New Delhi: The Election Commission of India (ECI) has allowed Ajit Pawar’s faction of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) to use the party’s name and its electoral symbol of the clock, it announced on Tuesday (February 6).Paragraph 134 of the ECI’s order gives the clock symbol to Ajit Pawar, citing what it terms the “test of aims and objectives of the party constitution”, the “test of the party constitution” and “the test of majority”.Ajit Pawar and eight other legislators of the NCP joined Maharashtra’s ruling coalition in July of last year. Pawar was made deputy chief minister shortly afterwards.The ECI had conducted around ten hearings in the legal dispute between the two factions in the last six months. It has provided the Ajit Pawar faction a one-time option to claim a name for their new political formation and submit three preferences, with the deadline set for 3 pm on Wednesday (February 7).The ECI’s order will be a setback to Sharad Pawar, who is Ajit Pawar’s uncle and who founded the NCP.Anil Deshmukh, a leader in the party’s Sharad Pawar faction and former home minister of Maharashtra, told The Wire that the ECI has passed an “unfair” order “under political pressure from those in power”.“The election commission has handed over [the party name and symbol] to Ajit Pawar today. A similar decision was given in the case of [the Shiv] Sena too. Everyone knows who formed the party and whom the party belongs to. But under political pressure from those in power, the election commission has once again passed an unfair order. This is a death of democracy yet again,” Deshmukh said.He continued: “Only yesterday, the Supreme Court in the Chandigarh mayoral election matter had observed that it wouldn’t allow the death of democracy in the country. And today, in Maharashtra, you have another unfair order by the [election commission]. This is unfortunate.”Spokesperson for the Sharad Pawar faction, Clyde Crasto, said the ECI order was “not a surprise”.“Sharad Pawar is the chief of the NCP which is there in 28 states … 25 out of them backed Sharad Pawar. Now the Supreme Court has to tell what the truth behind all of this is,” he was quoted as saying by ANI.Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole said the ECI’s order was “scripted” and “handed over to [it] by the Union government”. “The ECI merely read it out for the public,” he said.“A few months ago, the BJP’s national president J.P. Nadda had claimed that regional parties are destined to be wiped out. And since then, the Modi government – armed with the secret agencies and the election commission – has been on the path of wiping out all regional parties one by one. It was the Shiv Sena earlier and now it is the NCP. Democracy is being killed in broad daylight,” Patole continued.“The Modi government and the ECI are not merely wiping out the opposition, but are also ending democracy in the country.”Speaking at a public rally in Pune’s Baramati on Sunday (February 4), Ajit Pawar made a veiled comment that Sharad Pawar was making emotional appeals of the 2024 general election being his last.Following this, Sharad Pawar’s faction ridiculed and opposed Ajit Pawar’s statement, accusing him of being “inhuman” and “praying for the founder’s death”.On January 29, the Supreme Court had extended the time for Maharashtra speaker Rahul Narwekar to decide the disqualification petitions filed by the Sharad Pawar faction of the NCP against the Ajit Pawar faction.The bench, led by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud, comprised Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra.They agreed to give the speaker time till February 15, 2024.This is a developing story.