NCP vs NCP: Supreme Court seeks reply of Ajit Pawar faction on 'misuse' of name, pictures

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday requested a response from the Nationalist Congress Party faction led by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar regarding a plea from the Sharad Pawar group, alleging the misuse of Sharad Pawar's name and images for political purposes.

Justices Surya Kant and K V Viswanathan, constituting the bench, instructed the Ajit Pawar faction to submit its response by Saturday to Sharad Pawar's plea and scheduled further hearings for March 19.

The bench emphasised, "We need a categorical and unconditional undertaking that the name and pictures of Sharad Pawar will not be used."

Previously, the apex court had directed that the Election Commission's decision on February 7, assigning 'Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar' as the party name for the Sharad Pawar faction, will remain in effect until further notice.

The court had also asked for a response from the Ajit Pawar-led faction regarding a plea from Sharad Pawar against the February 6 order of the Election Commission, which recognized the group led by the Maharashtra deputy chief minister as the legitimate Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).