"I am not leaving the party. Defection is not in my blood," Pankaja told reporters.
The main contest is between the BJP, which has ruled the six corporations for last several terms, and the main opposition Congress.
In a firm indication of fast-changing political equations in the influential sugar belt of Western Maharashtra, the Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party have shaken the monolith of Congress-Nationalist Congress Party clout ingrained in the cooperative network with spectacular gains in the Assembly elections.
It is curtains down for Maharashtra and Haryana assembly polls. Here's a look at political biggies, who made it and who didn't.
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.
Chandrakant Patil dismissed reports in a section of media which claimed that she may quit the BJP.
Pawar appeared questioning the progress made by the Central Bureua of Investigation in its probe of the case, which was initially probed by the Mumbai Police.
The results will be declared on July 20 in New Delhi.
Congress MLA Mukesh Sharma, NCP leader Ram Vir Singh Bhiduri, and BJP MLA Harsharan Singh Balli sponsored this resolution.
The Bharatiya Janata Party and Shiv Sena leaders who were sworn in today during the expansion of Devendra Fadnavis ministry include some who have been ministers in the past and some new faces.
'I would like to express my anger at the way party affairs have been handled by some people.'
The BJP has been keeping Khadse at the arm's length since 2016 when he was made to resign as a minister in the then BJP government headed by Devendra Fadnavis over allegations of corruption.
A day before the Bharatiya Janata Party takes the reins in Maharashtra, Shiv Sena on Thursday praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief minister-designate Devendra Fadnavis, saying the state can expect acchhe din (good days) under them, but cautioned its former ally against accepting Nationalist Congress Party's support.
'After he had exposed the Narcotics Bureau's wrongdoings, he threatened to expose the Enforcement Directorate as well.' 'So they are trying to rake up an old legal deal, distorting information and using the PMLA which did not even exist at that time.'
'Who else will solve these issues if not the chief minister?' 'Who else shall we take our complaints to?'
Two and a half hours into voting day and Maharashtra saw its top netas and Bollywood celebrities come out and vote. Among the early voters on Wednesday were...
The assembly by-poll elections yielded good results for BJP allies.
Five Nationalist Congress Party and an Independent legislator, were on Tuesday sworn-in as ministers in the Maharashtra government as part of the much-awaited reshuffle.
Hitting out at the opposition BJP over its 'lust for power' and 'dirty politics', Thakur said that Maharashtra has given a new formula to the country. She also said that the Shiv Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government was stable.
'The BJP believes it has little to lose from a loss of alliance with the Shiv Sena. Fighting alone gives the BJP the chance to test its troops today, and then rework its tactics if necessary, before the big test in 2019,' says T V R Shenoy.
The development comes at a time when Parrikar, 62, is undergoing treatment for a pancreatic ailment at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi.
The arrest of Chhagan Bhujbal by the ED rocked Maharashtra Legislature with protesting Opposition alleging it was "vendetta politics".
Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar and senior Congress leader Murli Deora are among the seven candidates from Maharashtra that were on Friday elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha in the biennial polls in Mumbai.
Kanyakumari is the tip of India and will convey the symbol that from the tip of India, the Congress is on its way up.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party legislator Haribhau Bagade was on Wednesday unanimously elected as the Speaker of the Maharashtra assembly.
The Bharatiya Janata Party is in no hurry to engineer a split or woo legislators from other parties at this juncture, though it is short of numbers in the Maharashtra assembly.
The court acquitted Saseendran holding that no case had been made out against him that warranted conviction.
Leaders from across political parties expressed their grief at Patil's demise
'The BJP's solo aim in Mumbai and Maharashtra is to finish off the Shiv Sena and Sharad Pawar's NCP.'
He questioned why only migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan will be given citizenship under the amended law and not the Sri Lankan Tamils.
That the MVA government, comprising Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party and Congress completed a year in office despite frequent murmurs of lack of coordination among the ruling alliance partners is being attributed to the rapport between Thackeray, 60, and NCP patriarch Sharad Pawar.
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.
BJP claimed close to 116 lawmakers from rival parties appeared to have voted for Kovind.
The Election Commission sent a notice to Mangal Prabhat Lodha, the BJP's Mumbai chief. This is probably because a leading newspaper highlighted his utterances on its front page.
The Shiv Sena is leading currently in terms of criminal candidates. Out of the 14 declared by them in the first list 12 have a criminal background, as per the Association for Democratic Reforms.
Devendra Fadnavis will on Friday take oath as the 27th chief minister of maharashtra and the first from BJP in the state, at a grand function which Shiv Sena has decided to boycott because of "constant humiliation".
A potpourri of political parties are in the fray in Goa.
The elder son of party chief Uddhav Thackeray will become the first member of the clan ever to contest an election.
A day after the Maharashtra assembly polls gave a fractured verdict, the political picture continues to remain nebulous with speculation rife about whether it will be a Nationalist Congress Party-propped Bharatiya Janata Party ministry or a coalition regime with the Shiv Sena.
Veteran legislator Ganpatrao Deshmukh on Sunday created history by winning his 11th assembly election.
