New Delhi : The Congress on Monday accused the BJP-led Mahayuti government in Maharashtra of deliberately infusing “hate and poison” into its poll campaign and attempting to “disturb communal harmony in the state.”

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said that the campaign revealed the “sick mindset” of the BJP.

“The Mahayuti, led by the BJP, has only one agenda in its campaign. It is simply and only to polarize society on the basis of religion and to disturb communal harmony in the state. Such an awful campaign reveals its sick mindset,” Ramesh wrote in a post on X.

“The campaign is full of hate and poison deliberately being injected. But the people of Maharashtra will reject this type of campaign decisively on Nov 20th,” the Congress leader added.

Ramesh said that the Congress-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) is campaigning in Maharashtra on basic issues of daily concern to the people, such as the acute distress of farmers and women, the increase in the prices of essential commodities, and insecurity among workers.

Lack of jobs for youth, the water crisis, inadequate social justice for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and OBCs, and discrimination against Maharashtra in large investment projects are also at the top of the alliance’s agenda, he said.

Maharashtra will go to the polls on November 20, with the ruling Mahayuti alliance — comprising Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena, the BJP and Ajit Pawar-led NCP — contesting against the MVA, which consists of the Congress, the Shiv Sena (UBT), and Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP).

The counting of votes will take place on November 23.

Baba Siddique and son Zeeshan Siddique

Mumbai: The Ajit Pawar-led NCP on Friday released its second list, comprising seven candidates including MLA Zeeshan Siddique and two former BJP MPs, for the upcoming Maharashtra assembly elections.

Zeeshan Siddique, whose father and NCP leader Baba Siddique was shot dead earlier this month, will contest from Bandra East, which he had won in 2019 on a Congress ticket. He also joined the NCP.

The legislator on Thursday criticised the decision of the Shiv Sena (UBT), a partner of Congress in the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), to field Varun Sardesai in his constituency for the November 20 polls, saying staying together was never in their nature.

Zeeshan had been suspended from Congress for cross-voting in the recent legislative council elections. His father and Congress veteran Baba Siddique had crossed over to the NCP, a constituent of the ruling Mahayuti coalition, earlier this year.

Former BJP MP Pratap Chikhalikar, who lost the Lok Sabha polls from Nanded, has been nominated from Loha.

BJP ex-MP Sanjay Kaka Patil, who unsuccessfully contested from Sangli in the general elections, has been given an NCP ticket. He also joined the party on Friday.

Sanjay Kaka Patil will face off with NCP (SP) candidate Rohit Patil, son of late NCP leader R R Patil, in Tasgaon-Kavathe Mahankal constituency in Sangli district.

Nishikant Patil will take on NCP (SP) state president Jayant Patil in Islampur, while Sana Malik, daughter of former minister Nawab Malik, has been nominated from Anushakti Nagar in Mumbai.

NCP has given the ticket to Sunil Tingre from Wadgaon Sheri in Pune.

It has picked Dnyaneshwar Katke from Shrirur. Until recently, Katke was the Pune district chief of the Uddhav Thackeray-led NCP (SP).

Earlier, NCP had released its first list featuring 38 candidates. NCP, BJP and Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena are the constituents of the ruling Mahayuti coalition in Maharashtra.

Elections to the 288-member Maharashtra assembly will be held on November 20 and votes will be counted on November 23.

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, NCP Flag

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday directed Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar to use the “clock” symbol in its publicity material in the upcoming Maharashtra assembly elections with a disclaimer that the matter was sub-judice before it.

Justices Surya Kant, Dipankar Datta and Ujjal Bhuyan passed the order on a plea filed by the rival Sharad Pawar-led NCP faction as it issued a notice to the Ajit Pawar-led faction.

The top court on March 19 and April 4 had directed the Ajit Pawar-led faction to issue a public notice in the newspapers in English, Hindi and Marathi editions notifying that the allocation of “clock” symbol was sub-judice. The apex court had further said the Ajit faction was permitted to use the symbol subject to the case’s final outcome.

