Sharad Pawar approached the Supreme Court, challenging Ajit Pawar’s use of the clock symbol, which has long been associated with him. The Sharad Pawar faction claims that Ajit has created widespread confusion among voters by using the symbol. They argue that this tactic misleads the public, potentially impacting upcoming elections.
New Delhi: The Sharad Pawar faction of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) filed a petition in the Supreme Court, objecting to the continued use of the ‘clock’ symbol by the Ajit Pawar faction.
The Sharad Pawar camp argues that Ajit Pawar is creating “large scale confusion” among voters by using the symbol long associated with Sharad Pawar.
The plea states,
“Ajit Pawar has been leveraging upon the existing confusion in the minds of the people due to long standing association between the ‘Clock’ symbol and the Petitioner,”
The Sharad Pawar faction requested that the Ajit Pawar group be assigned a new symbol for the upcoming Maharashtra State Assembly elections.
A bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan scheduled to hear the case on October 15, ahead of the assembly’s term ending on November 26.
In March of this year, the Supreme Court allowed the Ajit Pawar faction to use the ‘clock’ symbol for the 2024 parliamentary and Maharashtra State elections, but with specific conditions. This decision followed the Election Commission’s recognition of Ajit Pawar’s faction as the legitimate NCP after the party split.
Sharad Pawar’s faction challenged this Election Commission decision, and the Supreme Court permitted Ajit to retain the symbol temporarily, pending a final decision on which group would be recognized as the true NCP.
The court also mandated that the Ajit Pawar faction include disclaimers in all election advertisements featuring the ‘clock’ symbol, clarifying that the symbol’s allocation remained under dispute. These disclaimers were to be incorporated into every election advertisement and audio or video material produced by the faction.
Additionally, the Court provisionally recognized Sharad Pawar’s faction as a separate political party, with the symbol of a man blowing a tutari (trumpet).
In a new application filed by Sharad Pawar through advocate Abishek Jebaraj on September 25, it was requested that Ajit Pawar’s faction be assigned a different symbol to prevent confusion during the upcoming Maharashtra assembly elections.
The plea argues that this is necessary to safeguard the integrity of the ‘clock’ symbol’, as the ownership dispute is still ongoing, and to ensure free and fair elections by eliminating any potential for manipulation of voter perceptions.
The plea states,
“Confusion would potentially be greater in the upcoming Vidhan Sabha elections due to the relatively smaller size of the Constituencies. Moreover, the degree of confusion is directly proportional to the impact on the electorate,”
This step, they argue, would prevent bad-faith actors from exploiting the confusion for electoral gain and help ensure free and fair elections in Maharashtra. The case set to be heard by a Supreme Court bench led by Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan on October 15.