Appointment of Ajit Pawar as NCP President 'illegal': Sharad Pawar faction to ECI

The appointment of Ajit Pawar as the Nationalist Congress Party's National President is “illegal”, the Sharad Pawar-led faction fumed Friday in its reply to the Election Commission of India. 

In its response to the election body, the Sharad Pawar camp said that their party’s Constitution does not allow for legislators to elect a president, and Ajit Pawar’s actions were in contravention. Ajit Pawar, the pela said, had “unilaterally sought to appoint himself as the boss on the basis of signatures of some legislators”.

The Sharad camp further said that it was filing the plea “to pre-emptively avoid inevitable disqualification (of the rebel leaders)” and that there was no split in the NCP. 

The response further added that Ajit Pawar had violated the party’s rules by holding a National Convention without issuing notice or appointing a Chief Returning Officer. In the Convention, his “appointment” was ratified. The Sharad Pawar camp has till now filed disqualification petitions against nine MLAs on July 2 and 20 MLAs on September 5 due to “anti-party activities”.

“It is submitted... affidavits of MLAs against whom disqualification petitions are pending cannot be taken into account for the purpose of deciding the majority. Therefore, affidavits of 29 MLAs... cannot be taken into account for the purpose of ascertaining the majority of petitioner," the Sharad Pawar camp said, adding that it continues to enjoy the support of 12 MLAs of the remaining 24 MLAs.