The Supreme Court on Thursday pulled up the Ajit Pawar camp over the alleged use of National Congress Party (NCP) founder Sharad Pawar’s name and pictures for campaigning.

A bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and K V Viswanathan directed the Ajit Pawar faction to file a response by Saturday, questioning the rationale behind the continued use of Sharad Pawar’s image despite their split.

“You are a different political party now. You have chosen not to be with him. So why use his picture… Go with your own identity now,” the bench said.

“We need a categorical and unconditional undertaking that the name, pictures of Sharad Pawar will not be used,” the bench added.

The court fixed it for further hearing on March 19.

Also Read: In Ajit vs Sharad Pawar ruling, Election Commission has advice for political parties

This judicial intervention follows an application filed by the Sharad Pawar group, which alleged that the Ajit Pawar faction had been misusing Sharad Pawar’s name and images to sway voters.

The split within the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) occurred after a rebellion led by Ajit Pawar, who successfully claimed the party’s name and symbol.

The Election Commission of India recognised the Ajit faction as the real NCP based on the “test of legislative majority”.

“Ajit Pawar faction enjoyed majority support of legislators. (The) commission holds that Ajit Pawar is the Nationalist Congress Party and is entitled to use its name and reserved symbol of ‘clock’,” the ECI order said.

The poll watchdog allotted ‘Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar’ as the party name for the Sharad Pawar faction.

Earlier, the apex court had sought response from the Ajit Pawar-led faction on a plea of Sharad Pawar against the February 6 order of the Election Commission recognising the Maharashtra deputy chief minister-led group as the real Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

(With PTI inputs)