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Sunday,08-June-2025

Maharashtra

Maharashtra passes bills to postpone civic elections sans OBC quotas

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 In a major political development, the Maharashtra Legislature on Monday unanimously passed two bills to defer the upcoming elections to the civic and local bodies till the OBC quotas are restored in the state.

The two bills are the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act, the Maharashtra Municipal Corporations Act, the Maharashtra Municipal Councils, Nagar Panchayats & Industrial Townships (Amendment) Bill 2022, and the Maharashtra Gram Panchayats Act, 1959, and the Maharashtra Zilla Parishad and Panchayat Samitis (Amendment) Bill 2022.

Under these amendments, the Maharashtra State Election Commission (SEC)’s powers to delimit and fix the wards is proposed to be cancelled and the government shall be empowered to decide delimitation of wards and fix the number of members in these bodies.

The SEC will decide the poll schedules for the civic and local bodies elections in consultation with the state government.

With the new amendments, a majority of the civic bodies whose tenures are ending will be handed over to Administrators, who will govern till the elections are held.

The development came after the Supreme Court on March 3, rejected the Maharashtra State Backward Classes Commission’s interim report recommending restoration of the 27 per cent political reservations to the OBC communities, proving a setback to the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government of Shiv Sena-Nationalist Congress Party-Congress.

The move, supported by the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, assumes significance as 15 top civic bodies including BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), 25 Zilla Parishads, and 232 Municipal Councils were slated to go for elections shortly.

The bills are likely to get the Governor’s assent immediately considering the interests of the OBCs and since the ruling and Oppositoin have also jointly supported it.

With the state getting the powers to delimit and form wards, it will help it collect the empirical data on the political backwardness of OBCs that is mandatory to restore the quotas for the communities in the local bodies’ elections.

The process, already underway for municipal corporations and district councils, has already led to an increase in the number of wards due to the rise in populations in the past decade, and a similar exercise was carried out in adjoining Madhya Pradesh.

Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said last week that the local bodies elections shall be postponed by three months to enable complete the compilation of the empirical date in the format laid down by the SC, and till then, the local bodies shall be handed over to Administrators.

Ruling MVA leaders including NCP spokesperson Mahesh Tapase, and Shiv Sena’s Kishore Tiwari have welcomed the government move, saying they are committed from the beginning to ensure quotas for the OBCs.

However, the Aam Aadmi Party’s Mumbai Working President Ruben Mascarenhas slammed the MVA decision to curtail the SEC’s powers and termed it as a “dark hour” for Dr B.R. Ambedkar’s vision of a free and fair electoral democracy with equity in social development.

Maharashtra

Police alert for peaceful Eid-ul-Azha in Maharashtra

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Mumbai: Eid-ul-Azha was celebrated peacefully in Mumbai and all of Maharashtra. In Thane, miscreants tried to spoil the atmosphere on Eid-ul-Azha, which was foiled by the police. The police have also taken action against such elements spreading poison on social media. Along with this, peaceful namaz was also offered at the Idgah located at Dogadi Fort in Kalyan. An attempt was also made to ring the bell in the temple located in Fort and at the right time of Namaz, Shiv Sena and Shinde workers gathered and rang the bell, due to which the police took them into custody and prevented the atmosphere from getting spoiled. Police Commissioner Ashutosh Dumbare had made tight security arrangements in sensitive areas like Mumbra, Bhiwandi Police Station, Rabodi Kalyan and Ulhasnagar. In Mumbai too, the police was alert and prepared in the backdrop of Eid-ul-Azha and Qurbani.

Due to the dispute over Qurbani in housing societies, the police had made tight arrangements in such societies where problems had arisen earlier. Along with this, BMC allowed sacrifice in many societies and temporary altars for sacrifice. Muslims performed the ritual of sacrifice with Abrahamic zeal. Apart from this, police guard was also kept on Eidgahs and mosques in Mumbai. Mumbai Police Commissioner Deven Bharti reviewed the situation. According to this, the arrangements in Mumbai were completed. Mumbai Police also kept an eye on the miscreants and monitored social media.

Along with this, Eid-ul-Azha was celebrated peacefully in various districts of Maharashtra, Malegaon, Aurangabad, Beed, Osmanabad, Amravati and all over Maharashtra. No untoward incident was reported from anywhere. Police sources have claimed that Eid was celebrated in a peaceful atmosphere and orders for action against the miscreants were also issued, after which sacrifice was done and the splendor of sacrifice was seen everywhere in Muslim localities.

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Maharashtra

ED took action on 15 places including Mithi river, cleanliness, irregularities, Dino Morea

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Dino Morea ED

Mumbai: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has raided 15 places including Mumbai in the irregularities case in the cleaning of the Mithi river. The Enforcement Directorate has also claimed to have seized many important documents related to the case while conducting raids in Mumbai and Kochi. The ED has also raided the house of film actor Dino Maurya. The EOW has registered the first FIR in this case, after which the Enforcement Directorate has now started a parallel investigation. The ED has taken this action under the PMLA Money Laundering Act. Dino Maurya has also been involved in this irregularity. The EOW has also questioned him and his brother.

It is said that Dino Maurya and Ketan are close to Shiv Sena leader Aditya Thackeray. Now Dino’s troubles have increased. The EOW has found many important documents and evidence in the Mithi river corruption and irregularities case in Mumbai, so now the ED has also started its action in the case of misuse of funding and illegal tender purchase in this case. Many Shiv Sena leaders are also in the ambit of ED action, because during the Mithi river corruption scam, Shiv Sena was ruling the BMC, so the scope of investigation has become focused on Shiv Sena leaders. EOW has also made significant progress in its action in the Mithi river corruption case in Mumbai. More revelations are expected after the arrival of ED in this case. EOW has taken action against 13 people in this case so far and has also arrested them. In this, political leaders including BMC officials are also on the radar of ED.

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Maharashtra

Mumbai: MLA and SP leader Abu Asim Azmi appeals to avoid sacrificing animals in the open on Eid-ul-Azha

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Mumbai: Mumbai Maharashtra Samajwadi Party leader and MLA Abu Asim Azmi has appealed to Muslims not to perform Qurbani in the open and also follow BMC and government guidelines. Cleanliness is half of faith, so take special care of cleanliness. Not only this, it is mandatory to follow all the guidelines and guiding principles set regarding Qurbani. Take special care of cleanliness and ensure that the brothers and sisters of the country do not face any kind of trouble on Eid-ul-Azha. This is the real teaching of Islam. Celebrate Eid with mutual love, brotherhood and following Sunnat Ibrahimi. Azmi said that the waste of Qurbani on Eid should also be kept in bags and thrown in the dustbin.

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