MUMBAI: A special court in Nagpur handling cases against Members of Parliament (MPs), Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) framed charges against Maharashtraâs leader of opposition Devendra Fadnavis in a 2014 complaint against him relating to his affidavit before a returning officer at the office of the election commission, Nagpur. When the court on Saturday, December 4, read over and explained to advocate U P Dable appearing for Fadnavis and asked what he pleads, he replied ânot guilty'' and sought to be tried, on behalf of the accused. Judicial magistrate, first class, VM Deshmukh explaining the âparticulars of offenceââ to the advocate of accused, stated that Fadnavis had concealed and not mentioned despite having knowledge of two cases in which cognizance was taken prior to filing of the affidavit on September 26, 2014. An advocate Satish Uke had filed the complaint on October 20, 2014, against Fadnavis, former chief minister of Maharashtra. The court said the disclosure of the two cases was âmandatoryââ under the Representation of People Act and Conduct of Election Rule and hence he committed an offence punishable under section 125-A of the Representation of People Act (penalty for filing false affidavit, concealing information etc is up to six months' imprisonment or fine or both) The court directed that Fadnavis be tried for the offence.
A court has framed charges against former Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in connection with a complaint of alleged non-disclosure of criminal cases registered against him in his election affidavit in 2014.Judicial Magistrate (First Class) VM Deshmukh framed the charges against Fadnavis on Saturday, but the BJP leader pleaded not guilty. The court was hearing an application filed by advocate Satish Uke, seeking criminal proceedings against Fadnavis for the "non-disclosure" of criminal cases in the poll affidavit.The court had heard both sides on November 24. The court had said that prima facie, an offence is made out against the accused (Fadnavis). It also heard whether the presence of the accused is needed for the hearing.Also Read — Why Savarkar's name is missing from Marathi literary meet, asks FadnavisFadnavis had filed an application under section 205 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and sought exemption from personal appearance in the court and gave an undertaking that his lawyer advocate Uday Dable will remain present and answer the allegations on his behalf. The court had allowed his application.When the court asked Fadnavis whether he wants to plead guilty, his lawyer said he is pleading not guilty. The court also directed Fadnavis to file an undertaking that he has properly understood the accusation and there is no prejudice caused in recording the plea and particulars in his absence, and he will not dispute the same in future.The court also asked the complainant in the case to submit a fresh list of witnesses.Uke has contended that the BJP leader filed a false affidavit in 2014 by not disclosing two pending criminal cases against him. The cases of cheating and forgery were filed against Fadnavis in 1996 and 1998.Watch the latest DH Videos here:
PUNE: State election authorities have allowed voter enrolment for the upcoming civic polls till December 5. Earlier, November 30 was declared the last day for enrolment. The election authorities will ready the final list on January 5, ahead of the civic polls next year. New voter registration, change of names, addresses, or other corrections can be done till December 5, stated officials. Names can be re-filed by filling up voter form no. 6 with the concerned voter registration officer. Voters can correct errors regarding gender, name, age in the voter list by filling form no. 8. âThose who want to vote for the upcoming civic elections should do so by registering before December 5 to find their names in the voter list. Those who will turn 18 in January, too, can register as voters for the upcoming elections," said election officials. Officials stated that voters should check their names on the portal or have their queries addressed through the Maha Chatbot or the True Voter application on the mobile phone. As of now, the state has 8.9 crore voters and the updated list will be published on January 5 ahead of the civic polls. With missing voters or voters being unable to find their polling booths, the system has now been developed to display names with photo IDs, with the polling station, and members of the same family being able to vote at one polling booth. The election commission launched the Mahavoter Chatbot, a facility for voter registration as well as to check names on the voter list. The chatbot will help answer queries related to voter registration, said election officials.
