The Election Commission on Thursday allotted the symbol of a “man blowing turha” to the Nationalist Congress Party founder Sharad Pawar’s faction.
A turha, also known as tutari, is a trumpet that is sounded to mark the entry of important individuals or at the beginning of significant events.
The Nationalist Congress Party - Sharadchandra Pawar on Friday shared the Election Commission order on the new party symbol on social media and quoted lines from Tutari, a poem written by Kusumagraj.
“The tutari in the form of great valour of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj had once deafened the emperor of Delhi,” the party said. “It is a great honour for our party to get the man blowing turha as our symbol for upcoming elections…Our tutari is now ready to shake Delhi’s throne under the leadership of Sharadchandra Pawar.”
On February 6, the Election Commission recognised the Ajit Pawar faction as the real Nationalist Congress Party and allocated it the “clock” symbol.
The poll panel had also allowed Sharad Pawar’s faction to use a new name for the February 27 polls for six Rajya Sabha seats from Maharashtra. It had assigned the name “Nationalist Congress Party – Sharadchandra Pawar” to his faction on February 7.
On February 16, Nationalist Congress Party founder Sharad Pawar appealed to the Supreme Court for an urgent hearing of his petition challenging the Election Commission order.
“Because of the Election Commission’s order, Sharad Pawar will be subject to the whip of Ajit Pawar,” senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, representing Sharad Pawar, told the court. “The session in the Maharashtra Assembly is slated to begin next week and we have not been given any symbol.”
The Supreme Court, while hearing the petition on Monday, allowed his faction to use the name “Nationalist Congress Party-Sharad Chandra Pawar” beyond the February 27 Rajya Sabha polls, The Hindu reported.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and KV Viswanathan also said that his faction could apply for a party symbol. It directed the Election Commission to allot the Nationalist Congress Party-Sharad Chandra Pawar a symbol within a week of their application.
The bench also directed Ajit Pawar to file a counter-affidavit to the petition within two weeks and listed the case for hearing after three weeks.
In July last year, Ajit Pawar, along with several party MLAs, joined Maharashtra’s coalition government comprising the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Shiv Sena faction led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. After joining the coalition, Ajit Pawar also became the deputy chief minister of the state.
The move had led to a split in the Nationalist Congress Party, with one faction supporting Sharad Pawar and the other backing Ajit Pawar.
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