Sharad Pawar’s NCP faction allotted ‘Man Blowing Turha’ party symbol by election commission

The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Thursday allotted a new party symbol to the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) faction led by Sharad Pawar, days after it gave the NCP name and its orignal ‘clock’ symbol to the Ajit Pawar faction. According to the NCP-Sharadchandra Pawar camp, the new party symbol given to them is a ‘man blowing turha’.

The ‘turha’ is a traditional trumpet, also known as ‘Tutari’. The symbol denotes a man blowing the traditional trumpet.

“In the history of Maharashtra, Chhatrapati Shiv Rai’s valor, the Trumpet, had once defeaned the emperor of Delhi. It is a matter of pride for ‘Nationalist Congress Party – Sharad Chandra Pawar’ today. This ‘Tutari’ is ready to once again to shake the throne of Delhi under the leadership of Sharadchandra Pawar saheb!,” the NCP-Sharadchandra Pawar camp wrote in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.

The Sharad Pawar-founded NCP split last year in July after Ajit Pawar and eight other MLAs joined the Eknath Shinde government. Earlier this month, the ECI allotted the name ‘NCP’ and ‘clock symbol’ to the faction led by Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar. A day later, the poll body allotted ‘Nationalist Congress Party – Sharadchandra Pawar’ name for the Sharad Pawar faction.

Reacting o the poll body’s decision to give the original party name and symbol to his nephew Ajit, Sharad Pawar claimed that it was “against the law” and said it had never happened before that those who formed a political party were removed from the party itself.

“…Not only this, the party symbol was also taken away. This decision was not in accordance with the law…We will need to increase our public outreach,” the NCP supremo had said.

Sharad Pawar had also moved the Supreme Court in view of the poll body and Maharashtra assembly speaker Rahul Narwekar’s decision. However, the top court directed that EC’s order of granting the ‘NCP-Sharadchandra Pawar’ name for the faction will continue till further orders.