NEW DELHI: The Election Commission on Monday allowed Sharadchandra Pawar of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP-SP) to accept voluntary donations from the public, granting a key demand of the party ahead of the Maharashtra Assembly elections. The Election Commission’s order is interim and subject to the final outcome of the Supreme Court case regarding last year’s split in the NCP.
According to sources, the NCP-SP, which led an eight-member delegation led by party executive chairperson Supriya Sule to meet the Election Commission on Monday, argued that the party’s reserved symbol – a combination of icons of a turbaned man and a turban – is not as identifiable in the eyes of voters as single icon symbols like a hand or a lotus, and asked that it be made more “bolder and more visible”. The NCP-SP, which showed impressive results in the recent Lok Sabha elections by winning eight seats in Maharashtra, has asked the Election Commission not to allocate “turban” in the list of free symbols to any other candidate or party.
EC sources told TOI that these requests would be considered favourably.
The NCP-SP had written to the Election Commission on March 27 and April 4, 2024, requesting it to issue a notice or certificate recording the party’s status for the purpose of receiving voluntary donations from the people under Section 29B of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.
The commission on Monday granted the request and authorised the NCP-SP to “tentatively…accept any amount of donations given voluntarily from individuals or firms other than government companies”. However, before accepting any donations, the commission asked the party to share details such as party headquarters, contact address, addresses of local chapters, names of senior party officials, number of party members, number of elected representatives in Parliament or state assemblies and a copy of the party’s constitution with the commission as required by Section 29B of the RP Act. Any changes in these details must also be notified to the commission “without undue delay”, the Election Commission said.
The NCP-SP will also have to file a contributions return under Sections 29B and 29C of the RP Act declaring any income received exceeding Rs 20,000 during a financial year, which must include the party’s PAN number.
The Election Commission’s approval of the NCP-SP to accept public donations, coupled with its strong performance in the recent general elections, is expected to give the party a major financial boost ahead of the Maharashtra Assembly elections.
Maharashtra, along with Haryana and Jharkhand, are expected to hold elections in October.
The Election Commission, in its final order dated February 6, 2024, recognised the breakaway faction led by Ajit Pawar as the true NCP in the NCP symbol dispute and awarded the faction the election symbol ‘Clock’. However, it allowed the Sharad Pawar faction to claim a new name for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections in Maharashtra and recognised the faction’s first choice candidate ‘NCP-SP’.
The Supreme Court, in an interim order in the NCP split case, subsequently allowed the NCP-SP to continue using the same name and asked it to approach the Election Commission for an election symbol. The Election Commission allotted the “torha-blower” symbol to the NCP-SP on February 22. On March 23, the Election Commission provisionally approved the NCP-SP and reserved its “torha-blower” symbol for the general elections to the Lok Sabha and four state assemblies.
According to sources, the NCP-SP, which led an eight-member delegation led by party executive chairperson Supriya Sule to meet the Election Commission on Monday, argued that the party’s reserved symbol – a combination of icons of a turbaned man and a turban – is not as identifiable in the eyes of voters as single icon symbols like a hand or a lotus, and asked that it be made more “bolder and more visible”. The NCP-SP, which showed impressive results in the recent Lok Sabha elections by winning eight seats in Maharashtra, has asked the Election Commission not to allocate “turban” in the list of free symbols to any other candidate or party.
EC sources told TOI that these requests would be considered favourably.
The NCP-SP had written to the Election Commission on March 27 and April 4, 2024, requesting it to issue a notice or certificate recording the party’s status for the purpose of receiving voluntary donations from the people under Section 29B of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.
The commission on Monday granted the request and authorised the NCP-SP to “tentatively…accept any amount of donations given voluntarily from individuals or firms other than government companies”. However, before accepting any donations, the commission asked the party to share details such as party headquarters, contact address, addresses of local chapters, names of senior party officials, number of party members, number of elected representatives in Parliament or state assemblies and a copy of the party’s constitution with the commission as required by Section 29B of the RP Act. Any changes in these details must also be notified to the commission “without undue delay”, the Election Commission said.
The NCP-SP will also have to file a contributions return under Sections 29B and 29C of the RP Act declaring any income received exceeding Rs 20,000 during a financial year, which must include the party’s PAN number.
The Election Commission’s approval of the NCP-SP to accept public donations, coupled with its strong performance in the recent general elections, is expected to give the party a major financial boost ahead of the Maharashtra Assembly elections.
Maharashtra, along with Haryana and Jharkhand, are expected to hold elections in October.
The Election Commission, in its final order dated February 6, 2024, recognised the breakaway faction led by Ajit Pawar as the true NCP in the NCP symbol dispute and awarded the faction the election symbol ‘Clock’. However, it allowed the Sharad Pawar faction to claim a new name for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections in Maharashtra and recognised the faction’s first choice candidate ‘NCP-SP’.
The Supreme Court, in an interim order in the NCP split case, subsequently allowed the NCP-SP to continue using the same name and asked it to approach the Election Commission for an election symbol. The Election Commission allotted the “torha-blower” symbol to the NCP-SP on February 22. On March 23, the Election Commission provisionally approved the NCP-SP and reserved its “torha-blower” symbol for the general elections to the Lok Sabha and four state assemblies.
