Why is it in the news?

• Sharad Pawar, founder of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), has petitioned the Supreme Court to block the Ajit Pawar faction from using the ‘clock’ symbol in the upcoming Maharashtra assembly elections.
• This action follows a split within the NCP, with the Ajit Pawar faction claiming support from 41 of the 53 MLAs in the state assembly.

Allotment of Symbols

• The Election Commission of India (ECI) allocates symbols to political parties based on the Symbols Order. In a country with a significant illiterate population, symbols are crucial for campaigning and voting.
• A recognized national or state party has a reserved symbol that cannot be assigned to any other candidate in any constituency.

Current Situation

• The NCP is currently recognized as a state party in Maharashtra and Nagaland. After the split in July 2023, the ECI recognized the Ajit Pawar faction as the real NCP in February 2024, granting it the ‘clock’ symbol.
• The Sharad Pawar faction (NCP-SP) was assigned the common symbol of ‘man blowing turha.’ The NCP-SP claims that voters were confused during the Lok Sabha elections about which faction represented the real NCP and seeks to freeze the ‘clock’ symbol while requesting a new symbol for the Ajit Pawar faction.

Historical Context

• Under the Symbols Order, the ECI determines which faction of a split political party is recognized and allocates the reserved symbol accordingly.
• The ECI has previously frozen symbols amid competing claims, including the AIADMK’s ‘two leaves’ symbol in 1989 and 2017, and the ‘bow and arrow’ symbol of Shiv Sena before a bye-election in 2022.

Way Forward

• In Sadiq Ali vs. the ECI (1971), the Supreme Court established a three-part formula to identify the recognized faction of a political party, considering its aims, adherence to its constitution, and majority support in legislative and organizational wings.
• In February 2024, the ECI found no dispute over the first criterion but deemed the second irrelevant, as neither faction followed the party’s constitution, ultimately siding with the Ajit Pawar faction based on majority support.
• In the recent Maharashtra Lok Sabha elections, the NCP-SP, despite using a new symbol, won eight seats, while Ajit Pawar’s faction secured only one with the ‘clock’ symbol. Although the Supreme Court generally avoids intervening in electoral processes, it can do so in exceptional cases to ensure fairness.
• Given the NCP-SP’s performance, the legitimacy of the Ajit Pawar faction’s claimed legislative majority is now questionable, prompting the NCP(SP) to challenge the ECI’s recognition of this faction.
• Considering these developments, the court may direct the ECI to freeze the ‘clock’ symbol before the November 2024 assembly elections.
• Experts suggest institutionalizing internal democracy in political parties through regular inner-party elections and emphasize that the ECI should not oversee these elections to prevent entanglement in party politics.
• Ultimately, political party members should demand and establish such internal democratic practices.