The INDIA alliance on Tuesday decided to approach the Supreme Court over scam that happened in Maharashtra assembly elections to make BJP led alliance win.

The decision was announced after a meeting between NCP-SP chief Sharad Pawar, AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal and noted lawyer and Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi here.

Prashant Sudamrao Jagtap, President, NCP(SP) Pune, says, “In today’s meeting (at NCP-SP chief Sharad Pawar’s residence), we have decided to appear in Supreme Court as INDIA alliance regarding the scam that happened in Maharashtra assembly elections to make BJP led alliance win… All the parties within the INDIA alliance in Maharashtra will go to the Court. We have faith in the Supreme Court and we expect that the SC will pronounce order in our favour and against the scam.”

Pawar has been meeting leaders of his party who lost the assembly elections.

The INDIA bloc has claimed that it lost the elections in Maharashtra due to alleged manipulation of EVMs in favour of the BJP-led Mahayuti coalition.

In the elections held last month, the BJP-led Mahayuti coalition won 235 seats in the 288-member House while the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance bagged 46.

During the meeting, Kejriwal flagged concerns related to voter lists in Delhi where assembly elections are due early next year.

Mahayuti govt wins trust vote in Maharashtra assembly

Five days after assuming office, the Mahayuti alliance government in Maharashtra led by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Monday comfortably won a confidence vote in the state assembly. The trust motion, tabled by Shiv Sena MLA Uday Samant and others, was passed by a voice vote on the last day of the three-day special assembly session. Some opposition members were absent when the trust motion was approved in the assembly. They included Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Aaditya Thackeray.

 On December 4, when Governor C P Radhakrishnan handed Fadnavis the letter inviting him to form the government, he had stipulated in the document that the BJP leader must clear the trust motion in the House in 21 days, sources said. Speaker Rahul Narwekar, elected unopposed for a second straight term earlier in the day, announced that the trust motion has been approved by the newly-constituted House. The BJP-Shiv Sena-NCP ‘Mahayuti’ coalition has a commanding majority of 230 seats in the 288-member assembly, where the majority mark is 145. “The confidence motion has been passed with a majority,” Narwekar said.

NEW DELHI: Campaigning came to a halt on Monday for high-stakes assembly polls in Maharashtra and the second phase in Jharkhand on November 20, the two states being more than just electoral battles for BJP and Congress, leaders of their respective alliances, with results poised to shape their political narrative and future trajectory. The match-up follows BJP’s stunning come-from-behind victory in Haryana and has increased the stake for Congress and its allies to win the two battles in order to regain the momentum they seemed to have after paring down BJP’s Lok Sabha tally.
BJP obviously wants to build on the advantage it grabbed in Haryana.
In Maharashtra, BJP, through its Mahayuti alliance with Shiv Sena (Shinde faction) and NCP (Ajit Pawar faction), is aiming to hold on to the state. The state had witnessed significant political realignments, with splits within its major political entities, creating a complex chessboard for parties to manoeuvre.
BJP has highlighted its governance through development projects and economic policies. The ‘Ladki Bahin’ scheme was a centrepiece, promising financial assistance to women, aiming to capture the support of this significant voter demographic.
Urban areas like Mumbai saw BJP campaign on law enforcement and anti-terrorism, while also subtly promoting its cultural nationalist agenda to consolidate Hindu votes with slogans like ‘ek hain to safe hain’ and ‘batenge to katenge’. BJP has positioned itself as the stable anchor of Mahayuti, promising governance free from the turbulence of internal party disputes.
BJP on Monday launched a new ad campaign attacking the opposition MVA and urging people to ‘say no to Congress’. The campaign highlighted various incidents from the past, including the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, and the lynching of sadhus in Palghar when Maha Vikas Aghadi was in office. BJP is contesting 149 seats, Shiv Sena 81 and Ajit Pawar-led NC for the 288-member House.
MVA was well ahead of the Mahayuti in Lok Sabha polls and the alliance is hoping that the momentum is carried forward into these elections.
The polls, moreover, will determine which is the real Shiv Sena and the real NCP, so a lot is at stake for Eknath Shinde, Uddhav Thackeray, Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar. It is because of the decisive nature of this poll that Uddhav has been harping on the ‘gaddar’ (betrayer) line to draw the sympathy vote, while Pawar Sr has been urging voters not just to defeat his nephew’s NCP but to defeat it big.
(With inputs from Mumbai and Ranchi)

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday said that the Maharashtra election is an election of ideologies and an election between 1-2 billionaires and the poor.

Rahul Gandhi said that the Maharashtra election is an election of ideologies and an election between 1-2 billionaires and the poor. “The billionaires want the land of Mumbai to go into their hands. The estimate is that ₹1 lakh crores will be given to 1 billionaire,” he added.

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Congress leader further noted, “Our thinking is that Maharashtra, the farmers of Maharashtra, the poor, the unemployed, the youth need help…We will deposit ₹3000 in every woman’s bank account for free, there will be bus travel for women and farmers, loans up to ₹3 lakh will be waived, ₹7,000 per quintal for soybean…We are getting the caste census done in Telangana, Karnataka, andwe will get it done in Maharashtra.”

Moreover, he promised to remove the 50 per cent cap on reservations and conduct a caste-based survey in the country. “Caste census is the biggest issue before us and we will get it done; it is our central pillar,” Gandhi said at a press conference in Mumbai.

