SC seeks Ajit faction’s reply on plea over defection allegation

New Delhi, July 29

The Supreme Court on Monday asked Ajit Pawar and 40 MLAs belonging to his faction of the NCP to respond to a petition filed by the Sharad Pawar faction of the party. The plea has challenged the Maharashtra Assembly Speaker’s decision to declare the former’s group as the real NCP.

Senior advocate Abhishek Mannu Singhvi, representing the Sharad Pawar faction, submitted that the petition needed an urgent hearing as the term of the Assembly would expire in November. Sharad Pawar group leader Jayant Patil has sought disqualification of the Ajit Pawar faction MLAs for defecting and joining the Shiv Sena-BJP government.

The Bench said the issue of maintainability of the petition would be decided along with the merits of the case. The SC said the Sharad Pawar faction’s appeal would be heard later along with the pending petition of the Shiv Sena (UBT faction) which has also challenged Narwekar’s order refusing to disqualify the MLAs belonging to the Eknath Shinde faction. The matter was likely to be taken up after three weeks.