New Delhi. The Supreme Court on Wednesday advised the NCP faction led by Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar to try to stand on its feet and not use the picture of Sharad Pawar, with whom the party has “ideological differences”, in the election campaign. . A bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice Ujjwal Bhuyan asked both factions of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) led by Sharad Pawar and his nephew Ajit Pawar to focus on the Maharashtra Assembly elections instead of making rounds of courts.
The bench told senior advocate Balbir Singh, appearing for the Ajit Pawar-led faction, “Tell your party officials not to use old or new video clips or use photographs of Sharad Pawar with whom you are in conflict.” There are ideological differences in the party. You try to stand on your feet.” It asked the Ajit Pawar faction to issue an online circular among its leaders, party workers and representatives associated with the assembly elections that they will not use Sharad Pawar’s photograph or video/audio clips, whether old or new.
The bench told senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for the Sharad Pawar faction, “The people of India are very intelligent and they are well aware of who Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar are. They cannot be fooled so easily.” Abhishek Singhvi had complained that a MLC from Ajit Pawar faction had circulated a video clip of Sharad Pawar. The bench said that the question is that when there is an order of the Supreme Court, it should be respected. The bench cited the earlier orders of the Supreme Court in which it had stopped the Ajit Pawar faction from using the photographs of the Sharad Pawar faction.
The bench said that people are intelligent enough to differentiate between the Ajit Pawar faction and the Sharad Pawar faction, but in this age of artificial intelligence (AI) they may get confused for some time where voices and pictures of leaders are misused. May go.
The Supreme Court scheduled the next hearing of the case for Tuesday. Voting for 288 assembly seats in Maharashtra will be held on November 20 and counting of votes will take place on November 23.
Directing disclaimers in newspapers on the controversial election symbol ‘clock’, the Supreme Court on November 6 had asked the opposition factions of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) (led by Sharad and Ajit Pawar) to woo voters. But pay attention and don’t waste your energy in court. The top court was hearing Sharad Pawar’s petition, which has alleged misuse of the ‘clock’ symbol and his photograph by the Ajit Pawar-led faction. On October 24, the Supreme Court had directed the Ajit Pawar-led faction to use the “clock” symbol in its campaign material during the Maharashtra Assembly elections.
On March 19 and April 4, the top court had directed the Ajit Pawar-led camp to issue a public notice in English, Hindi and Marathi language newspapers mentioning that the allotment of the “clock” symbol is under consideration of the court. The court had also said that Ajit Pawar camp will be allowed to use this symbol till the decision in the case is given.