The campaign for the Maharashtra Assembly elections tomorrow has turned out to be one of the most violent ever, with bloody attacks on candidates and supporters. The violent incidents increased in the last couple of days of the campaign.
The elections for the 288-member House are due in September-October this year.
It was a huge earthquake which put this nondescript town in Marathwada region on the news map. Sixteen years later, Latur is again in the news as it will decide the political fortune of Amit Deshmukh, son of Union Heavy Industries Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, in the October 13 Maharashtra assembly elections. Amit, Congress candidate from Latur (urban) constituency, is locked in a quadrangular contest.
The Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday announced that they have reached a seat-sharing agreement for the October 13 Maharashtra assembly elections.
Prasad dismissed accusations that BJP was committing "murder of democracy" by entering into an alliance with a group of NCP and referred to Shiv Sena joining hands with the Congress.
Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani on Sunday found support from rivals Communist party of India - Marxist, Janata Dal - Secular and Lok Janshakti Party for his suggestion for the re-introduction of ballot papers in place of Electronic Voting Machines.Advani has not cast any doubts on the results of the Lok Sabha elections but feels the country should revert to ballot papers, starting with the Maharashtra assembly elections in October and some more states later.
Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar on Wednesday steered clear of the statements made by some members of his party, who have demanded that the chief minister's post be shared by the Congress and the NCP on a rotational basis, if the combine comes back to power in Maharashtra. "Definitely, they (Congress) will have a better number than us. I do not expect that (CM's post)," he said. "We (NCP) are actually contesting from 112 seats," he said.
The Bombay Stock Exchange has declared a trading holiday on October 13 on account of the Maharashtra Assembly elections.
Warning that both the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party would be losers in the Maharashtra assembly elections without a poll pact, the Sharad Pawar-led party on Thursday warned that 'time was running out fast', with clouds of uncertainty hovering over the 10-year-old alliance.Though favouring an alliance, the NCP said it was prepared to contest all 288 assembly seats on its own.
Maharashtra and Haryana voted in assembly elections on Monday. Several prominent personalities also exercised their franchise.
Rediff readers share selfies and tell us about their election day style.
Maharashtra has the opportunity to solve all these problems by voting for the Congress and NCP, he said.
Why Aaditya Thackeray's decision to plunge into electoral politics is significant.
The final results from the Maharashtra assembly election are just an hour away but already tantalising possibilities are being seen by the non-Bharatiya Janata Party outfits from the fractured mandate.
The Reserve Bank of India will be closed on Wednesday as Maharashtra holds the assembly elections.
On the decision of revoking provisions of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, Modi said this was the wish of 130 crore Indians.
Urmila, who unsuccessfully contested the Lok Sabha election in April from Mumbai, said she was quitting owing to "petty in-house politics" in the party.
'Religious sentiments should not be used for political purposes," Chief Election Commissioner T S Krishnamurty said. 'This applies to all political parties.'
Outside Sena supremo Bal Thackeray home in Mumbai.
NCP chief Sharad Pawar also ruled out any alliance with the Sena.
'Even if the BJP wins Maharashtra because of a division of votes, I want to be counted as one of those who voted against Modi.'
One of the other key takeaways of the manifesto is setting up a separate maintenance department for the national and state highways, where repairs and other works are currently done by the road construction contractors.
Sanjay Prabhakar, a senior journalist with NDTV India, was arrested in Bhiwandi in Thane district after a warrant was issued against him, police said.
BJP general secretary in-charge of Maharashtra Pramod Mahajan claimed the BJP-Shiv Sena would bag 145 seats in the 288-member House.
Venkaiah Naidu has appointed former Union ministers Rajnath Singh and Arun Jaitley as party general secretaries.
The party would be holding a two-day workshop from May 29 to prepare its workers for the Maharashtra assembly election
If the BJP goes ahead with the idea of forming a minority government without the Shiv Sena like in 2014, the NCP is less likely to support the BJP in any way.
With focus on 'Mission 150' for the forthcoming Maharashtra Assembly elections, Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday expressed confidence that the traditional 'puja' at Pandharpur next year would be performed by a chief minister from the Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance.
Shiv Sena's Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut last week met NCP chief Sharad Pawar requesting him not field a candidate against Aaditya Thackeray in Worli.
'This is a fascinating side to Sonia Gandhi, the way she disarms her opponents.'
The final figure of polling could increase and it will be available on Tuesday, officials said.
There's no telling how long this government will last or how cordial the relations between the alliance partners will be, but it tells us that while constancy and fealty pay, timing is everything, points out Aditi Phadnis.
Thackeray, 59, became the third Sena leader after Manohar Joshi and Narayan Rane to occupy the top post.
'If they call themselves a Hindutva party, then they must sever the alliance with the PDP in Kashmir.'
Vidarbha had given as many as 44 seats to the BJP in 2014. The Congress and NCP, plus independents and smaller parties, snatched 19 seats from the BJP, reports Abhishek Waghmare.
The Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party leaders met on Tuesday morning to decide on seat sharing for the upcoming Maharashtra assembly elections but the talks were "inconclusive." With only four days left, to file nominations for the October 15 polls, time's running out for the 15-year-old alliance.
Hours after the Bharatiya Janata Party gave it an ultimatum to take a final call on the seat-sharing pact for the Maharashtra assembly elections, Shiv Sena said on Thursday night that it would not be dictated by anybody.
Even as its chief Uddhav Thackeray accompanied the Prime Minister for 'jal pujan' ceremony of Chhatrapati Shivaji memorial, Shiv Sena on Saturday appeared unhappy with ally BJP, alleging that it has "hijacked" the occasion to take political benefit.
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