'Clock symbol sub judice': SC asks Ajit Pawar-led NCP to issue disclaimer in 36 hours

Founded by Sharad Pawar in 1999, the NCP had "clock" as its election symbol before its split in 2023.

While hearing petitions filed by the Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar-led NCP factions on their rival claims over the "clock" symbol, a three-judge Bench led by Justice Surya Kant advised both the groups to focus on voters in the November 20 Maharashtra Assembly elections.

“Don’t waste your energy in courts. You both should go and be with the voters to woo them,” the Bench, which also included Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan, told the advocates representing both the NCP factions.

It asked senior advocate Balbir Singh, appearing for the Ajit Pawar faction, to make a prominent disclaimer in the newspapers, including Marathi ones, within 36 hours.

Stating that candidates had filed their nominations and the stage of withdrawal of names was over, Singh alleged that the Sharad Pawar faction was attempting to disrupt the entire election process.

On behalf of the Sharad Pawar faction, senior counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi contended that the "clock" symbol had been associated with the veteran leader for the last 30 years and the Ajit Pawar faction was trying to misuse it. Singhvi urged the top court to direct the Ajit Pawar-led group to seek a new symbol.

Ahead of the Assembly elections, the Supreme Court had on October 24 allowed Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar-led NCP faction to use the party’s "clock" symbol for publicity even as its dispute with the Sharad Pawar faction of NCP over the issue remained pending.

It had permitted the Ajit Pawar-led NCP faction to use the "clock" symbol with the disclaimer that the matter was sub judice.

The order came on a petition filed by the Sharad Pawar-led NCP faction challenging the February 6 order of the Election Commission recognising the Ajit Pawar-led group as the real NCP.