of the Shiv Sena, disqualification pleas had been pending earlier than the SC when the EC gave its determination in February final yr. The Supreme Court docket, finally, in Could final yr gave its ruling placing the ball within the courtroom of Maharashtra Speaker Rahul Narwekar.
The Supreme Court docket stated it couldn’t restore the MVA authorities as Thackeray had stop with out going through a flooring take a look at, however raised questions on how the Shinde authorities was shaped. It additionally questioned then Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari’s determination in asking the MVA authorities to face a flooring take a look at.
Additional, the SC criticised Narwekar’s determination to recognise the Shinde faction whip, calling it “illegal”, because it was taken with no correct inquiry into which faction of the Shiv Sena was the official celebration.
It directed the Speaker to conduct a correct inquiry and take a call, which Narwekar did final month and gave a ruling on the identical foundation because the EC’s — legislative energy.
Whereas giving its order within the NCP dispute, the EC produced sure paragraphs from the Supreme Court docket order on the Shiv Sena dispute to spotlight why it doesn’t want to attend for the dispute throughout the NCP over disqualification notices served to MLAs from either side to be settled within the Supreme Court docket earlier than giving its order.
“Proceedings before one constitutional authority cannot be halted in anticipation of the decision of another constitutional authority,” the EC quoted the Supreme Court docket order as saying.
Quoting farther from the Supreme Court docket order from Could final yr, the EC stated its determination on the image needn’t be in line with the choice of the Speaker underneath the Tenth Schedule (anti-defection regulation.)
“The decision of the Speaker that a member of the House is disqualified for voluntarily giving up the membership of the political party would only disqualify them from the House. It would not lead to an automatic expulsion of the member from the political party,” the EC stated in its order, quoting from final yr’s Supreme Court docket judgment.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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