PUNE: Clearing the confusion among parents and teachers, the stateâs school education department on Monday evening, issued a government resolution declaring the physical reopening of classes for Stds I to IV in rural areas and for Stds I to VII in urban areas from December 1. However, education commissioner Vishal Solanki clarified that the state education department has only given an in-principle approval for the reopening and if the local authorities feel that there is a Covid-19 threat in the area, they can withhold or postpone the decision to reopen. When the decision was announced, many parents had expressed anxiety about schools making it compulsory for students to attend the classes in person. Allaying their fears, school education minister, Varsha Gaikwad tweeted on Monday that the consent of the parents is of utmost importance. âParents will have the final say on the physical presence of their wards in schools as attendance norms have been relaxed in schools. Schools will also work in shifts or on alternate days to ensure that only 15-20 students are present in class at a given time. One student will be seated per bench; a distance of 6 ft between benches will be maintained,â her tweet said. Amid fears about the new variant, state health minister Rajesh Tope, who spoke to reporters in Jalna, said that there is no change in the decision to reopen the schools as âOmicron variant has not been found in our state and there is no need for any fear of it at the momentâ. Nashik Municipal Corporation has already decided to put the decision to reopen schools on hold till December 10. Education officer Sunita Dhangar cited the new strain of the Covid 19 virus as the reason. âWe have little information about this new strain as of now. Following a discussion with the commissioner and deputy director of education for Nashik division, the decision to reopen has been deferred. However, this will not affect the classes from VIII onwards that have already reopened,â she added. Solanki said, âTill now the authorities could not have reopened the schools on their own. So, we gave a go-ahead which gives them an option to reopen the schools physically from Std I onwards. But they can always withhold or postpone the actual reopening depending on the Covid-19 cases or the likelihood of a new outbreak. That decision cannot be taken at the state level. The Covid-19 situation in every district, every taluka can change on a daily basis and accordingly the local authorities can decide for their own areas.â In her tweets, Gaikwad also said that only fully vaccinated staff will be allowed on premises including school transport operators. âSchool hours will be limited to 3-4 hours per day. No cultural or sporting events requiring a gathering will be permitted in schools. Schools will provide isolation facilities and need to tie up with the local health department for any emergency situation. In the event of the sickness of the student or a family member, the student is advised to stay at home. It will be the responsibility of the school to ensure such a studentâs learning gap is compensated by the school,â she added in her tweets. Gaikwad also wrote that the focus in the first two weeks of school reopening will be to acclimatise and re-orient students towards attending physical classes. âSchools need to ease students into regular coursework. The government is sensitive to the possibility of a third wave of the pandemic and no laxity in implementation of SOPs will be permitted,â she added.
MUMBAI: Electoral wards were split and boundaries changed in 2017 for political gain, Mumbai mayor Kishori Pednekar said on Tuesday, responding to BJPâs allegations of âmischiefâ in the redrawing of ward boundaries ahead of the BMC elections. Pednekar, who is also a Shiv Sena corporator, said that each constituency or electoral ward should ideally have a population of around 50,000 so that citizensâ issues can be resolved and development works can be carried out. In 2017, Maharashtra government was led by BJP with Shiv Sena as the junior partner, but the two parties fought the BMC polls independently. Last week, the state cabinet had decided to add nine more electoral wards to the existing 227, raising the number to 236. The opposition, BJP, had called the decision politically motivated, saying the ruling parties have taken the step to better their electoral chances. âI donât want to reply to any allegations since this is an election process which is being carried out officially under the State Election Commission, but itâs a fact that several wards were broken into two or three parts, and boundaries were altered for political gain in 2017. As a result, in some wards the population is 65,000, while in some wards in the suburbs it is just 40,000,â Pednekar told TOI. Election data analyst Hitesh Jain pointed out that many wards in the island city have 60,000-plus population. âThe average population per ward should be around 50,000, but several electoral wards like 194, 199 and 198 in central Mumbai have over 60,000 population. There should be a uniform population across all 236 wards. A 10% difference is fine, but in some wards the population is 20% above or below average,â he added. Pednekar concurred: âOnly if the average number of voters in each electoral ward is 50,000 will work get done...else it becomes physically impossible for the corporator to cater to 65,000 people... there has to be a readjustment of boundaries to end this current disparity in population in wards.â According to civic officials, five wards may be added in the western suburbs and four in the eastern suburbs. There could, however, be a readjustment in ward boundaries and population in the island city, they added. The last time electoral wards were increased in Mumbai was in 2002, when the number went up from 221 to 227. After the 2011 census came out, the BMC had redrawn electoral wards to account for a rise in population in the suburbs and a decline in the island city.
