New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday made a sharp observation on trend of defection in political parties, while hearing a plea by Sharad Pawar faction of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), saying it is a real worry that defection is engineered, then there is recognition of that bloc, which creates political instability.
The Supreme Court added, "It is the mockery of the voter…defeats the very object of Tenth Schedule also." A bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and K V Viswanathan was hearing a plea by Sharad Pawar group challenging a February 6 decision of the Election Commission of India (ECI) to grant the clock party symbol to his nephew Ajit Pawar and recognise his group of MLAs as the real NCP.
During the hearing, the bench observed that formation of organisational structure according to the ECI was not as per party's constitution.
Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, representing Sharad Pawar bloc, said elections which were held years ago under which Ajit Pawar was elected and they enjoyed positions and never objected for years. "They say both have violated the constitution…," observed Justice Viswanathan.
Singhvi said these people were elected under the party's constitution, Ajit Pawar and Praful Patel, and they were all elected and have been office bearers, vice presidents, general secretaries and they never objected when it comes to "defection you object".
Singhvi said the ECI is doing something strange and a meeting was called for all parties, however, the communication conspicuously left out Sharad Pawar group for the meeting and purpose was to inform the political parties about the programme of Lok Sabha elections.
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, representing the Ajit Pawar bloc, said, "We are not concerned with 'turha', we want to be with the clock…”. Regarding the clock symbol, Rohatgi said that the symbol belong to the party, Nationalist Congress Party, and not to an individual member, and does not belong to Sharad Pawar or Ajit Pawar.
He stressed that the ECI had decided in his client’s favour and recognised them as the real NCP. "The problem is election symbol order, 1968, Sadiq Ali judgment in 1972. We have the Tenth Schedule... When it came it recognized the split, the two-third split. Today, a split is not recognised in the Tenth Schedule, only a merger is recognised. In that scenario, when the order is not based on organisation strength. Based only on legislative strength recognising a split as a part of recognition for symbol order would not directly go against the Tenth Schedule? Please answer that," Justice Viswanathan queried Rohatgi.
He replied in a party where issues arise and there is a defect and question is who is the real party, there cannot be two leaders.
"Do not go by legislative test, go by organisational test and if you cannot, what is the solution, it is a real worry. Otherwise, engineer defection, then come and get recognition…it is the mockery of the voter," said Justice Viswanathan. Justice Kant said it defeats the very objective of the Tenth Schedule also.
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