The Congress leader said that ₹7 lakh crore projects including Foxconn and Airbus were shifted to Gujarat from Maharashtra. This led to youth in Maharashtra losing out on jobs, he added. The Maha Vikas Aghadi government will protect the interests of the people of Maharashtra, he said. The entire political machinery was twisted to help one person in Dharavi redevelopment scheme in Mumbai, Gandhi said.

Mocking PM Modi’s slogan ‘Ek hai toh safe hai’, Gandhi brought a safe to the press conference and pulled out a poster of Modi and industrialist Gautam Adani, and said, “They are safe till they are together.”

The Maharashtra assembly elections are scheduled for November 20, with votes for all 288 constituencies to be counted on November 23.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has announced it may contest a few seats in next month’s Maharashtra assembly elections. Led by Arvind Kejriwal, AAP is part of the opposition’s INDIA bloc. In Maharashtra, three constituents of this bloc—Shiv Sena (UBT), Congress, and NCP (SP)—are competing under the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) banner against the ruling Mahayuti alliance.

Addressing a press conference at Kudal in Maharashtra’s coastal Sindhudurg district on Friday, AAP’s Goa unit president Amit Palekar said his party is working on strengthening its base in the Konkan belt, particularly in Sindhudurg and Ratnagiri districts, and also in Kolhapur in western Maharashtra, PTI reported.

The party has grown substantially in the Konkan belt, as the local population is looking at alternatives to BJP’s Union minister Narayan Rane and his “politics of vendetta”, he said.

“The AAP stands strongly with the INDIA bloc allies for the November 20 Maharashtra elections but if political developments permit, then the party may stake claim on a couple of seats where it is in a winnable position,” Palekar said. “There is a lot of pressure from the local party workers in Kolhapur as well as Sindhudurg to field party candidates for the upcoming elections,” he said. 

Palekar, who is the party’s Sindhudurg district in-charge, said the residents of Konkan were respectful and cannot tolerate Rane family’s “language of arrogance”.

“Clean and honest politics is the need of the hour and only dedicated politicians can do it,” he noted.

Elections for the 288-member Maharashtra Legislative Assembly are set to take place in a single phase on November 20, with vote counting scheduled for November 23.

Eknath Shinde became Chief Minister in June 2022 after a split in the Shiv Sena and has navigated various challenges while leading the coalition government. His journey from starting as a rickshaw driver to reaching the highest political office in Maharashtra is considered a remarkable underdog story.

The Shiv Sena insisted on Thursday that former NCB chief Sameer Wankhede will not be contesting the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly elections on a party ticket. The assertion came amid speculative reports suggesting that he would be fielded as a candidate from Dharavi in Mumbai.

“The news reports about Sameer Wankhede contesting the upcoming Maharashtra assembly election from Dharavi or any other seat, on a Shiv Sena ticket are pure conjecture and a work of fiction. There is no such proposal before the party,” Shiv Sena sources told ANI.

The remarks came after several news reports quoted sources to indicate that the Shiv Sena was mulling a ticket for Wankhede. Assembly elections in Maharashtra will be held in a single phase on November 20. The results will be declared later that week on November 23.

The ex-Mumbai zonal director of the Narcotics Control Bureau remains under the scanner for several alleged financial irregularities. He had led the team that arrested Aryan Khan (the son of actor Shah Rukh Khan) on drug-related charges in 2021.

He was booked by the CBI in May last year on charges of seeking ₹25-crore bribe for not framing Khan in the drugs-on-cruise case. The Enforcement Directorate had subsequently opened a money laundering case against the former IRS officer in connection with the bribery charges. The central agency has booked the case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar announced at a press conference earlier this week that votes would be counted on November 23 — a day before the current Maharashtra assembly completes its term. The key contenders in the elections are the ruling Mahayuti Alliance, which includes the BJP, Shiv Sena, and NCP and the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition, comprising the Shiv Sena (UBT), NCP (Sharad Pawar faction), and Congress.

(With inputs from agencies)

Ahead of Maharashtra assembly elections which are likely to be held in the month of November, the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar) has moved the Supreme Court to prevent Ajit Pawar camp from using the ‘Clock’ symbol.

The development comes amid NCP(SP) leaders demanding that both the factions of the NCP be treated equally, as only Sharad Pawar camp was given a new poll symbol.

According to Bar and Bench, the plea said that the rival faction leveraged upon the existing confusion in the minds of the people due to a long-standing association between the ‘Clock’ symbol and the Petitioner.

The latest application was filed on September 25.

The plea further stated that confusion would potentially be greater in the upcoming Vidhan Sabha elections.

Live Law reported the  NCP-SP camp has urged apex court to issue directions to Ajit camp to apply for a fresh symbol for the limited purpose of contesting the upcoming Maharashtra assembly elections.

The matter is scheduled to be heard on October 15. A Bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan will hear the case.

In July 2023, Ajit Pawar along with several other MLAs joined the Shiv Sena-BJP government, leading to a split in the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) founded by his uncle, Sharad Pawar.

The NCP, founded by Sharad Pawar, had ‘clock’ as its election symbol before the split.

Ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the Election Commission allotted the NCP name and the ‘clock’ symbol to Ajit Pawar camp in the month of February.

Whereas, in March, Sharad Pawar faction was allowed to use ‘Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar’ as its name and ‘man blowing turha’ (a traditional trumpet) as its symbol by the Supreme court.

The top court had earlier observed that the name and photographs of Sharad Pawar cannot be used by the Ajit Pawar faction for political gains.

When will the Maharashtra elections take place?

Last week, after taking stock of the situation and meeting 11 political parties, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar said that the election in the state will have to be completed before the term of legislative assembly ends.