THE MAHARASHTRA government’s decision to add nine more civic wards in Mumbai will be implemented in the city’s western and eastern suburbs that comprise some 85% area under Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s jurisdiction, and where the population has risen substantially.Earlier this week, the state cabinet decided to increase the electoral wards, also known as corporator wards, from 227 to 236. The decision came four months ahead of civic elections, due in February 2022. BMC data shows that the western suburbs (Bandra to Dahisar) have the highest number of 102 wards, followed by 69 in eastern suburbs (Kurla to Mulund) and 56 in island city (Colaba to Sion and Mahim). As per the census data of 2011, Mumbai has a population of 1.24 crore of which the population of island city was only 30.85 lakh compared to 93.56 lakh in the suburbs.Moreover, for the first time, the island city recorded a drop of over 5.5% in population between 2001 and 2011 while suburbs saw an increase of 8% in the same period. Of the 483 sq km that falls under BMC, 411.12 sq km are in the suburbs, and only 72 sq km are in the island city.While the latest census which was to be held in 2021 could not be conducted due to pandemic, the State Election Commission has said that the data of census 2011 will be used for election preparation for BMC polls.“Western suburbs have seen an increase in population rapidly in the past few decades. The ratio of population per ward should be around 54,000. However, 10% deviation is allowed while redrawing the ward boundaries. From the proposed 9 new wards, the maximum will come up in western suburbs and then eastern suburbs. We will start work on reorganising wards once the ordinance is out,” said an official from BMC.“There are 24 wards in Mumbai which will also go for bifurcation as many are huge and have become difficult to manage in terms of civic services. Wards like P-north (Malad), L (Kurla), K-east (Andheri east) are proposed to be bifurcated,” he added.
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MUMBAI: In its first ever Lok Sabha win outside Maharashtra, the Shiv Sena won the by-election to the Dadra and Nagar Haveli Lok Sabha seat on Tuesday. Kalaben Delkar, the widow of former MP Mohan Delkar, won the seat with a margin of 51,269 votes. Kalaben defeated BJP candidate Mahesh Gavit. Mohan was an independent MP from Dadra and Nagar Haveli who committed suicide in Mumbai in February. Kalaben joined the Shiv Sena recently. She dedicated her victory to the people of Dadra and Nagar Haveli. Kalaben polled 1,18,035 votes and Gavit bagged 66,766 votes. Voting for the seat, which is part of the union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, took place on October 30. Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut, who was the one of the partyâs key election managers, said this was the Senaâs first step outside Maharashtra. âFirst step outside Maharashtra, giant leap towards Delhi via Dadra Nagar Haveli!â he tweeted soon after the results along with the photo of his with chief minister and Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray. The Sena had made the contest a prestige issue and decided to take the BJP head-on. Environment minister Aaditya Thackeray last week urged voters to end the BJP âdictatorshipâ. While the Shiv Sena has contested many elections outside Maharashtra, it has never won a Lok Sabha constituency outside the state. With this by-election victory, the Shiv Sena now has 19 MPs in the Lok Sabha. âHeartiest congratulations to Smt Kalaben Delkar ji, Shiv Senaâs newly elected Member of Parliament to the Lok Sabha from Dadra & Nagar Haveli. I humbly thank all the karyakartas for their efforts and the citizens for their faith to ensure this huge win. A special mention for the resolve of Smt Kalaben Delkar ji to contest the elections and win so as to give voice to her constituency. And of-course to Sanjay Raut jiâs efforts with Anil Desai ji, Abhinav Delkar and all those who campaigned for the Shiv Sena in the elections,â Aaditya Thackeray tweeted. Mohan Delkar, a seven-time MP, was found dead inside a room at Hotel Sea Green South in Marine Drive on February 22. The police said he had ended his life by hanging himself from the ceiling fan, and had also left behind a 14-page suicide note accusing government officials and others of forcing him to take the drastic step. There was a buzz that Kalaben or her son, Abhinav, would contest the by-election on a BJP ticket. But the two joined the Shiv Sena, which made its first foray in the union territory. Raut had played a key role in getting them into the Shiv Sena. Mohan Delkar had won six consecutive elections from the constituency between 1989 and 2009. He won the 1989, 1991 and 1996 elections as a Congress candidate and the 1998 election with the BJP. He won the 1999 and 2004 elections as an independent and a BNP candidate. He rejoined the Congress and unsuccessfully contested in 2009 and 2014. He won the seat in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections as an independent.
