Newly-appointed Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar claimed the support of 40 Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MLAs on Monday. He has submitted a list mentioning the names of these 40 MLAs to Governor Ramesh Bais, sources said. Pawar has even approached the Election Commission (EC) for a party name and symbol, they added. The NCP , in total, has 53 MLAs.

Following this, Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar said he will take appropriate decision on NCP''s plea to disqualify Ajit Pawar, eight other party MLAs. "The recognition of the leader of opposition is done by the head of the assembly and all rules and regulations will be considered before making any judgement. I have no idea about the number of MLAs in support of Ajit Pawar," he added.

A similar case was handled by the poll body when the Shiv Sena party got split into two — the Eknath Shinde camp and the Uddhav Thackeray camp. The EC had then allocated the party name "Shiv Sena" and the party symbol "Bow and Arrow" to the Eknath Shinde faction. The EC justified its move, saying that the MLAs backing Shinde got nearly 76 percent of votes polled in favour of the 55 winning Shiv Sena candidates in the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly polls.

Meanwhile, the NCP Discipline Committee passed a resolution against Ajit Pawar and eight MLAs.

#BreakingNews: In a move against Ajit Pawar and eight MLAs, a resolution has been passed by the NCP Discipline Committee@kotakyesha shares details | @aayeshavarma #NCP #AjitPawar #MaharashtraPolitics #Maharashtra pic.twitter.com/dhjjbs3Bju

— News18 (@CNNnews18) July 3, 2023

What Sharad Pawar's faction claims

Meanwhile, Jayant Patil from the Sharad Pawar's camp, said his faction has 44 MLAs. "Many MLAs who attended yesterday's (Sunday) swearing-in ceremony met Sharad Pawar. We have given these MLAs time till July 5," he said. "I spoke to the speaker this morning and requested him to look into our matter. He assured me that he would look into it as soon as possible," Patil added.

On being asked about the party's name and symbol and Ajit Pawar claiming to fight elections on NCP name and symbol, Patil said, "The party president is with us. How can anyone claim our party name and symbol."

The development came a day after Ajit Pawar, along with eight other MLAs, joined the BJP-Eknath Shinde alliance in Maharashtra. Ajit Pawar took oath as Maharashtra's second Deputy Chief Minister on Sunday. Hours after this, the NCP filed a disqualification petition with the assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar against its nine leaders, including Ajit Pawar, who joined the Maharashtra government in a surprise and dramatic political move.

Meanwhile, NCP supremo Sharad Pawar said the party won't approach the court but will "take action against those who joined the Maharashtra government". The move comes just days after Pawar had publically expressed his desire to step down as Leader of the Opposition in the Maharashtra Assembly.

Ajit has the backing of 40 NCP MLAs and 6 NCP MLCs, news agency PTI reported earlier. Other NCP leaders who took oath were Dilip Walse Patil, Chhagan Bhujbal, Hassan Mushrif, Dharmarao Baba Atram, Aditi Sunil Tatkare, Sanjay Bansode, Anil Patil and Dhananjay Mund.

First Published:Jul 3, 2023 10:14 AM IST