Mumbai, Feb. 6 -- Weighing in on the Election Commission's decision to allocate the NCP name and party symbol to the ruling faction in the NDA government led by Ajit Pawar, former Home Minister Anil Deshmukh, from the Sharad Pawar-led rival faction called it 'unfortunate' and a 'murder of democracy'.

Dealing a huge setback to the Sharad Pawar-led faction, the Election Commission on Tuesday settled the dispute over party name and symbol in favour of the faction led by the petitioner, Ajit Pawar.

"Today the Election Commission has given Sharad Pawar's party's name and symbol to Ajit Pawar. A similar decision was taken in the matter involving the two Shiv Sena factions. The NCP was founded by Sharad Pawar. He had been the president of the ...