NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday reiterated its direction to the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) to not use any photo or video of Sharad Pawar ahead of the November 20 voting, underlining that the party should find its distinct identity.
The top court’s reiteration came on an application by the NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) faction
Which pointed to an official post on micro-blogging site X by a candidate of the Ajit Pawar faction who shared an old video of Sharad Pawar. Senior lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for the NCP-SCP said this was a breach of the court’s March 19 order and undertaking by the Ajit Pawar’s NCP faction to not use Sharad Pawar’s photograph.
A bench of justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan said it had full faith in the wisdom of the voters, but the order passed by the court requiring the two sides to avoid anything that may cause confusion in the minds of voters about the separate identities of the two political factions should be respected.
“Your supporters should not use any video or image of Sharad Pawar with whom you have ideological differences. You focus on the electoral battle and find your own identity as a distinct political party,” the bench told the senior advocate Balbir Singh who appeared for the Ajit Pawar side after Singhvi produced a video posted by NCP (Ajit Pawar) MLC Amol Mitkari.
Singhvi said, “They want to piggy-back on Sharad Pawar’s goodwill. Let him explain what compliance he has done after this court asked him to give an undertaking.”
The bench said, “People are very wise. They know where to vote and where not to vote. We have full faith in their wisdom. But sometimes when such videos get circulated, our concern is that if there is an order of this court, it should be respected.”
The court told the Ajit Pawar faction to issue an electronic circular to its candidates so that they do not use the videos and photos of Sharad Pawar. “Let there be compliance of our orders.”
In its March 19 ruling, the top court allowed the Ajit Pawar faction to temporarily use the party’s official poll symbol ‘clock’ and allotted the Sharad Pawar faction a new symbol – man blowing turrah – for the Lok Sabha polls held earlier this year and the assembly elections.
The bench did not discount the possibility of people misusing such video and photos in the age of artificial intelligence. “Some instances that have come before this court have been an eye-opener as to how artificial intelligence can be used. In Tamil Nadu, a political personality who is no more, his voice was being used to impress voters.”
Balbir Singh said this was the fourth time that the rival side had raised the issue of breach of undertaking based on concocted material. He said that the party had given elaborate disclaimers in 11 newspapers published in English, Hindi and Marathi and all its campaign material had to be approved by the returning officer.
“Voting is to happen on November 20. They simply want to latch on to one word falling from the court to prejudice the voters. They do not seek an order but a statement from the court to impress voters.”
Singh added that in the Lok Sabha polls, both sides fought on separate symbols when the same allegations were leveled against Ajit Pawar faction of misleading voters but the Sharad Pawar faction got more votes.
The bench told Singh, “We don’t overestimate ourselves that we can impress the voters. It is not possible for us to judge how voters think and we should not underestimate the voters.”
Singhvi said the two factions were in direct contest on 36 assembly seats and it was these seats that would matter most to decide who forms the government.
The Ajit Pawa-led NCP is part of Maharashtra’s ruling Mahayuti alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Shiv Sena faction led by incumbent chief minister Eknath Shinde. The NCP (Sharadchandraji Pawar), in alliance with the Congress and Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), is part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) which won 30 of the state’s 48 seats in the Lok Sabha elections.
“Don’t you think people in Maharashtra do not know about the rift within the political parties,” the bench remarked, adding, “In every newspaper, this disclaimer has been published. Do you think people in rural areas watch Twitter and other things and will form their opinion based on these (old) videos.”
Singhvi said that the court order’s objective was to ensure a level playing field. “When there is infringement of the court order, this court should impose the most stringent punishment. Not a single document of compliance has been shown. We have shown geo satellite images of vehicles used in campaigning in Baramati (current constituency of Ajit Pawar) showing non-compliance.” He stated that today, even rural people are aware of what is happening in other parts of the world.
The court told Balbir Singh: “Out of the entire allegations and counter-allegations, we have to see what is correct. Even if it is an old video clip that is posted, why are you using the video of Sharad Pawar.” The court specifically asked the legal team of Ajit Pawar to find out about the video posted by Mitkari and posted the matter for hearing on November 19.
Singh agreed to issue the electronic circular as suggested by the court and suggested that the interviews given by both Pawars over the past few days can also be looked into.