Shiv Sena candidate Kalaben Delkar, widow of late MP Mohan Delkar, has won the bypoll from the Dadra and Nagar Haveli (DNH), defeating BJP’s Mahesh Gavit and Congress candidate Mahesh Dhodi.Delkar secured her win by a margin of 51,269 votes, marking the Shiv Sena’s first Lok Sabha victory outside Maharashtra.The Union Territory had recorded a voter turnout of around 76 per cent.The bypoll was necessitated after sitting MP Mohan Delkar was found dead in a Mumbai hotel in February this year.Kalaben, 50, and son Abhinav joined the Shiv Sena along with their supporters in the presence of Maharashtra Chief Minister and Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray last month.Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Raut and Aaditya Thackeray congratulated Delkar on her win.First step outside Maharashtra, giant leap towards Delhi via Dadra Nagar Haveli ! #ChaloDelhi pic.twitter.com/8sbqBgSbna— Sanjay Raut (@rautsanjay61) November 2, 2021Heartiest congratulations to Smt Kalaben Delkar ji, @ShivSena ’s newly elected Member of Parliament to the Lok Sabha from Dadra & Nagar Haveli.I humbly thank all the karyakartas for their efforts and the citizens for their faith to ensure this huge win.— Aaditya Thackeray (@AUThackeray) November 2, 2021Maharashtra CM Udhav Thackeray had earlier said that he would visit Dadra and Nagar Haveli to congratulate Delkar if she won.The Delkar Family and their supporters had been camping at the counting centres since the morning.Mohan had been a member of both the Congress and the BJP at different times of his political career and was elected seven times to the Lok Sabha from Dadra and Nagar Haveli. In 2019, he won the seat as an independent.On March 9, on the basis of a note left behind by Delkar and after recording Abhinav’s statement, a case was registered against BJP leader Praful Patel, District Magistrate (DM) Sandeep Singh, superintendent of police (SP) Sharad Darade, deputy DM Apurva Sharma, Sub-divisional officer Manasvi Jain, police inspector Manoj Patel, DNH law secretary Rohit Yadav, BJP leader Fatehsinh Chauhan and a man called Dilip Patel (Talathi) at Marine Drive police station in Mumbai.The case is under investigation by the Mumbai police.
Dadra and Nagar Havel bypoll: Sanjay Raut called it a "historic win" for Shiv Sena. (File)Silvassa/Mumbai: For the first time since its inception in the 1960s, the Shiv Sena will have an MP from outside Maharashtra with the party nominee Kalaben Delkar, wife of independent MP late Mohan Delkar, winning the bypoll to the Dadra and Nagar Haveli (ST) Lok Sabha seat on Tuesday with a margin of 51,269 votes by defeating her nearest BJP rival Mahesh Gavit.Riding on a sympathy wave post the death of her husband, who allegedly hanged himself in a hotel in Mumbai in February, Kalaben Delkar (50) bagged 1,18,035 votes. Mr Gavit has polled 66,766 votes.Congress candidate Mahesh Dhodi has polled 6,150 votes, said a statement by the Election Commission at the end of the counting on Tuesday evening.In Mumbai, Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha MP and spokesperson Sanjay Raut dedicated the party's first "historic" Lok Sabha victory outside Maharashtra to the late Bal Thackeray, the founder of the saffron party headquartered in Mumbai.Counting of votes was held in Silvassa city of the Dadra and Nagar Haveli district, which is a part of the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu.Kalaben Delkar maintained the lead since the counting of votes began in the morning.A voter turnout of nearly 75 per cent was recorded in this byelection held on October 30.Notably, Ms Delkar is a third member of the influential Delkar family to be elected as MP from the UT.While late Mohan Delkar had won the polls seven times during his political career, his father Sanjibhai Delkar was the first MP from the Dadra and Nagar Haveli Lok Sabha constituency, which came into existence in 1967.Mohan Delkar had won the 2019 election by defeating then sitting BJP MP Natubhai Patel by a thin margin of 9,001 votes.The late MP, who had been a member of Congress and BJP at different times of his political career, was elected in 1989, 1991, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2004 and 2019.Prima facie, factors like "sympathy wave" and the loyal vote bank went in the favour of Kalaben Delkar.The poll outcome came as an embarrassment for BJP which had left no stone unturned to win the seat. The saffron party had sent a host of Union ministers, including Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav, Smriti Irani, Bharati Pawar and Parshottam Rupala, to campaign for Mr Gavit.Former Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had also visited the constituency to support the BJP candidate.No prominent leader from Congress visited the UT during campaigning. The Shiv Sena had sent Maharashtra minister Aaditya Thackeray and party MP Sanjay Raut to campaign for Ms Delkar.After winning the bypoll, Kalaben Delkar thanked the people of the UT and said her fight for "justice" will continue."I am thankful to my people as they stood by my family when we needed their support the most. I want to assure them that I will fight for the rights of the people of this region. Our fight to get justice for Mohanbhai will also continue," said Kalaben Delkar.In Mumbai, Mr Raut said, "It is a historic win for Shiv Sena. We would like to dedicate this victory to the late Balasaheb Thackeray. He always wanted to take Sena to other states and I can firmly say that this is a major first step in that direction."He recalled that late Bal Thackeray had unsuccessfully campaigned in 1998 for a candidate from Dadra and Nagar Haveli.PromotedListen to the latest songs, only on JioSaavn.com"With this victory, Shiv Sena will march ahead strongly in other states," Raut added.(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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