Mumbai, Feb 15 (IANS): Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar here on Thursday ruled that the 'real Nationalist Congress Party' belongs to Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar.

In his order on the disqualification of MLAs filed by the two rival factions after the NCP split in July 2023, the Speaker referred to the Shiv Sena disqualification case involving Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and ex-CM Uddhav Thackeray.

The Speaker said that the two factions of the NCP emerged on June 30, 2023, and nobody had left any faction, so no action could be taken against any group.

"Prior to joining the (Maharashtra) government, the Ajit Pawar faction outnumbered the Sharad Pawar faction in terms of number of MLAs and MLCs. Two parallel party presidents and structures existed before July 2, 2023, when Ajit Pawar became part of the government," said Narwekar.

The decision proved another huge setback to Sharad Pawar, and came days after the Election Commission allotted the NCP party and its 'Clock' symbol to the Ajit Pawar group.

The Sharad Pawar faction, which has been given the temporary name of 'NCP-Sharadchandra Pawar', has challenged the EC decision in the Supreme Court.