MUMBAI: A day after the Election Commission decided the Nationalist Congress Party dispute in favour of the faction led by Ajit Pawar giving it the name and symbol, the Sharad Pawar faction got a new name 'Nationalist Congress Party - Sharadchandra Pawar'.

Giving its decision on Tuesday, the Election Commission provided the Sharad Pawar faction with a one-time option to claim a name to its new political formation and provide three preferences to the Commission. The faction led by Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar was the petitioner in the case. Former union minister Sharad Pawar, who founded the NCP, is the uncle of Ajit Pawar.

The poll panel had said that the concession is to be utilised by 3 pm on February 7, 2024.

The decision was taken after more than 10 hearings spread over more than six months.The poll panel said that the decision followed the laid-out tests of maintainability of the petition, which included tests of aims and objectives of the party constitution, test of party constitution and tests of a majority both organizational and legislative.

The test of majority in the legislative wing found favour in this circumstance of the case, where both groups have been found to be working outside the party constitution and the organizational elections, the poll panel said.

The occupants of the post were primarily assessed to be appointed by self-nominated members of the electoral college and against the internal party democracy. Serious inconsistencies in terms of timelines in the claim of the Sharad Pawar group, in support of their claim of having the organizational majority, resulted in unreliability of their claim, it said.