Supreme Court's 36-Hour Deadline To Ajit Pawar Over 'Clock' Symbol

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister, Nationalist Congress Party's Ajit Pawar will continue to use the "clock" election symbol but will have to give a declaration within 36 hours that the matter is still under the consideration of the Supreme Court. At a hearing in the Supreme Court today, the judges noted that the Ajit Pawar faction has not complied with its orders and gave it a 36-hour deadline. The matter will be heard next on November 13 -- one week before the assembly election.

The Sharad Pawar faction, which has challenged the Election Commission's move to award the clock symbol to the Ajit Pawar faction, had again contended that a new symbol be allotted to the rival group. 

They also claimed that the Ajit Pawar faction continues the use of the clock symbol without clarifying the matter is sub judice, violating the earlier order of the court. 

"Yesterday, when the leaders of Ajit Pawar faction were asked by the media about the Supreme Court hearing, they said, 'Nothing is going to happen. We will contest the election on the clock symbol'. Look at their arrogance.

The Sharad Pawar faction also  contended that that the Ajit Pawar group was showing videos of Sharad Pawar and the clock symbol. 
Justice Dipankar Dutta -- part of the three-judge bench that also had Justices Suryakant and Ujjal Bhuiyan -- today said he had personally noticed the lack of a disclaimer. 

When Ajit Pawar faction claimed they have followed the court's direction and issued 52 notifications, Justice Dutta said, "We have pictures of hoardings in front of us. Can you tell in which part of it is your disclaimer or self-declaration?"

"It is not known when and from where these pictures were taken, so how can we tell?" shot back the lawyer representing the NCP. 

In the last hearing, the Supreme Court had warned the Ajit Pawar faction that a violation of its March-April order will amount to contempt of the court. Today, the judges said, "Issue public notices in newspapers with Marathi, Hindi and English versions and show it to the court".

Ahead of the recently concluded Lok Sabha election, despite petitions by the Sharad Pawar faction, the top court had not barred the Ajit Pawar faction from using the clock symbol, ordering only that they make it clear to the people that the court was yet to make up its mind about where the symbol belongs.

In that election, the voters, though. made it clear who they thought was the real NCP. The Sharad Pawar faction won eight seats compared to the single seat won by the Ajit Pawar faction. The other party for which the Election Commission used a similar formula -- the Shiv Sena which had also split - also received a similar message from the voters. 

The outcome was dismal for the ruling alliance, with the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi -the alliance of Congress, Uddhav Thackeray faction of Shiv Sena and the Sharad Pawar faction of the NCP - winning 30 of the state's 48 seats. The ruling alliance won 17. One seat went to an Independent candidate.