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Frowning at Congress’ ‘leakage’, Shiv Sena whacked by a ‘political cloudburst’!

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4 years ago

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Uddhav-Thackeray

Exactly a month ago (May 21), the Shiv Sena had expressed serious concerns over the badly “leaking” Congress with so many leaders deserting the party, and how the youth of India would lose confidence in the grand old party.

A month later, the Sena has been knocked down and practically washed out, by an unexpected “political cloudburst” that hit the saffron party last Monday (June 20-21) night, with a series of nightmarish developments in quick succession.

The Sena was rudely shaken, when it became clear by early Tuesday morning that a major storm in the form of a “MLAs’ revolt” was raging and threatened to uproot the 30-month-old Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government of Sena-Nationalist Congress Party-Congress.

Ironically, on May 21, the Sena was distressed over the desertion by leaders like Sunil Jakhar and Hardik Patel in quick succession, preceded by Jyotiraditya Scindia and Jitin Prasada.

“The Congress’ condition is like a cloudburst. The problem is where to put the patch and seal it. The leaks started on the concluding day of the party’s recent Chintan Shivir in Rajasthan,” the sagely Sena had said.

Perhaps unknown to the Sena, it was around that time the group of rebels led by senior party leader and Minister Eknath Shinde were busy hatching their own little political deluge – with a flood of outgoing MLAs – that now threatens to sink the MVA.

Sena’s anxiety for its ally came on a day when the Congress observed the death anniversary of the late ex-Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi (May 21), and ironically, the “Hindutva” party’s own countdown to a probable diminution started on the Summer Solstice Day (June 21).

There is seething rage and helplessness at various levels in the Sena, how it failed to catch the signals of a rebellion brewing up right under its noses, why it could not plug the “leaks” in time after they were belatedly detected and finally culminated into a flash flood within barely 48 hours.

There are reports that the State Intelligence Department (SID) and other agencies had sounded out drab warnings around March-April on the developments, but the MVA failed to take them seriously or react.

Some Congress and NCP senior leaders were visibly irked over how such a large chunk of MLAs could “disappear” into the dark night of June 20-21 at a single shot, undetected and unsuspected, and by the time the grim reality dawned on them the next morning, it was already “too late”.

A Congress leader pointed out that the most shocking aspect was the “Sena MLAs’ quietly slipping off”, taking advantage of the fracas witnessed during the MLCs polls results on Monday and the boisterous celebrations that followed.

One leader said that it has now surfaced how the MLAs sneaked out citing bland reasons like “going to the loo,” “getting a headache”, “not well”, “upset tummy” etc, and vanished from the “party scene” altogether.

A Congress leader even questioned how the MLAs’ police escorts got no whiff of the murky goings-on, why they did not alert the police control or other authorities especially while crossing the district or state borders, and perhaps helped nip the rebellion in the bud.

The current status is the Sena is left with around 18 MLAs, the rebel group is claiming the support of around 40-plus MLAs, enough for a vertical split and joining any potential new dispensation that may materialise.

Barely 48 hours after the shock revolt, the Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray quietly vacated his official residence and shifted to his private home, amid speculation that he would rather quit – to save the party from a split and the government from a downfall.

Watching the party and government slipping out of the hands like sand, the Sena, along with NCP-Congress are making all-out efforts to salvage the situation or prepare to sit in the Opposition – a classic scenario of hoping for the best and preparing for the worst!

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Maharashtra

BMC Elections 2026: 2,516 Nominations Filed For 227 Seats Ahead Of Mumbai Civic Polls

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17 hours ago

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December 31, 2025

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Mumbai: A total of 2,516 nominations has been submitted for the 2026 BMC elections by the all the aspirants, including all political parties and independent candidates. There are 227 seats in the BMC. Out of the total, 2,122 were submitted on Wednesday, December 30, the last day of submitting the nominations papers and affidavits.

The election department has appointed 23 Returning Officers (RO) across Mumbai’s 26 administrative wards. As per the data the state election commission, total 11,392 forms were distributed by the ROs, of which 2,516 were submitted.

See the below chart for number of nominations at each RO office with wards list.

The the ROs office which got highest number of candidates nomination for the BMC elections include: M East ward RO with 182 nominations, M East+M West wards with 164 nominations, A+B+C wards with 150 nominations, G North with 137, K West with 133, H East and S ward with 125 each and N ward with 123.

The lowest number of candidate nomination has been submitted for R Central with 51, C+D wards with 58 and R North ward with 60 nominations.

Today (Thursday, December 31) the BMC election department will scrutinize the nomination submissions and the list will be declared as soon as the process is complete. If any forms are found with improper documentations, affidavits, they will be rejected on technical grounds.

The last day of nomination withdrawal is January 2, and the final candidates list with symbol will be declared on January 3.

All the political parties which saw defections, discontent among its workers for denial of ticket or loss of seat under seat sharing formulas, have time till January 2 to tackle the rebellion in their ranks.

Party wise nominations and seat sharing

In the sharing formula, the BJP will contest on 137 seats and Shiv Sena (Shinde) on 90.

The Congress released a list of a total of 143 candidates, and VBA 62. The Congress-VBA alliance will give the remaining seats to smaller alliance parties like the Rashtriya Samaj Party.

The Shiv Sena (UBT) and MNS alliance has announced a list of 135 and 53 candidates, respectively, till the last reports.

