Maharashtra Nationalist Congress Party president Jayant Patil on Sunday said his party has moved a disqualification petition against Ajit Pawar and eight others who took oath as ministers in the Eknath Shinde-led state government.
One of the ministers said they are going back to Ranchi for a Cabinet meeting scheduled on Thursday.
Congress leader Milind Deora on Wednesday urged Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde to scrap the delimitation and demarcation of ward boundaries in Mumbai, alleging that it was done to benefit only the Shiv Sena.
Besides the national capital, polling will be held Saturday in 14 seats in Uttar Pradesh, all 10 seats of Haryana, eight seats each in Bihar and West Bengal, six seats in Odisha, four seats in Jharkhand and one seat in Jammu and Kashmir. Simultaneously, polling will be held for 42 assembly constituencies in Odisha.
He sought to nix speculation that the Congress and the Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray were working on a 'Plan B' to contest the 2024 Lok Sabha polls without his faction of the Nationalist Congress Party.
A controversy had recently erupted with leaders from Maharashtra cutting across political lines objecting to an Assam government advertisement with the claims.
The Bombay high court has directed the Election Commission to issue a public notice in leading newspapers of Maharashtra, giving details about the forthcoming Legislative Council elections from Graduates Constituencies and inviting applications from people to be enrolled as voters.
Senior NCP leader and Maharashtra minister Chhagan Bhujbal on Wednesday said the Supreme Court order on the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) quota was a setback to the state government and it should do everything it can to save the community's reservation.
The top court said it would tag the fresh plea and hear it together with pending ones on August 1.
The office of Neelam Gorhe, deputy chairperson of the Maharashtra Legislative Council, has sought more details with regard to a letter by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde seeking the appointment of Viplove Bajoria as Shiv Sena whip in the Upper House, effectively giving a temporary breather to the Thackeray camp.
Justice Sanjeev Narula said it would be in the interest of both -- the two Shiv Sena factions and the general public -- that the Election Commission's proceedings on the use of Shiv Sena's bow and arrow election symbol and name are concluded soon. It asked the poll panel to decide the issue as expeditiously as possible.
Uddhav Thackeray and his followers have the option to stop riding a tiger and commence work around a more meaningful and enduring political ideology. It is an option Eknath Shinde's side may not have, supported as they were by the BJP, to maintain continuity of the old Sena, argues Shyam G Menon.
Pawar said, "I will meet PM Narendra Modi on July 18. During the meeting, I will take up various issues related to farmers with him. (NCP leader) Praful Patel and I will attend the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) meeting."
A bench comprising justices A M Khanwilkar, Dinesh Maheswari and C T Ravikumar was told by senior advocate Shekhar Naphade, who appeared in the matter on behalf of the state government, that a plea seeking a recall of the order was filed electronically on Monday.
'The circumstances indicate that the government is not serious about the commission...' '...We are not at the mercy of the government.'
The Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Examinations have been postponed.
The Congress may stand a better chance in the assembly polls if it followed the 'Himachal model', suggests N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Odisha government told the assembly over 40,000 workers migrated from the state last year, with the highest number -- 26,151 -- from Balangir.
Polling for 16 Rajya Sabha seats in four states will be held on Friday amid allegations of attempts at horse-trading by rival parties which have corralled their MLAs in hotels and scenic resorts, prompting the Election Commission to appoint special observers and order videography of the entire exercise.
The income tax department on Wednesday conducted raids in multiple states as part of a pan-India tax evasion probe against certain registered unrecognised political parties (RUPP) and their alleged dubious financial transactions, official sources said.
Meanwhile, Opposition bloc Maha Vikas Aghadi said the verdict will determine if democracy "exists" in the country and judiciary "functions" independently.
The counting of votes will take place on November 2.
'The court can decide once I take the decision, but the court cannot order the speaker and force him to take a decision within a certain timeframe'
A top BJP leader from Bihar told ANI that Fadnavis is going to play a crucial role in the Bihar assembly election and he is associated with the Bihar BJP on purpose
The 'flaming torch' symbol was used by the Sena in the past during civic body and assembly polls.
Any move of the present government to appease the Marathas may boomerang. Eknath Shinde is a worried man with the agitation not having an easy solution, notes Ramesh Menon.
The vote value of an MLA is calculated on the basis of the total population of the state, based on the 1971 census.
Pawar made the announcement at the 25th anniversary of the party, founded by him and P A Sangma in 1999.
In Phase 6, indications are that the BJP, which is defending 40 seats, will lose in double digits and gain in single digits. Not good, if you are the ruling party scrambling to earn a working majority, with just one phase left to go, argues Prem Panicker.
'Ajit Pawar's speech leaves no room for reconciliation.'
The polls were deferred due to the spread of coronavirus.
The Shinde faction, which is now named as 'Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena', will be able to use the symbol for the Andheri East assembly bypoll, should it decide to contest the election scheduled for November 3.
The Uddhav Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena has moved the Supreme Court against the proceedings of the Election Commission on the plea of the Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led group for recognition as the real Shiv Sena.
Fadnavis on Saturday said the ruling Eknath Shinde-BJP coalition in Maharashtra is a legitimate government.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and various other state ministers sat on a dharna in Mumbai on Thursday to protest against the arrest of their cabinet colleague Nawab Malik by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case.
Droupadi Murmu scripted history on Thursday by becoming India's first tribal President in the one-sided contest, defeating Opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha.
The need for co-ordinated policy between Centre and states was likewise foreseen and assigned.
This time Modi has no emotive message to take to the stump. Muscular nationalism doesn't work against the backdrop of China's successive inroads into Indian territory. Rising prices is a sore point that cuts across class and caste barriers; unprecedented levels of unemployment has the youth in a ferment. This has reduced the BJP campaign to a laundry list of recycled grievances and thinly veiled communal appeals, neither of which are working as well as they have in the past, argues Prem Panicker.
Chief ministers and other senior leaders made last-minute appeals to voters for their support in Mokama and Gopalganj of Bihar, Adampur of Haryana, Manugoda of Telangana, Gola Gorakhnath of Uttar Pradesh and Dhamnagar of Odisha.
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