Election Commission allows Sharad Pawar-led NCP to accept contributions from public ahead of assembly elections

The Election Commission of India (ECI) on July 8 allowed the ‘Nationalist Congress Party – Sharadchandra Pawar’ (NCP-SP) to accept voluntary contributions from public in view of the ensuing assembly elections in Maharashtra.  

An 8-member delegation of the NCP-SCP led by their working President Supriya Sule met the Commission today at Nirvachan Sadan. 

The party had requested the Commission to issue a communication/certificate recording the status of the party for the purpose of accepting voluntary contributions from public. 

The Sharad Pawar-led outfit had requested the commission to certify the status of the party for it to accept voluntary contributions from the public.  

The poll panel has authorised the party to “accept any amount of contribution voluntarily offered to it by any person or company other than a government company” under the relevant sections of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, which govern the contribution to all political parties, PTI reported. 

In July last year, Ajit Pawar led a rebellion against Sharad Pawar and claimed the symbol as well as the party name Nationalist Congress Party, citing the support of over two-thirds of the outfit’s legislators in the Maharashtra assembly. 

The Election Commission upheld his claim and asked the Sharad Pawar-led faction to pick a new name as an interim measure in view of the Lok Sabha elections. 

Sharad Pawar-led NCP-SP contested 10 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra and won eight, while Ajit Pawar's NCP contested five seats and managed to win just one.