The Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Wednesday nominated senior leader Praful Patel as its candidate for the Rajya Sabha election 2024, reported the PTI.

The party`s Maharashtra unit chief Sunil Tatkare made the announcement in Mumbai, as per the PTI.

Praful Patel, a former Union minister, sided with Ajit Pawar when the latter split the Sharad Pawar-led NCP last year.

Meanwhile, last week, Sharad Pawar had on Sunday said that the Election Commission`s (EC) decision to allot the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) name and symbol to Ajit Pawar-led group was “surprising” as the poll body has “snatched” the party from the hands of those who founded it and gave it to others, reported the PTI.

Sharad Pawar said that the programme and ideology are important for the people while a symbol is useful for a limited period.

“I am confident that people will not support the Election Commission ruling against which we have approached the Supreme Court,” he said, as per the PTI.

The Election Commission not only snatched our symbol but also handed over our party to others, he said, the news agency reported on Sunday.

“The EC snatched the party from the hands of those who founded and built it and gave it to others; such a thing never happened before,” said Sharad Pawar, who founded the NCP in 1999.

Sharad Pawar said that the Election Commission recently recognising the faction led by his nephew Ajit Pawar as the `real` NCP and allotting the party`s poll symbol `Clock` to his group, Sharad Pawar said such a situation has never been witnessed in the country and the people will not support such a decision.

Ajit Pawar walked away with a majority NCP MLAs in the Maharashtra assembly in July last year and joined the Eknath Shinde-led state government.

The EC has allotted `Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar` as the party name for the group led by Sharad Pawar.

Later, when reporters at a press conference asked him about the EC`s decision on the NCP name and symbol, the Rajya Sabha member said he had contested his first election on the symbol of `a pair of bullocks`.

Thoughts and ideology are more important than any symbol, he said.

(with PTI inputs)

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