NEW DELHI: The residents of Northwest Delhi’s Jahangirpuri have cast their votes for peace, communal harmony and cleanliness in this Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) elections. 

The market area in Jahangirpuri which had come to a standstill in April due to clashes between two communities during a Hanuman Jayanti procession was bustling on Sunday as people went out in large numbers to exercise their franchise.

The clash that erupted on April 16 left eight police personnel and a local resident injured.

Although the situation returned to normalcy months ago, the security in the market area was slightly beefed up with the deployment of police and Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) personnel every 200 metres.

Tajman Bibi, one of the Jahangirpuri voters, said he wants the upcoming MCD regime to focus on peace and communal harmony, which are his primary concerns.

“Jahangirpuri should never again witness the kind of violence it did in April. The authorities should focus on maintaining communal harmony in this area. While casting my vote, that was my only concern,” Tajman told PTI.

Another voter Rafiq echoed similar sentiments, saying that people in Jahangirpuri should not “face divisive politics” anymore.

“No matter which party comes to power in the MCD, we expect peace in Jahangirpuri. People should not face divisive politics here anymore. There should be harmony amongst all communities.”

“We do not want any sort of division on the basis of communities. We do not want people to fight amongst each other,” the 56-year-old added.

On the civic front, the residents highlighted the lack of cleanliness and garbage menace as other major issues.

Mohammad Junu,48, whose house is located in one of the congested gullies, said the drains in the area mostly remain clogged throughout the year.

“We have been facing the issue of clogged drains since several years now. We spoke to the authorities earlier many times but nobody paid heed to the issue. Due to water stagnation, drains get clogged here. This is one issue that leads to major health problems to the residents, including dengue and malaria,” he said.

A few days after the clash, the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) launched an anti-encroachment drive in Jahangirpuri during which bulldozers razed several structures in the area.

The exercise continued for one-and-a-half hours even after a Supreme Court directive to stop it.

The civic polls, spanning 250 wards, was conducted on Sunday. The votes will be counted on December 7.

AHMEDABAD: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday cast his vote in Ahmedabad during polling for the second phase of Gujarat Assembly elections and appealed to people to strengthen the state’s “development model” by coming out to vote in large numbers

Shah, who represents Gandhinagar seat in the Lok Sabha, reached the Naranpura sub-zonal office polling booth here along with his family members including wife Sonalben Shah and son Jay Shah.

Talking to reporters after casting his vote, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader appealed to people to carry forward and strengthen Gujarat’s ‘development model’ through their votes.

“I urge all the voters, especially the first time voters, to exercise their franchise without fail to take ahead this two-and-a-half decades of journey of development, because Gujarat’s development is not limited to our state only. Gujarat’s development is a medium to bring development in the country,” Shah said.

The BJP has been in power in Gujarat for more than 25 years.

Shah said Gujarat’s development serves as the foundation for the development of the entire country.

The BJP leader said various achievements of the ‘Gujarat model’, such as high industrial investment, 100 per cent enrolment in schools, zero drop out and poverty alleviation schemes, have been attracting attention of the whole country.

“I urge the voters to come out in large numbers and vote for strengthening this development model,” said Shah.

Voting was underway on Monday for the second phase of polls in 93 out of the total 182 Assembly seats in Gujarat.

Earlier, polls in 89 Assembly seats were held on December 1. The counting of votes in all the seats will be taken up on December 8.

MUMBAI:  Ahead of the Maharashtra assembly winter session scheduled on December 19 in Nagpur, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and his deputy Devendra Fadnavis have decided to postpone cabinet expansion and begin allocations of state boards and corporations.

Shinde held a meeting with Maharashtra BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule, where they decided that rather than awaiting centre clearance for cabinet expansion, both the alliance partners can start allocations of state boards and corporations.

“The MLAs who supported Shinde in his revolt are desperate to get the ministerial hearth. Some of them have warned that if the cabinet is not expanded and if their names are not included, they may take a different call. The immediate issue before the CM is to pacify the disgruntled MLAs by allocations,” said a senior BJP leader who requested anonymity.  

The first cabinet expansion was carried out five months ago, however, majority of ministries are yet to be allocated. The chief minister and his deputy are burdened with the maximum portfolios. Besides, it also has an adverse cascading effect on the administration and implementation of government policies.

Meanwhile, the matter of disqualification of 16 MLAs including Shinde and prominent ministers are still pending in the Supreme Court. A negative result can jeopardise the government. Therefore, they are giving a lot of thought to delaying the expansions,” said a senior BJP leader who requested anonymity.

