Photo row: Ajit Pawar faction pulled up

The Supreme Court on Thursday sought response from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) faction headed by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on a plea filed by the Sharad Pawar group alleging the misuse of his name and pictures for political gains.
Justices Surya Kant and K V Viswanathan directed the Ajit Pawar faction to submit its response by Saturday to Sharad Pawar’s plea and scheduled the matter for further hearing on March 19, 2024.

“We need a categorical and unconditional undertaking that the name, pictures of Sharad Pawar will not be used,” the bench stated.
Previously, the apex court had mandated that the Election Commission’s decision from February 7, allocating ‘Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar’ as the party name for the Sharad Pawar faction, would persist until further orders. It had also solicited a response from the Ajit Pawar-led faction concerning a plea from Sharad Pawar against the Election Commission’s February 6 order recognizing the group led by the Maharashtra deputy chief minister as the authentic Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).