New Delhi: On June 30, two days before he was sworn in as the deputy chief minister of Maharashtra, Ajit Pawar wrote to the Election Commission of India (ECI) seeking his faction to be recognised as the “real” Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), according to reports.Pawar has broken away with the support of nearly 30 MLAs, extending support to the Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis government. While his rebellion may not have come as a surprise, Pawar seems to also have set the stage for his faction to be legitimised as the ‘real’ NCP.According to the news agency ANI, the Ajit Pawar faction has claimed in an affidavit to the ECI that his uncle Sharad Pawar is no longer the party president. The affidavit claims that a resolution electing Ajit Pawar as NCP’s national president was signed by an “overwhelming majority” of MLAs as well as members of the organisational wing.Praful Patel, who was recently appointed working president of the NCP and is part of the Ajit Pawar camp, will continue in his position, the affidavit says according to ANI.“A Resolution dated 30th June 2023 signed by overwhelming majority of members of NCP, both from the legislative and organisational wing was passed thereby electing Ajit Anantrao Pawar as the President of NCP. Praful Patel was and continues to be one of the working presidents of NCP. The NCP also decided to appoint Ajit Pawar as the leader of NCP Legislative Party in the Maharashtra Legislative assembly and the said decision was also ratified by the resolution passed by an overwhelming majority of NCP MLAs,” the affidavit reads, according to ANI.The Ajit Pawar camp has already moved the ECI under the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order to use the NCP name and symbol [analogue alarm clock against a background of the tricolour]. Para 15 of the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968 deals with the poll panel’s “power in relation to splinter groups or rival sections of a recognised political party”, according to the Indian Express. It allows the ECI to decide, after taking into account all available facts and hearing representatives of all sections, if one or none of the groups is indeed that recognised party.On July 3, the ECI received an email from Jayant Patil, who is with Sharad Pawar, informing the panel that disqualification proceedings against the nine MLAs had been initiated before the Maharashtra assembly speaker, according to IE.The ECI will take into account the communications received and “take action as per the legal provisions”, an unnamed source told the newspaper.Earlier on Wednesday, 29 NCP MLAs attended a meeting chaired by Ajit Pawar and extended support to him. While that figure amounts to a majority of NCP MLAs, it is not enough to escape disqualification proceedings. The NCP has 54 MLAs in the Maharashtra assembly, meaning Ajit Pawar needs the support of at least 36 MLAs (two-thirds of the total) to circumvent the provisions of the Tenth Schedule.Also Read: After Ajit Pawar’s Defection, Eknath Shinde May Feel the HeatLessons learned from Shinde’s rebellion?The poll panel has already decided on one dispute in a Maharashtra-based party this year. After Eknath Shinde broke away from Uddhav Thackeray with a majority of MLAs last year and claimed to be the ‘real’ Shiv Sena, both parties appeared before the ECI to stake their claim over the party name and symbol. In February 2023, the ECI said the Shinde camp was the ‘real’ Shiv Sena, relying on the test of legislative majority.Maharashtra chief minister and Shiv Sena rebel Eknath Shinde. Photo: FacebookBut in an order passed in May this year, the Supreme Court said that in such cases, it would be “futile to assess which group enjoys a majority in the legislature”. The top court held that the Maharashtra governor and speaker’s actions to call for a vote of no-confidence against Uddhav Thackeray were illegal, but said it could not restore the government headed by him because the Shiv Sena leader resigned before the vote could happen.In the same order, it observed:“In arriving at this decision, it is not necessary for the ECI to rely on the test of majority in the legislature alone. In cases such as the present one, it would be futile to assess which group enjoys a majority in the legislature. Rather, the ECI must look to other tests in order to reach a conclusion under Paragraph 15 of the Symbols Order. The other tests may include an evaluation of the majority in the organisational wings of the political party, an analysis of the provisions of the party constitution, or any other appropriate test.”Lawyer Abhay Nevagi, in an article for The Wire, had said that the Shiv Sena’s party constitution allows the president of the party to expel any member. He had said:“as the president of the Shiv Sena, Thackeray appears to have sweeping and unfettered powers to expel members and office-bearers of the party under the party’s constitution. Such powers cannot be claimed either by Shinde or by the purported two-thirds majority of the rebel MLAs. This power can also not be bestowed upon the rebels either by the speaker of the Maharashtra assembly or even by the Supreme Court.”If the ECI accepts the affidavit it has received from the Ajit Pawar faction, it could pave the way for him to stake a claim not just over the NCP’s legislative party but also the organisational apparatus.