NEW DELHI: NCP Sharad Pawar party has been given a new name by the Election Commission. The party has been renamed as Nationalist Congress Party - Sharadchandra Pawar. Yesterday, the Election Commission had announced that the actual NCP is the one led by Ajit Pawar, nephew to Sharad Pawar and deputy chief minister of the Eknath Shinde government.

The Election Commission came to the conclusion that Ajit Pawar's side is the real NCP based on the calculation of 'legislative majority'. Ajith had the support of 51 out of 81 NCP MLAs in the House. With the decision of the Election Commission, the Ajit Pawar faction can also use the NCP's official symbol, the clock.

With this, there was a suggestion that Sharad Pawar's party should inform the commission about the new symbol and name today. The symbol has not yet been sanctioned by the Election Commission. Three suggestions for party names were submitted before the Election Commission. They were: Nationalist Congress Party- Sharadchandra Pawar, Nationalist Congress Party- Sharadrao Pawar and NCP- Sharad Pawar.

Ajith became part of the Shinde government with a group of MLAs in July 2023 after clashing with Sharad Pawar. With this, the NCP officially split and the question of which is the official party was raised.