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The Congress has declared two candidates, making the ensuing legislative council poll elections more interesting. This means the polls in which CM Uddhav Thackeray is one of the nine candidates, will be decided through voting on May 21, unless one of the 10 candidates for the nine vacancies withdraws next week.

Rajesh Rathod was the Congress's choice cleared by the high command on Saturday. Papa Modi was announced at a state level, indicating that it could be a tactic to get more nominations in future polls. The BJP has fielded four—Ranjitsinh Mohite Patil, Praveen Datke, Gopichand Padalkar and Dr Ajit Gopchhede. The NCP has given tickets to Shashikant Shinde and Amol Mitkari. The Sena has the CM and Neelam Gorhe, deputy chairman of the upper house.

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With the Congress announcing a second candidate, contest is likely for nine seats of Maharashtra legislative council for which chief minister Uddhav Thackeray is among those in the fray.

Maharashtra: Congress announces 2nd candidate, contest likely for council polls

In a surprising turn of events on Saturday, the Congress announced two candidates for the May 21 Legislative Council polls, indicating that it is in n

wo new studies on how Americans perceive climate change is a testament to public confusion and an urgent call for better messaging from the scientific communit

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ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court Friday expected that the caretaker government in Gilgit-Baltistan will comprise highly respected persons with proven integrity, impartiality, and competence and will...

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ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court Friday expected that the caretaker government in Gilgit-Baltistan will comprise highly respected persons with proven integrity, impartiality, and competence and will...

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court Friday expected that the caretaker government in Gilgit-Baltistan will comprise highly respected persons with proven integrity, impartiality, and competence and will...

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

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The Justice Department announced today that its Civil Rights Division plans to deploy more than 400 federal observers and department personnel to 30 jurisdictions in 18 states for the Nov. 2, 2010, general election.

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The by-elections to Palghar and Bhandara-Gondia Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra began this morning for which all major parties have gone all out as the outcome is likely to have a bearing on their future course. There was no untoward incident at any polling booth so far, police said.

In Palghar, the bypoll was necessitated following the death of BJP's Chintaman Wanaga. The BJP's bickering ally Shiv Sena has fielded the late MP's son Srinivas in a bid to garner the sympathy vote. The BJP has put up former Congress minister Rajendra Gavit. The Bahujan Vikas Aghadi (BVA) led by Vasai-Virar strongman Hitendra Thakur is also in the fray with the nomination of its ex-MP Baliram Jadhav.

Kiran Raja Gahla of the CPI-M, which has a base in Talasari and Dahanu, and former MP Damu Shingada (Congress) are also contesting in a multi-cornered fight from the seat reserved for scheduled tribes (ST).
The Sena has accused the BJP of distributing cash to voters. During a rally, Uddhav played an audio clip wherein Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis purportedly exhorted party cadre to win the elections "by all means possible." Fadnavis said the audio recording was doctored.

An editorial in the Sena mouthpiece Saamana today said its nominee will win the Palghar seat, despite the BJP roping in UP CM Yogi Adityanath in the poll campaign. "Lord Ram will emerge from the ballot box, wielding bow and arrow (Sena's symbol) and win this seat," it said.

The constituency includes extended suburbs of Mumbai such as Vasai, Virar, Nalasopara, and Palghar in the newly-created Palghar district. As many as 18 candidates are in fray in Bhandara- Gondia and seven in Palghar. There are total 3,49,1218 voters.

In Palghar, out of the 2,097 polling booths, 14 are listed as critical, while in Bhandara-Gondia, out of 2,149 polling booths, 71 are situated in Naxal-hit areas and 113 are listed as critical.

In Bhandara-Gondia, the BJP and the NCP have locked horns in the bypoll, being held after the resignation of BJP MP Nana Patole. Patole, a leader of the powerful OBC Kunbi community, had switched side from the Congress to the BJP and was elected as an MP from the constituency in Vidarbha in 2014 by defeating former union minister and NCP heavyweight Praful Patel.

The NCP, which has allied with the Congress, has fielded former BJP MLA Madhukar Kukde, against BJP's Hemant Patle, who belongs to the Powar community and is also a former legislator.

Counting of votes will be undertaken on May 31.

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This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever

In a significant development, Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari has urged the Election Commission to declare polls to the nine vacant seats in the state Legislative Council "at the earliest". These seats have been lying vacant since April 24 and filling up the same would end the current political uncertainty in the state, said an official.

Maharashtra Governor BS Koshiyari requests the Election Commission of India to declare elections to 9 vacant seats of Maharashtra Legislative Council. pic.twitter.com/EmvNHQOawx

— ANI (@ANI) April 30, 2020

In a letter to the EC, Koshyari said that the Centre has announced many relaxation measures regarding the lockdown enforcement in the country, and accordingly, the elections for the MLC seats can be held with certain guidelines.

"Since the Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray is not a member of either house of the state Legislature, he needs to get elected to the Council before May 27," the Governor pointed out. The EC had postponed the election process for these nine seats in view of the Coronavirus crisis and the ongoing lockdown.

Political circles pointed out that with this development, the requests of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government to nominate Thackeray in one of the two MLC seats from his quota has virtually been rejected by the Governor. 

Since the past nearly a month, leaders of the Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party and Congress have been repeatedly appealing to the Governor to name Thackeray for one of his quota seats to avert a constitutional crisis in the state.

On Monday, Thackeray spoke with Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and on Tuesday he called up Prime Minister Narendra Modi, reportedly on the same issue. After passing two resolutions to the effect, almost the entire state cabinet led by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar had called on the Governor this week and urged him to do the needful.

