A senior Goods and Services Tax (GST) officer has been arrested in connection with the alleged suicide of a junior colleague, who was reportedly facing harassment and pressure to engage in unethical practices.
65 candidates from ten municipal corporations in Maharashtra were declared elected unopposed ahead of elections held on January 15, according to the State Election Commission (SEC). The BJP led with 43 unopposed candidates.
According to the final tally, the BJP won 1,425 out of a total 2,869 seats, Shiv Sena 399, Congress 324, NCP 167, Shiv Sena-UBT 155, NCP-SP 36, MNS 13, BSP 6, parties registered with the SEC 129, unrecognised parties 196, and 19 independents.
Polling for 2,869 seats spread across 893 wards in these municipal corporations began amid tight security at 7.30 am and will conclude at 5.30 pm. A total of 3.48 crore voters are eligible to decide the fate of 15,931 candidates.
The Maharashtra State Election Commission on Friday announced that Thursday, January 15, will be a public holiday in areas falling under the 29 municipal corporations where polling for civic elections will be held, an official said.
Counting of votes has begun in the Maharashtra municipal corporation elections, with a focus on the Mumbai battle between the BJP-led alliance and the Thackeray factions.
Elections to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and 28 other civic bodies in the state were held on January 15.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis orchestrated a significant victory for the BJP in the recent civic polls, solidifying his position as a key strategist and influential leader within the party.
Breaking the nearly three-decade-old dominance of the undivided Shiv Sena, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday emerged victorious in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections, and also vanquished the alliance of Nationalist Congress Party factions led by Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar in the Pune civic body.
A BMC spokesperson said the average voter turnout stood at 29.96 per cent till 1.30 pm in the metropolis, which has more than 1 crore eligible electors.
Campaigning for the elections to 29 municipal corporations in Maharashtra has ended, with the battle for Mumbai's BMC taking center stage. Key political players are vying for control, with a focus on Marathi and Hindu voters.
A gold medallist from JJ School of Art and Architecture, Mumbai, Sutar, has to his credit a long list of achievements.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has entered into post-poll alliances with rivals Congress and All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen in some municipal councils in Maharashtra, even as Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday rejected the tie-ups and warned of action against party leaders involved.
Maharashtra heads to the polls for 29 municipal corporations, with Mumbai's BMC election taking center stage as the BJP-led Mahayuti faces off against the Thackeray front. Key issues include promises for women, pollution control, and the city's financial health.
The BJP and its Mahayuti allies have won 68 seats unopposed in the Maharashtra civic polls scheduled for January 15, even as the Opposition parties alleged the ruling combine used threats and money to force candidates to withdraw from the fray.
'When a grassroots worker has laboured day and night for the organisation, does the party not have a responsibility to recognise and uplift such workers?'
Votes will be counted on January 16 and the outcome will be keenly watched as the BJP-led Mahayuti will seek to stamp its supremacy in urban landscape, especially in Mumbai, while the Opposition parties will try to redeem themselves after last year's rout in assembly polls.
Mumbai BJP president Ameet Satam stated that his party would not allow any "Khan" to become the mayor of Mumbai, later clarifying that he was referring to an "anti-national mentality" and not a specific community. He cited concerns about radical elements and appeasement politics.
Navi Mumbai police have arrested the driver of former IAS probationer Puja Khedkar's father in connection with a road rage incident involving the abduction of a truck helper. Other family members are still at large.
The PM said the Congress and its allies should not encourage the "Pakistan agenda" and speak the language of separatists.
With a court cancelling the bail granted to three men arrested for allegedly assaulting an elderly man in an express train on the suspicion of carrying beef in Maharashtra's Nashik, the Government Railway Police (GRP) has launched an operation to trace the trio to re-arrest them in the case, officials said.
'Shivaji and Sambhaji followed the gospel of humanity. 'They did not discriminate based on religion, caste, or colour.' 'That is the beauty of Shivaji and Sambhaji's Hindvi Swaraj.'
Pankaja Munde of the BJP -- Dhananjay Munde's cousin -- has been made the guardian minister of Jalna district.
Another person has also been rounded up and his questioning is currently underway, the official added.
Our ancestors did jihad against Britishers, but yours penned 'love letters', Owaisi said in a jibe to Fadnavis.
Pawar was absconding since the incident took place on Sunday and hiding in Nandurbar, police said.
Owaisi said 324 farmers have died by suicide in "Aurangabad (Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar) division", but no one is talking about it.
Top leaders of the two parties are campaigning in Jharkhand and Maharashtra for the ongoing assembly polls in the two states.
Friendly fights, however, are more complicated for the MVA, especially since smaller parties who are part of the INDIA bloc are also in the mix.
As the impasse over some seats for Maharashtra polls continues in the Maha Vikas Aghadi, Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray leader Sanjay Raut on Saturday said if anyone needs the slogan 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas', it has to be the opposition bloc.
Addressing a public event in Kolhapur city on Monday evening, Fadnavis pointed out instances wherein women were tricked into inter-faith marriage and subsequently abandoned after they gave birth to children.
The Maharashtra government on Tuesday ordered a judicial probe into the recent communal riots in Dhule, a city in North Maharashtra. The announcement was made by Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, who toured Dhule to review the law and order situation.
Three people were killed when police fired at a mob after clashes broke out between members of two communities at Dhule town in north Maharashtra on Monday, leaving 50 people, mostly policemen, injured.
At least 50 people including some policemen were injured after clashes broke out on Sunday between members of two communities at Dhule in north Maharashtra, official sources said.
It is a city where a few of the country's most strategic roads like National Highways 3, 6 and 211 crisscross each other. And for their political inroads, all election candidates in Dhule are chanting two "I"s -- irrigation and industry.
Curfew in riot-hit Dhule was relaxed for a longer period today and schools as well as educational institutes opened a week after violence broke out in this North Maharashtra town over tearing of a banner.
Kharge also hit back at the BJP for criticising his party colleague Rahul Gandhi over a copy of the Constitution with a red cover. He showed a picture of PM Modi gifting a similar copy to former president Ramnath Kovind.
Peace returned to North Maharashtra's riot-hit Dhule town with no fresh incidents of violence reported for the fifth day on Friday, police said.
The Congress has lodged complaints with the Election Commission against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, accusing them of making 'false, divisive, malicious and slanderous' statements during their recent election campaign.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday asserted that Article 370, which granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir, will not be restored even if Congress stalwart and late PM Indira Gandhi comes down from heaven.
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