Mumbai, June 2 -- The Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), which lost all its seven legislators in Nagaland to the ruling Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) on Saturday, is planning to file a petition before the speaker of the Nagaland assembly seeking their disqualification. The party is also likely to issue notices to the seven MLAs who merged the state unit of the party with the ruling NDPP, said sources in the NCP leadership. On Sunday, NCP president and deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar said the anti-defection law may not be applicable in this case as all seven MLAs had defected to the NDPP. He also admitted that the MLAs were tense when they met him a few months ago as development works in their constituencies were not getting approved. On Saturday, all seven NCP MLAs in Nagaland merged the party's state unit with the NDPP, led by chief minister Neiphiu Rio. The MLAs submitted their merger application to the speaker, Sharingain Longkumer. In an official notice, Longkumer said the seven MLAs had presented themselves before him on Saturday, and he had also received a letter from the NDPP president Chingwang Konyak. The desertion followed the vertical split in the NCP in July 2023, when the Ajit Pawar-led faction chose to join the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena-BJP government. The faction was later recognised as the real NCP by the Election Commission of India and the Maharashtra assembly speaker Rahul Narwekar. The NCP's chief national spokesperson and national general secretary Brijmohan Shrivastav said they would examine the matter thoroughly in accordance with provisions of the anti-defection law to protect the mandate given by the people to the NCP in the previous assembly poll. "We are firmly committed to uphold democratic values and safeguard the trust of the electorate. The party will take all necessary steps, both legal and political, to protect the interests of the NCP and the faith reposed in it by the people of Nagaland," Shrivastav said. A senior NCP leader told Hindustan Times that the party's legal team was studying the matter in detail, after which notices would be issued to all the concerned MLAs. "Based on their replies, a petition will be filed before the assembly speaker," the senior leader said. Party chief Ajit Pawar too mentioned he would discuss the matter with other party leaders, but said it would be difficult to apply the anti-defection law in this case. "The anti-defection law is applicable when up to two-thirds of the total number of MLAs switch over to another party. But here, all seven MLAs have left," the NCP president said. Pawar also said that he had met the MLAs a few months ago. "There was unrest among them as development projects in their constituencies were not getting approved. I had spoken to the chief minister (Neiphiu Rio) and other senior leaders from the ruling party at the time," said Pawar....