During the proceedings on Thursday, the bench took note of the submissions of senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who appeared for the Sharad Pawar faction. Singhvi submitted the opponent group should be restrained from using the “clock” symbol as it didn’t use the disclaimer in their campaign materials and “misled” voters.

“They have been blatantly not using the disclaimer. They want to piggyback on me. Nobody should enjoy the goodwill of the symbol which is sub-judice,” submitted Singhvi.

The top court directed Ajit Pawar to file a fresh undertaking over its March 19 and April 4 directions to issue a public notice — “NCP’s ‘clock’ symbol is sub-judice” — was being meticulously complied with even during the process of the state assembly elections.

“File a fresh undertaking as well that you have not violated our directions in the past and till the end of elections. If there is any violation, we will take note of it. We expect both sides to comply with our directions. Please don’t create an embarrassing situation,” the bench said.

Singhvi said the Ajit Pawar group should be allocated a new symbol for the assembly elections.

Senior advocate Balbir Singh, appearing for Ajit Pawar, opposed Singhvi’s submissions and said all pamphlets and campaign materials contained the disclaimers as directed by the apex court.

“They are showing false documents. We have given disclaimers in our publicity material. They came up with the same allegations during the Lok Sabha polls which was rejected. I am willing to file all documents and pamphlets,” Singh said.

The matter has been posted for hearing on November 6.

Sharad Pawar moved the apex court against a February 6 order of the Election Commission of India (ECI) recognising Ajit Pawar-led group as the real NCP.

The ECI had allotted the NCP’s “clock” symbol to the group led by Ajit Pawar. The NCP, founded by Sharad Pawar, had the “clock” as its election symbol before its split.

On March 19, the top court allowed the Sharad Pawar faction to use “Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar” as its name along with the symbol of a man blowing “turha” ahead of the Lok Sabha polls in the country.

It had passed the order on a plea by the Sharad Pawar group seeking to restrain the Ajit Pawar faction from using the “clock” symbol for the polls, as allotted by the ECI, on the ground that it was disrupting the level playing field.

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

On February 19, the top court directed for the continuation of the ECI order allotting “Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar” as the party name for the Sharad Pawar faction.

Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar had on February 15 held the NCP faction led by Ajit Pawar to be the real NCP and said the anti-defection provisions in the Constitution couldn’t be used to stifle internal dissent.

Sharad Pawar had founded the NCP with former Lok Sabha speaker Purno Sangma and Tariq Anwar in 1999 after their expulsion from the Congress.

Ajit Pawar had walked away with a majority of the NCP MLAs in July, 2023, and supported the BJP-Shiv Sena government led by Eknath Shinde. 

New Delhi (PTI): AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal will campaign for INDIA bloc parties in the assembly elections in Maharashtra and Jharkhand, party sources said on Thursday.

Kejriwal will particularly campaign for Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) partners — the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) and Sharad Pawar’s NCP-SP — in Maharashtra, the sources said.

AAP is a constituent of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), which was formed before the Lok Sabha polls.

Sources in AAP claimed that the party was contacted by the Shiv Sena (UBT) and the NCP-SP for campaigning by Kejriwal in Maharashtra.

In Jharkhand, the former Delhi chief minister will campaign for the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha. The campaign schedule will be announced later, they said.

AAP entered into an alliance with the Congress — the largest constituent of the INDIA bloc — in Delhi, Gujarat and Haryana for the Lok Sabha polls. However, it went without an alliance in Punjab.

It also contested the recent assembly elections in Haryana independently.

The Congress is also a constituent of the MVA in Maharashtra and a part of the ruling alliance in Jharkhand. Assembly elections in the two states are due in November.

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut

Mumbai: Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Thursday indicated the Maha Vikas Aghadi allies could swap some seats among themselves, a day after the opposition bloc in Maharashtra announced a formula of 85 seats to each of the three major parties.

Raut also said there could be “some corrections” in the list of candidates announced by his party on Wednesday.

After days of stalemate, the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), comprising Congress, NCP (SP) and Shiv Sena (UBT), on Wednesday announced contesting 85 seats each for polls to the 288-member state assembly even as deliberations to seal a final pact were still underway.

The three allies were discussing the sharing of the remaining 33 seats among themselves and smaller parties.

