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.
The death of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar has created a leadership crisis within the NCP, raising questions about the party's future and potential reunification with the Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP).
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar has caused a flutter by revealing that Hinjewadi IT Park in Pune is 'moving out' to Bengaluru and Hyderabad.
'The entire Pawar family -- Sunetra Vahini, Jay and Parth Pawar (Ajit Pawar's sons), Sharad Pawar, his daughter Supriya Sule -- will sit together and decide how to move forward.'
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.
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 former NCP leader from Pune, Rajendra Hagawane, and his son Sushil were arrested on Friday for their alleged involvement in a dowry harassment and abetment to suicide case involving Hagawane's daughter-in-law. The arrests came after the duo were expelled from the NCP by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar. The victim, Vaishnavi, had allegedly hanged herself on May 16 at her in-laws' house. Her parents alleged that the Hagawane family had harassed her for dowry despite receiving a substantial amount of gold, silver, and an SUV at the time of her marriage.
Fortunately, no injuries were reported as there was nobody inside or on the vehicles.
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.
The talks about the reunification had already started when Ajit Pawar was alive. In fact, the two parties even contested the civic polls in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad together.
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.
Senior NCP (SP) leader Jayant Patil has ruled out the possibility of a merger between the two factions of the Nationalist Congress Party, stating that talks ceased following the death of Ajit Pawar.
Several Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leaders and corporators returned to the Sharad Pawar camp on Wednesday, a day after resigning from the Ajit Pawar faction.
Two pilots and an engineer were killed after a helicopter crashed and caught fire in Maharashtra's Pune district on Wednesday morning, police said.
Is Deputy CM Ajit Pawar giving the CM shooting lessons?
Kakade said they will hold talks with the Congress and the Shiv Sena-UBT as well.
A major accident on the Mumbai-Bengaluru highway near Pune resulted in eight fatalities and 14 injuries after a car was crushed between two container trucks, leading to a large fire. The incident occurred on the accident-prone Navale Bridge.
Shirish More Maharaj, a well-known kirtankar and descendant of 17th century Marathi poet-saint Tukaram, was found dead in his home in Dehu Road, Pune. A suicide note found at his home mentioned financial distress as the reason for his decision.
The process to merge the Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar and the Nationalist Congress Party may now face a roadblock due to the death of Ajit Pawar, said Sharad Pawar on Saturday.
Elections to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and 28 other civic bodies in the state were held on January 15.
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.
With the Congress coming third overall and having done much better than Shiv Sena-UBT and NCP-SP, its allies in Maha Vikas Aghadi, political analysts said it will force a rethink as far as coordination, seat-sharing and leadership are concerned ahead of the 2029 assembly polls.
A 28-year-old man was arrested in Pune, Maharashtra for faking his own abduction to extort money from his father. Pradeep Chauhan sent a message to his father claiming he had been kidnapped and then switched off his phone. His father, Rama Shankar Chauhan, reported the matter to the police, who traced Pradeep's location to Pune. Pradeep admitted to faking the kidnapping and was arrested. He was granted bail after his father pleaded for his release.
'If the BJP had contested all 227 seats, I believe they would have managed to secure a majority on their own.'
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar says an inquiry has been initiated into the alleged illegal sale of government land to his son's company in Pune. The sale of 40 acres of land is under scrutiny, and the Chief Minister has stated that action is being taken as per law.
Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis assures impartial action in the Pune land deal case involving a company linked to Deputy CM Ajit Pawar's son, Parth Pawar.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar says his son Parth was unaware that the land his company purchased in Pune belonged to the government. The controversial transaction has been cancelled, and a probe has been ordered.
The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) conducted searches at multiple locations in Pune concerning the suspected radicalisation of individuals linked to an ISIS module case. The raids, based on intelligence about radicalised people, led to the seizure of electronic devices and documents, and the questioning of several suspects.
A disgruntled driver allegedly set a minibus on fire near Pune, killing four employees and injuring ten others. The driver, Janardan Hambardekar, was angry after his salary was cut and procured benzene to start the fire. He is currently hospitalized and will be arrested later.
Film stars arrived at polling booths in Mumbai to cast their votes in the ongoing Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections. The elections are seen as crucial for major cities such as Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Thane, Navi Mumbai, Nashik, and Pimpri-Chinchwad.
The D K Bhave Scholarship 2025 covers a maximum of 50 per cent of the total estimated first-year cost for a master's degree programme in engineering.
The number of suspected Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS) cases in Maharashtra has reached 163, with five deaths reported so far. Five new cases were detected in Pune, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 127. The official also stated that 168 water samples from different parts of Pune city were sent for chemical and biological analysis, and eight water sources were found to be contaminated.
He said that the structure had been declared dangerous by the district collector before the incident, and villagers had also placed warning boards.
'It would have polarised the Marathi-non Marathi divide further. 'Fadnavis had a very clear strategy: Let all Marathi people campaign for us (the BJP), and whatever results we get will be delivered by Marathi people only.'
The cost of the war is being counted not in the corridors of power in Washington or Tehran, but in Firozabad's darkened furnace rooms, Howrah's idle casting sheds, and a barbershop in Kochi where the wait is suddenly, inexplicably, an hour long, notes Prem Panicker in his must read blog on the Iran War.
The incident had occurred in Pimpri city on Saturday in apparent protest against minister Patil's controversial remark about Dr BR Ambedkar and social reformer Mahatma Jyotiba Phule.
Days after the controversial 40-acre Pune land deal by a firm linked to Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar's son, a now-suspended tehsildar issued an eviction notice to the Botanical Survey of India (BSI), a long-standing tenant on the property
Pune added over 10,000 COVID-19 cases for the first time in a day on Saturday, taking the district's tally to 5,62,335, an official said.
Ahmedabad-based filmmaker Mahesh Jirawala, who was reported missing following the June 12 air crash, the matching of DNA samples confirmed that he died in the catastrophe, following which his mortal remains were handed over to his family.
Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar chief Sharad Pawar stood up when he came face to face with his estranged nephew and Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar at an official meeting in Pune on Saturday.
