The Election Commission of India (ECI) has allotted the Ajit Pawar faction the Nationalist Congress Party’s name and symbol (the clock), giving the Deputy CM of Maharashtra an edge over the faction led by his estranged uncle Sharad Pawar, whom the nephew left last year to join hands with the BJP and Shiv Sena.

The verdict delivered on Tuesday in the legal battle between the two NCP factions mirrors the precedent set in the Shiv Sena case the EC had previously adjudicated. The commission once again relied on the test of the majority in the legislative wing to resolve the present dispute, as stated in the order. “The commission examined the affidavits of support filed by both factions and concluded that the group led by the petitioner (Ajit Pawar) enjoyed majority support among the legislators. In view of these findings, this commission holds that the faction led by Ajit Pawar is the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and is entitled to use its name and reserved symbol ‘clock’ for the purposes of the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968.”