New Delhi: Election Commission has received a petition from Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar staking claim to Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the party symbol, sources said.

The sources said the Election Commission has also received a caveat from Jayant Patil, who is with the Sharad Pawar group. He also informed the panel that they have initiated a disqualification process against nine MLAs who joined the Eknath Shinde-BJP government in the state on Sunday. The sources said action will be taken by the poll panel as per the extant legal framework.

They said ECI had received a petition under Para 15 of the Symbols Order, 1968 from Ajit Pawar on June 30, 2023 followed by 40 odd affidavits of MPs/MLAs/MLCs dated June 30 (received in Commission on July 5).

The sources said the poll panel also received a resolution unanimously electing Ajit Pawar as NCP president.

They said the poll panel has received an email, dated July 3, from Maharashtra NCP chief Jayant R. Patil, filing a caveat.

“The Commission has also received a letter dated on July 3 from Jayant Patil informing that disqualification proceeding has been filed before the competent authority for disqualification of nine members of Maharashtra Legislative Assembly,” a source said.

The crisis in Nationalist Congress Party escalated on Wednesday with the two groups holding simultaneous meetings in a show of strength.

The NCP led by Sharad Pawar held a meeting of its members at YB Chavan Auditorium in Mumbai while Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar was at a meeting of NCP MPs, MLAs, MLCs, district heads and state delegates at Mumbai Education Trust (MET) Bandra.

The parallel meetings came after the two factions announced crucial appointments to assert their control over the party.

The NCP faction led by Ajit Pawar has taken affidavits from party workers to show their allegiance at MET Bandra.

Sharad Pawar loyalists raised slogans in his support at YB Chavan Centre.

The crisis in Nationalist Congress Party was triggered by Ajit Pawar switching sides on Sunday and joining the Eknath Shinde-BJP government as Deputy Chief Minister. Eighth other NCP MLAs took oath on Sunday with Pawar as ministers.

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) led by Sharad Pawar has moved a disqualification petition against the nine MLAs to Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar.

Apart from Ajit Pawar, Chhagan Bhujbal, Dilip Patil, Hasan Mushrif, Dhananjay Mundo, Dharmaraobaba Atram, Aditi Tatkare, Sanjay Bansode and Anil Patil joined Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis Maharashtra government as ministers on Sunday.

Sharad Pawar has removed Praful Patel, who was his close aide, and Sunil Tatkare from the party for “anti-party activities”.

“Your actions of supporting Ajit Pawar and the eight other MLAs, who have sworn oath as Ministers in violation of the party’s direction and mandate, ex-facie amount to anti-party activities and that you deemed to have voluntarily left the membership of Nationalist Congress Party,” Pawar said in a communication which was also sent to the two party MPs.

“I formally remove your names from the Membership Register of the Party in view of your actions of voluntarily giving up membership of the Nationalist Congress Party,” it said.

The communication said the action of MPs, “in a surreptitious manner, without the knowledge or consent of the party president, amounts to the desertion of the party, which in turn invites disqualification from primary membership”.

Praful Patel, a Rajya Sabha MP, has been a close associate of Pawar and was appointed working president of NCP last month. He was a minister in the Congress-led UPA government along with Pawar.