A total of 4,140 candidates were left in the fray for 288 Maharashtra assembly seats after the deadline for withdrawal of nominations ended on Monday, a poll official said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his cabinet colleagues Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, Rajnath Singh, chief ministers of Nationalist Democratic Alliance-ruled states and prominent personalities from industry and Bollywood on Thursday attended the grand swearing-in of Devendra Fadnavis as Maharashtra Chief Minister in Mumbai.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday pulled off a stunning performance in Maharashtra winning a record number of seats to propel the party-led ruling Mahayuti alliance to a landslide victory while the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) stormed back to power in Jharkhand on the back of a spectacular showing by the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha.
BJP Rajya Sabha member Narayan Rane came out openly in support of Eknath Shinde.
A day after the Uddhav Thackeray faction submitted a plea before Deputy Speaker Narhari Jhirwal to disqualify the rebel MLAs, the Ekanth Shinde faction on Friday gave a notice of no-confidence motion against the deputy speaker.
Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar chief Sharad Pawar on Sunday said the Ladki Bahin scheme, women's participation in voting in large numbers, and religious polarisation may have played a role in Mahayuti's victory in Maharashtra assembly polls.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Tuesday said Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has recognised Rahul Shewale as the Shiv Sena leader in the Lower House of Parliament.
Rajesh Shah, however, continues to be a member of the Shiv Sena.
The ministry-making exercise took so long because many factors needed to be balanced. But now that it is in place, not everyone is happy with the resultant equation.
Shinde dismissed his predecessor Uddhav Thackeray's call for mid-term elections.
Among the BJP rebels, a notable figure is Gopal Shetty, a two-time MLA and former Lok Sabha member from Mumbai. He has filed his nomination as an independent candidate against the party's official nominee, Sanjay Upadhyay, in Mumbai's Borivali assembly constituency.
We left the Congress-NCP govt because we didn't want to be with them, Shiv Sena spokesperson said.
Eknath Shinde has been made chief minister to crush the Shiv Sena totally, completely, wholly, point out Sunil Gatade and Venkatesh Kesari.
Raut claimed that the BJP was trying to break Maharashtra into three pieces
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday said that former Mumbai police chief Sanjay Pandey had been given a "target" to arrest him but the police officer could not succeed as he had done nothing wrong.
Shinde said MLAs are keen on continuing the Sena founded by late Balasaheb Thackeray.
'If there is Sabka Saath, then why are you only talking about Hindu-Muslim?'
The Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Limited (MMRCL) on Tuesday launched the trial run of the Colaba-Bandra-SEEPZ Metro line-3 at Sariput Nagar in Aarey Colony in Mumbai.
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.
Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray chief Uddhav Thackeray and Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar supremo Sharad Pawar on Saturday said there was no question of taking back those leaders who had deserted the two parties.
Maha Vikas Aghadi constituents -- the Congress, the Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray, and the Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar -- are still struggling to resolve internal differences over certain seats and fix an agreeable formula for the assembly polls even though the deadline for filing nominations is closing on October 29.
The government was formed 10 days after Shinde raised a banner of revolt against the Shiv Sena leadership. Forty out of 55 Sena MLAs sided with Shinde, which resulted in the collapse of the two-and-a-half-year-old Maha Vikas Aghadi dispensation comprising the Sena, the Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress.
Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Friday appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in Mumbai to record his statement in connection with a money laundering probe.
Three MLAs abstained, while 20 legislators, most of them from Congress and the NCP, including Congress's Ashok Chavan and Vijay Wadettiwar, both former ministers, were absent during the trust vote.
The attack on the convoy of Shiv Sena-UBT leader Uddhav Thackeray in retaliation to a similar incident involving Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray revived the old rivalry between the estranged cousins who claim to champion the cause of Marathi manoos ahead of assembly elections.
This will be the first major electoral test after the political realignment that emerged in 2019.
A central BJP minister claimed that the split in the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra will also have an impact in the Lok Sabha as at least a dozen Lok Sabha members of the outfit, out of the total 19, were ready to switch sides.
The Congress on Sunday demanded a thorough probe into Siddique's murder and said Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and his deputy Devendra Fadnavis, who holds home portfolio, should take moral responsibility for law and order "failure" and resign.
Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray leader Sanjay Raut on Thursday demanded that Chief Justice India D Y Chandrachud recuse himself from the cases tied to the disqualification petitions concerning rebel Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party MLAs.
Their lists show that a significant number of contenders are closely related to the current ministers, legislators or MPs, including their sons or daughters, wives and brothers or sisters.
The strategic move will also bolster the BJP's push to decimate Uddhav Thakceray-led party by depriving it of its pet Hindutva and ethnic sub-nationalism plank.
While guests who had arrived earlier are leaving one by one, sources revealed that the hotel, situated on Dumas Road of the diamond city, has stopped accepting new bookings for an indefinite period.
A day after the MNS chief declared his unconditional support for the ruling Mahayuti alliance, Sanjay Shirsat, the spokesperson for the Shiv Sena led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, claimed the move would avoid the potential vote division in elections.
Shinde attended the state cabinet meeting earlier this week. He is the 13th state minister to be infected by the disease.
Politicians across the political spectrum graced Radhika Merchant and Anant Ambani's wedding ceremonies at the Jio World Convention Centre at the Bandra Kurla Complex in north west Mumbai.
UP's representation in the government could diminish, given the BJP's decreased seat count in that state.
Union minister Nitin Gadkari has said the Maharashtra government's Ladki Bahin scheme, introduced to provide financial assistance to women, could affect the timely payment of subsidies in other sectors.
'We are happy that the money has come to us immediately after it was announced.' 'For once, the government did what it promised.'
The Bombay high court on Thursday termed as "politically induced litigation" a PIL filed by seven citizens seeking action against dissident Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde and other rebel MLAs of the party, and said it would hear the plea if the petitioners deposit Rs 1 lakh as security.
'If someone fiddles us on our religion then we will pay back five times more to that person. We have proved that time and again.'
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances