The Supreme Court on Wednesday advised the Maharashtra deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar-led NCP faction to try standing on its own legs and asked it not to use the picture of Sharad Pawar in poll campaigning with whom the party has "ideological differences".

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan also asked both factions of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) led by Sharad Pawar and his nephew Ajit Pawar to focus on the battlefield (Maharashtra assembly elections) instead of doing rounds of the courts.

"Tell your party functionaries that they will not use old or new video clips or use the photographs of Sharad Pawar with whom your party is having ideological differences. You try to stand on your legs," the bench told senior advocate Balibir Singh, appearing for Ajit Pawar-led faction.

It asked the Ajit Pawar faction to circulate an online circular among its leaders, party workers and representatives associated with the assembly elections that they will not use the picture or video/audio clip of Sharad Pawar, whether it is old or new.

"People of India are very intelligent and they have a fair idea about who Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar are. They cannot be fooled so easily," the bench told senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for Sharad Pawar group after he complained that an MLC from Ajit Pawar faction had circulated a video clip of Sharad Pawar to showcase his support.

Question is that when there is an order of the Supreme Court, then it needs to be respected, the bench said while referring to earlier orders of the apex court where it had restrained the Ajit Pawar faction from using pictures or symbols of the Sharad Pawar faction.

The bench said though people are intelligent enough to differentiate between both Ajit Pawar faction and Sharad Pawar faction but they may be confused for a short while in this era of Artificial Intelligence, where voice and pictures of leaders can be misused.

The top court listed the matter for hearing on Tuesday.

Polling for 288 assembly seats in Maharashtra will be held on November 20 and the counting of votes will take place on November 23.

On November 6, the top court asked Ajit Pawar faction to issue a disclaimer over the contentious 'clock' election symbol that allocation of it was subjudice and advised the warring Pawar factions to woo voters and not waste their energy in court.

The top court was hearing a plea of Sharad Pawar alleging misuse of the 'clock' symbol and his picture by the Ajit Pawar-led group.

The plea sought direction to restrain the Ajit Pawar faction from using the 'clock' symbol for the polls, as allotted by the Election Commission (EC), on the ground that it had disrupted the level-playing field.

Sharad Pawar in his main plea has challenged the February 6 order of the Election Commission recognising the Ajit Pawar faction as the real NCP. The top court had issued notice on the plea to the Ajit Pawar-led group.

The NCP, founded by Sharad Pawar, had 'clock' as its election symbol before its split. The symbol is now with the Ajit Pawar faction.

On October 24, the top court directed the Ajit Pawar-led faction to use the 'clock' symbol in its publicity material in the upcoming Maharashtra assembly elections with a disclaimer that the matter was sub-judice before it.

The top court on March 19 and April 4 had directed the Ajit Pawar-led faction to issue a public notice in the newspapers in the English, Hindi and Marathi editions notifying the allocation of 'clock' symbol issue was sub-judice.

The apex court had further said the Ajit Pawar faction was permitted to use the symbol subject to the case's final outcome.

On March 19, the Sharad Pawar faction was allowed to use 'Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar' as its name along with the symbol of a man blowing 'turha' ahead of the Lok Sabha polls in the country.

The top court had observed that the name and photographs of Sharad Pawar could not be used by the Ajit Pawar faction for political gains.

Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar had on February 15 held the NCP faction led by Ajit Pawar to be the real NCP and said the anti-defection provisions in the Constitution couldn't be used to stifle internal dissent.

Sharad Pawar had founded the NCP with former Lok Sabha speaker Purno Sangma and Tariq Anwar in 1999 after their expulsion from the Congress.

Ajit Pawar had walked away with a majority of the NCP MLAs in July, 2023, and supported the BJP-Shiv Sena government led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.

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