Besides, several Sena leaders and ministers have also met the Koshyari with a similar request, and the NCP-Congress have issued statements to the effect.  A Congress leader said that with the Governor now throwing the ball in the EC's court, the political situation would be clear only after May 3, when the national lockdown is slated to end.

Not a member of either house of legislature, Thackeray was sworn-in as CM on November 28, 2019, and now must become a MLC, failing which there could be constitutional deadlock, according to official sources.

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This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever

At a time when Maharashtra Governor, Bhagat Singh Koshyari is being blamed for delaying granting a legislative council membership to Chief Minister, Uddhav Thackeray, the former has recommended the Election Commission of India (ECI) to schedule elections to the nine vacant seats of the Council as early as possible.

The request made on Thursday is quite significant because Thackeray must get elected to either house before May 27 if he were to continue in office and give Maharashtra a stable government in the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic.

The Maha Vikas Aghadi constituents have also asked the governor and ECI to hold elections if nomination under the governor's quota wasn't possible. The nine seats fell vacant on April 24 but the commission postponed the elections because of the pandemic.

In his letter, the governor has said that the lockdown has been relaxed in many ways and hence the elections to the council seats could be held under certain guidelines.

Welcoming the move, Opposition leader, Devendra Fadnavis said, "This would be constitutional because the members would be elected in due process and it would also adhere to a norm that the governor's nominee should be made a CM or minister."

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As some parties filed nominations for the May 21 Legislative Council polls on Friday, a citizen from Nagpur who wants to contest has alleged that the state government and the Governor gave false information about Coronavirus to the Election Commission of India (ECI) that scheduled biennial elections to prevent a constitutional crisis in the state.

Sunil Gayaprasad Mishra has demanded that the elections be postponed as the Coronavirus pandemic has grown exponentially in the state.

Mishra wrote to the ECI, Raj Bhavan, the state chief secretary (CS) and political parties that demanded polls to facilitate Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's election to the upper house. Unless elected to either house of the Assembly by May 27, Thackeray will cease to be the head of the state government. Thackeray petitioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 30 and polls were swiftly announced the next day. The ECI justified the decision citing the need to save Thackeray's chief ministership. Mishra has questioned the 'overnight' developments.

'The episode was fixed'

Mishra, an RTI activist and ex-chairman of Nagpur University's Board of Studies of Mass Communication, questioned how will people living in red zones travel to Mumbai to file nomination and reach out to the 288 MLAs who have to vote for the councillors. "I sent the email on May 6 but haven't got a reply yet. How could the CS voluntarily provide information to the ECI? And the information is factually incorrect. See how exponentially the pandemic has grown in Maharashtra. Mumbai alone has over 10,000 cases. And yet the CS told ECI on April 30 that the state would be able to conduct the polls. Why did the governor write to the ECI? Did his predecessor recommend such a thing? Where was the Chief Election Officer who reports to the ECI? It seemed the entire episode was fixed to benefit all parties," Mishra said.

'Will move court'

BJP's Ranjitsinh Mohite Patil submits his nomination at the Legislature on Friday 

"Participating in polls is my constitutional right. But the lockdown does not allow me to be part of the process as the nomination ends on May 11. I couldn't even prepare documents like the election affidavit. So, your notification on May 1 breaches my rights and hence I request you to stall the elections," Mishra wrote to ECI. In another letter, Mishra urged CS Ajoy Mehta to inform ECI of the facts of the COVID-19 pandemic in Maharashtra where almost every district has positive cases. Mid-day has copies of the letters.

Mishra said his actions are not influenced by any political party.

"I'm not a political worker, but a concerned citizen who wants to expose political fixing. Some influential people have already reached Mumbai, travelling all the way from far-flung places like Nagpur, Nanded, Solapur and Sangli. It seems that the ECI, the governor and ruling and opposition parties want nothing to do with the ordinary citizens," he said, adding that he is also exploring the option of moving the Bombay High Court.

BJP fields four, MVA jittery

The Bharatiya Janata Party fielded four candidates for the May 21 legislative council polls. Denying nomination to veteran aspirants like Eknath Khadse, it chose former Nagpur Mayor Praveen Datke, Nanded's Dr Ajit Gopchhade, and two turncoats — former MP Ranjitsinh Mohite Patil and Gopichand Padalkar. A former NCP leader, Mohite Patil joined BJP before Lok Sabha polls and Padalkar was BJP's Assembly candidate in Baramati against Ajit Pawar. The BJP has made it clear that it would not settle for anything less than four seats if the polls were to be unopposed as wanted by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. The 288 MLAs are the electoral college for the elections and BJP claims to have the support of 115 MLAs which could help it win 4 seats. The Shiv Sena has two candidates — Thackeray and deputy chairman of the upper house Neelam Gorhe.

The NCP wants to field two candidates but the third Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) partner Congress is also adamant on contesting two seats despite having fewer MLAs at its disposal. If the Congress remains steadfast, authorities would have to conduct voting on May 21. The MVA, which has 170 MLAs (votes), was expected to decide on the nominations on Friday evening.

The nominations created a furore in the BJP.

Khadse said the state party had recommended him, Pankaja Munde and Chandrashekhar Bawankule but they were ignored. "Instead, a man like Padalkar who had boycotted PM Modi's rallies is given the ticket. Mohite Patil spent many years in the NCP and now he is our candidate," Khadse said.

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Data give snapshot of shifting battlegrounds ahead of November’s presidential election

Prime Minister Boris Johnson could get a Christmas general election. MPs from across the UK are set to vote on Mr Johnson's call for election.

The Fox News poll gives Clinton 45 per cent of the four-way presidential preference vote while Trump has slid to 38 per cent. However Rasmussen showed him clawing back support with 43 per cent.

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