A source close to Shinde said that allocating the state boards with cabinet status will kill two birds with one stone. “The MLAs who were earlier demanding cream portfolios are now desperate and even ready to settle with boards. This will reduce competition. So later, it won’t be an issue for us to distribute the portfolios and expand the cabinet. This is a well-planned strategy,” he added.

BJP Maharashtra unit vice-president Prasad Lad has stoked another row over Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj after he made an inaccurate statement about the birthplace of the Maratha king. Lad, who is a close aide of state Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis, on Saturday said that Shivaji was born in Konkan while in fact he was born in Shivneri fort in Pune district. Prasad Lad made the error while addressing a gathering at the Konkan Mohatsav in Mumbai on Saturday.

Lad’s remark invited strong reactions from leaders across political parties in the estate. Later, he extended an apology and said, “I have huge respect for Shivaji. It came out while speaking about Shivaji and Konkan. Konkan was the work land of Shivaji and that is a fact we cannot deny,” he added.

SRINAGAR: Polling was underway on Monday in two district development council (DDC) constituencies of Jammu and Kashmir where a re-poll was ordered by election authorities due to disputed qualification of candidates, officials said

The polling for the DDC seats of Hajin-A in Bandipora and Drugmulla in Kupwara started this morning.

The State Election Commissioner has appealed voters to come out and cast their votes without any fear and strengthen the democratic process by participating in large numbers, the officials said.

A mock poll was also conducted at all polling stations before the actual start to ensure free and transparent polling, they added.

The DDC elections took place in Jammu and Kashmir in December 2020.

However, the counting of votes was withheld in these two seats due to the disputed qualification of two candidates.

Later, the state election commission declared the polling to these constituencies as void, cancelling the candidature of Soomia Sadaf and Shazia Aslam, citing wrong information about the place of birth by the PoK-origin candidates.

93 Assembly segments which will go to polls on Monday are spread across Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Gandhinagar and other districts.

In the second phase, voting will be held in the remaining 93 seats, for which 833 candidates are in the fray from 61 political parties, including the BJP, Congress and the new poll entrant Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 51 of these seats, Congress 39, while three seats went to independent candidates.

In central Gujarat, the BJP had bagged 37 seats, outnumbering the Congress which got 22. But in north Gujarat, the Congress had won 17 seats while the saffron party got 14.

The high-voltage campaigning by different parties for the second phase of polls ended on Saturday evening.

The first phase of voting for 89 seats in Saurashtra, Kutch and south Gujarat regions was held on December 1, when an was recorded.

The Gujarat Assembly has a total of 182 seats.

The 93 Assembly segments which will go to polls on Monday are spread across Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Gandhinagar and other districts.

Voting ended for the first phase of the Gujarat Assembly elections in 89 seats across 19 districts of Saurashtra-Kutch and southern regions at 5 pm on Thursday. A low voter turnout of 59.24 per cent was recorded till 5 pm.

AHMEDABAD:  Dissidents from both BJP and Congress can hurt the parties on 34 seats in central Gujarat, where BJP won only seven of the 28 seats in 1998 elections, but post-Godhra riots, it strengthened its position, bagging 23 seats in 2002.

Central Gujarat is seen as a BJP stronghold where polling is due in the second phase on December 5. However, this time senior BJP leaders like Madhushrivastav and Dinesh Patel filed their candidature as independents after failing to find a place on the party list.

That has put BJP under pressure. Vadodara city has been the party’s bastion for years, but this time it is facing trouble in neighbouring Savli, Padra, Waghodia, Dabhoi, and Karajan seats where former BJP MLAs are fighting as Independents.

How anxious the BJP is to save this stronghold can be seen from the fact that it has fielded 76-year-old Yogesh Patel from Manjalpur constituency in Vadodra in spite of state party chief CR Patil’s expressed caveat before the media that the party would not nominate those aged above 75 years. In Panchmahal district, the party is facing a tougher puzzle. Former BJP MP Prabhatsinh Chauhan, who recently quit the BJP, is contesting the Kalol seat as a Congress candidate.

Congress has its own fixed vote bank in central Gujarat. However, the party does not have an influential leader. In Narmada’s Dediapada seat, the Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) is also facing the problem posed by a rebel who has filed his papers as an AAP candidate from Dediapada seat.  Congress held the Chhota Udaipur seat in the north of Narmada for years, but this time, the BJP has inducted senior Congress leader and 11-time MLA Mohan Singh Rathawan, giving his son Rajendra Singh the ticket.