The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) on Wednesday released its first list of 65 candidates for the state assembly polls.

“There can be an exchange of seats,” Raut on Thursday said, stressing merit and winnability will be the key factors in selecting a candidate.

“There can be switching of seats in one or two places. In some places, candidates have to be changed at the last minute. I don’t think anything drastic can happen beyond this,” Raut said.

But the three parties have agreed to 85-85-85 (formula), he said, adding the decision on rest of the seats will be taken by Thursday evening.

The Rajya Sabha member also indicated his party could contest 100 seats.

“We have come close to scoring a century. We will hit two-three sixers. We scored 85 and the match is still on. We will score the remaining runs,” Raut said drawing a parallel with a cricket match.

The state assembly elections are scheduled on November 20 and votes will be counted on November 23.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge with party leader K.C. Venugopal

Guwahati: The Congress announced the names of four candidates for the upcoming bypolls in five assembly constituencies in Assam scheduled for next month.

The bypolls will be held in Dholai (SC), Sidli (ST), Bongaigaon, Behali and Samaguri, which became vacant after the representatives won in the recent Lok Sabha elections.

The All India Congress Committee (AICC) on Sunday named candidates for Dholai, Sidli, Bongaigaon and Samaguri.

Out of the five seats, only Samaguri was previously held by Congress leader Rakibul Hussain, whose son Tanzil has been named as the party’s candidate.

The AICC also announced Dhrubajyoti Purakayastha for Dholai, Sanjib Warle for Sidli, and Brajenjit Sinha for the Bongaigaon seat.

The Congress left the Behali seat for the united opposition alliance, which has nominated Bibek Das of CPI(ML).

However, some local Congress leaders in Behali have opposed the decision and expressed a desire to nominate their own candidate. As a result, the state leadership has communicated with the central committee to make a final decision regarding the seat.

The BJP on Saturday released the names of its three candidates for the bypolls — Nihar Ranjan Das (Dholai), Diganta Ghatowar (Behali) and Diplu Ranjan Sarma (Samaguri).

Bongaigaon and Sidli will be contested by BJP’s allies AGP and UPPL, respectively, and the names of the candidates are yet to be announced.

Polling is set for November 13, with results to be counted on November 23.

Nasheman news

Mumbai: Reports have suggested that the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) has reached a consensus on 260 of the 288 seats for the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly elections, with the Congress securing 110 to 115 seats, Shiv Sena (UBT) 83 to 86 seats, and the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar) 72 to 75 seats. Disagreements over the remaining constituencies are expected to be resolved soon, according to sources.

The seat-sharing agreement follows the Congress’s strong performance in the recent Lok Sabha elections.

Discussions are ongoing to allocate the remaining 20 to 25 seats, which are highly contested among the alliance partners. A senior MVA leader involved in the negotiations said that a formula is being developed that takes into account each party’s chances of success in the election.

Several key figures attended the seat-sharing meeting, including Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole, Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders Sanjay Raut and MP Anil Desai, and NCP state president Jayant Patil.

The alliance is also considering giving two to three seats each to the Samajwadi Party, Left parties, and the Peasants and Workers Party. Additionally, Uddhav Thackeray is pushing for more seats in Mumbai and the Konkan region, a traditional stronghold for Shiv Sena. The Congress is expected to contest more seats in Vidarbha, while the NCP will focus on western Maharashtra.

Each party aims to win enough seats to strengthen its claim to the Chief Minister’s post.

New Delhi: An animated video by India Today depicted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi wrestling BJP National President JP Nadda as the exit polls projected a clear lead for the Congress in Haryana. The video sparked numerous reactions on social media, with many highlighting that PM Modi is often not presented as the BJP’s face when the party appears to be losing elections.

Several users pointed out how JP Nadda becomes the focus during election setbacks, while PM Modi is prominently featured during the party’s victories. The reactions ranged from sympathy for Nadda to sarcastic commentary.

Congress leader Pawan Khera tweeted, “अगले जन्म में मोहे नड्डा ना कीजे….,” implying that Nadda’s position is unenviable, especially during election losses.