Ajit Pawar's NCP, a constituent of Mahayuti, was winning or leading in 41 of the 59 seats it contested as per the latest figures released by the Election Commission.
Earlier attempts by the state governments to introduce the reservation for Marathas have been struck down by courts.
Police have launched a probe into the killing of former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique from different angles, including a possible contract killing, business rivalry or threat over a slum rehabilitation project, officials said on Sunday.
BIf you know this BJP, it will now go forward to Jharkhand and Maharashtra as if June 2024 never happened, notes Shekhar Gupta.
Fissures have emerged in Maharashtra's ruling Mahayuti over the 'Ladki Bahin Yojana' with a Shiv Sena minister raising objection against ally Nationalist Congress Party and its president Ajit Pawar for 'omitting' Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's name from advertisements and promotional material of the scheme.
The name of the Maharashtra chief minister will be announced on Wednesday, a day ahead of the swearing-in ceremony of the Mahayuti government, after the Bharatiya Janata Party elects its legislature party leader, a senior functionary said on Monday.
Candidates from the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) opposition alliance in Maharashtra have decided to seek verification of the EVM-Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trails (VVPATs) units in their segments, following their defeat in the recent assembly polls. The move comes after several losing candidates, including those from the Shiv Sena (UBT), alleged that the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) might have been tampered with. The MVA, comprising the Shiv Sena (UBT), Congress, and NCP, lost to the Mahayuti coalition, which includes the Shiv Sena, BJP, and NCP. The MVA candidates are seeking verification based on a Supreme Court ruling that allows for checking the burnt memory/microcontroller in 5% of EVMs after the announcement of results.
Karnataka and Maharashtra have bickered over a disputed border for more than half a century.
In doing so, it further cemented the community's determination to support the opposition. But at the same time, it consolidated its Hindu vote bank like never before.
Shah also challenged the Congress to implement its Lok Sabha election promise of providing Rs 8500 monthly to women in states ruled by the party.
Anmol Bishnoi, the younger brother of jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, has been arrested by US law enforcement authorities in Iowa. He is wanted in connection with several criminal cases in India, including the murder of NCP leader Baba Siddique and the firing outside actor Salman Khan's Mumbai home.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Congress' chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala and senior leader Jairam Ramesh were among the 10 candidates elected to the Rajya Sabha on Friday from Karnataka, Rajasthan and Haryana, while counting was underway in Maharashtra after an eight-hour delay due to wrangling by rival parties over alleged breach of voting rules.
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.
In a major setback to Maharashtra's ruling alliance of Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party and Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday won three of the six Rajya Sabha seats, while the ruling combine questioned the eight-hour delay in counting of votes.
Pawar urged people not to fall prey to the Opposition's "fake campaigns", highlighting government schemes for the youth, women, Warkaris (followers of Lord Vithoba) and others.
Pawar also said it is the moral responsibility of the major Opposition parties in Maharashtra to protect in the state assembly polls the interests of smaller allies, which were part of the coalition in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Maharashtra Bharatiya Janata Party president Chandrashekhar Bawankule on Wednesday said Chief Minister Eknath Shinde should be willing to make 'sacrifices', in terms of seat-sharing for the assembly polls, like the BJP has done to keep the alliance intact.
On his part, BJP Lok Sabha MP Narayan Rane, himself no stranger to controversies, got into damage control mode and sought to calm frayed nerves, saying he has chided his son over the remarks.
He alleged Union Home Minister Amit Shah had directed BJP leaders in a "closed-door" meeting to "stop" him (Uddhav) and Sharad Pawar politically.
A group of villagers in Maharashtra's Malshiras assembly segment, who had insisted on a "re-election" with ballot papers, have relented after police intervention. The villagers, who claimed the NCP (SP) candidate, Uttam Jankar, had polled less votes in their village than the BJP candidate, Ram Satpute, had planned to hold their own "repoll" on December 3. However, police warned them of legal action, and Jankar, along with police officials, had a meeting with the villagers, who ultimately decided to drop their plan. Despite this, they plan to continue their protest by other means.
In Maharashtra's 288-member assembly, the share of legislators with college degrees increased over the past decade.
Thackeray said there was no certainty that people will vote for the ruling alliance even after schemes like the Ladki Bahin Yojana.
But the atmosphere is now conducive for the Mahayuti to continue in power in Maharashtra thanks to the government's people-centric schemes, while the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) is giving promises that it cannot execute, he said.
He said the RPI-A will also demand tickets to contest at least two Lok Sabha seats (out of the total 48 in Maharashtra) and 10 to 15 assembly segments in the 2024 elections from the NDA quota.
Maharashtra deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Thursday said the three ruling allies in the state will retain their existing constituencies while deciding a seat-sharing formula for the coming assembly elections.
Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray chief Uddhav Thackeray on Friday said he will back any candidate announced by the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar as Maha Vikas Aghadi's chief ministerial face.
What some of our politicians were up to on Tuesday, September 24, 2024.
Speculation is rife in political circles over the past few days that he is likely to join the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena.
Marking a vertical split in the Nationalist Congress Party, its senior leader Ajit Pawar joined the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government as deputy chief minister on Sunday.
The Congress on Tuesday suffered a major upset in Himachal Pradesh at the hands of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the Rajya Sabha elections which were marred by cross-voting in all the three states though it won three seats in Karnataka while the saffron party pocketed an extra seat in Uttar Pradesh.
'I do not know why he went to Delhi because I have not been in touch with him for months now and I would not be able to give an answer why he visited Delhi'
Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, who heads the Shiv Sena, announced the latest list which also has the name of Sanjana Jadhav, daughter of former Union minister and BJP leader Raosaheb Danve.
'People will teach a lesson to those who are compromising it for the sake of power and money.'
'Slogans like 'Ek hai toh safe hai' and 'Batenge toh katenge' resonated with voters.'
The deputy chief minister called for the "strictest of strict" action against perpetrators of such crimes.
The EOW stated in its closure report that it did not see any criminality or wrongdoing in the matter, adding that the bank in question did not suffer any losses in the process of sanctioning loans or selling the Jarandeshwar Sugar Mill.
'Ajit Pawar is trying to sideline us; he is trying to be in the BJP's good books at our cost.'
Voting was underway on Friday in 102 Lok Sabha seats spread across 21 states and Union territories in the first of the seven phases of the world's largest electoral exercise, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging voters to exercise their franchise in record numbers.
The swearing-in of Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar and several of his colleagues as deputy chief minister and ministers, respectively, on Saturday has meant Maharashtra has seen four oath-taking ceremonies in as many years at its stately Raj Bhavan.
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