Election Commission Allows Sharad Pawar’s NCP to Accept Public Contributions Ahead of Maharashtra Polls

The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Monday allowed the ‘Nationalist Congress Party – Sharadchandra Pawar’ (NCP-SP) to accept voluntary contributions from public in view of the upcoming Maharashtra assembly elections.

The party had requested the Commission to issue a communication/certificate recording the status of the party for the purpose of accepting voluntary contributions. The ECI, in its communication on July 8, has authorised the party to accept any amount of contribution voluntarily offered to it by any person or company other than a government company.

“The ECI hereby authorises, on an interim basis, “Nationalist Congress Party- Sharadchandra Pawar” to ‘accept any amount of contribution voluntarily offered to it by any person or company other than a Government company’…Further, this authorization is incumbent upon the “Nationalist Congress Party- Sharadchandra Pawar” to be in compliance with the conditions stated in Section 29 B and. Section 29 C of Representation of People Act, 1951 which governs the contribution to all political parties,” the letter added.

All political parties have to disclose the contributions they received above Rs 20,000 in a financial year to the poll body.

The communication was issued after an eight-member delegation of the NCP-SP party led by their working President Supriya Sule met the Commission on Monday at Nirvachan Sadan.

The poll body also said that this authorisation to the party/group to accept contribution for ensuring elections would remain applicable in the period till the final disposal of the petition SLP (C) 4248 of 2024 in the Supreme Court and would, thereafter, be dealt accordingly.

In February, ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, the poll body announced the Ajit Pawar faction as the real NCP, while asking the party’s founder Sharad Pawar to look for a new name for his outfit ahead of the Rajya Sabha polls in Maharashtra.

The other faction then came up with the name NCP-SP. However, Sharad Pawar challenged the ECI’s decision to grant the official “clock” symbol of the NCP to Ajit Pawar’s group. The matter is still sub-judice.

As in its last order, in March, the Ajit Pawar faction was asked by the court to declare in newspapers that the allocation of ‘clock’ symbol is sub-judice before the apex court.

The assembly polls in Maharashtra are scheduled to be held in October-November this year.