The NCP (Ajit Pawar) announced its third and final list of 30 candidates on Tuesday, taking the total fielded in Mumbai to 94. Notably, 52 women candidates (referred to by the party as ‘Ladki Bahin;) will contest the elections, as the NCP prepares to enter the fray with full strength and capacity. The number of candidates fielded by Ajit Pawar-led NCP is more than Shinde Sena.

Meanwhile, the Sharad Pawar-led NCP announced its second list of four candidates, with the party fielding candidates on 11 seats in Mumbai.

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Crime

Palghar Crime: Naigaon Police Arrest 2 Youths For Highway Robbery In Vasai East, Juvenile Also Involved

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2 days ago

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December 30, 2025

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Palghar, Maharashtra, Dec 30: The Crime Detection Team of Naigaon Police Station has arrested two youths in connection with a case of forcible robbery that took place on the Mumbai–Ahmedabad National Highway in Vasai East earlier this month. A juvenile was also found to be involved in the crime.

According to police, the incident occurred on the night of December 21, 2025, near the Royal Garden Resort, close to the end of the Sasunavghar bridge on the Ahmedabad-bound carriageway at Vasai East in Palghar district.

The complainant was walking on the road when a white Maruti Suzuki S-Presso car stopped near him. Three unknown men, aged between 20 and 25 years, allegedly assaulted him with a steel bracelet and punches.

The accused threatened the victim, demanding cash and his mobile phone, and warned him of dire consequences if he resisted. They forcibly took his cash, mobile phone and charger.

The assailants also obtained the password to the victim’s Google Pay application under threat and later warned him not to inform anyone before fleeing the scene.

Following the complaint, Naigaon Police registered a case under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

The senior police inspector of Naigaon Police Station formed two special teams from the Crime Detection Unit. After a detailed investigation, police apprehended Wasiulla Salim Khan (21) and Ranjit Sandeep Jaiswal (19), both residents of Naigaon, Vasai East.

During interrogation, the accused confessed to committing the robbery along with a juvenile in conflict with law. Police recovered two mobile phones and cash worth ₹31,700 from the accused. The car, valued at approximately ₹5 lakh, which was used during the commission of the crime, has also been seized.

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Maharashtra

BMC Elections 2026: Congress Says ‘Together, We Shall Win!’ As It Releases 2nd List of 56 Candidates, Check Full List Here

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2 days ago

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December 30, 2025

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Mumbai: The Congress party on Tuesday, December 30, announced the second list of 56 candidates for the upcoming Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) Polls 2026 in Mumbai. The list includes candidates from key areas of the city, including Dahisar, Magathane, Charkop, Jogeshwari, Goregaon, Versova, Andheri, Bandra, Kalina, Bhandup, Ghatkopar, Chandivali, Kurla, Wadala, Mahim, and Mumbadevi. Voting for all 227 civic seats in Mumbai will be held on January 15, 2026, while the counting of votes and declaration of results will take place on January 16, 2026.

Yesterday, the party announced their first list of 87 candidates. With the second list announced, the total number of candidates announced is 143. Of the 57 candidates announced, the party has fielded 29 women candidates from the Open, SC, and OBC categories.

Ward No 3 (Magathane) Pradeep Ramakant Choubey

Ward No 8 (Dahisar) Ratnaprabha D. Junnarkar

Ward No 9 (Dahisar) Sadanand B. Chavan

Ward No 31 (Charkop) Bina Ramkubar Singh

Wards 37 (Dindoshi) Meena Dubey

Ward No 39 (Dindoshi) Madhu Brijesh Singh

Ward No 41 (Dindoshi) Rahul Ugale

Ward No 52 (Jogeshwari East) Swati Eknath,

Ward No 74 (Jogeshwari East) Samita Nitin Sawant,

Ward No 78 (Jogeshwari East) Siddiqui Shabana Bano

Ward No 79 (Jogeshwari East) Priyanka Manish Mishra

Ward 58 (Goregoan) Suryakant Mishra

Ward 60 (Versova) Gladys Shrier

Ward No 65 (Versova) Sufian Haider

Ward 72 (Andheri East) Gayatri Gupta

Ward 75 (Andheri East) Imran Khalil Shaikh

Ward No 86 (Andheri East) Nitin Salgare

Ward 87 (Bandra East) Pramod Narvekar

Ward 92 (Bandra East) Mohammad Ibrahim Mohammad Iqbal Qureshi

Ward 93 (Bandra East) Sharad Dinkar Shejawal

Ward 94 (Bandra East) Supriya Santosh Pathak

Ward 97 (Bandra West) Gauri Chhabria

Ward 99 (Bandra West) Sunita Suresh Vevekar

Ward 100 (Bandra West) Karen Demelo

Ward 101 (Bandra West) Reshma Zakaria

Ward 103 (Mulund) Manisha Santosh Sonawane

Ward 109 (Bhandup) Ajay Patel

Wards 112 (Bhandup) Shreya Rakesh Shetty

Ward 120 (Vikhroli) Khushboo Rajesh Gupta

Ward 126 (Ghatkopar West) Nasir Khan

Ward 133 (Ghatkopar East) Vaishali Phalke

Ward 143 (Anushaktinagar) Sheikh Farzana Reddy Vasha

Ward 145 (Anushaktinagar) Sufian Abdul Mubeen

Ward 149 (Kurla) Ganesh Awasthi

Ward 151 (Kurla) Sangeeta Subhash Bhalerao

Ward 159 (Chandivali) Prahlad Vishwanath Shetty

Ward 161 (Chandivali) Mohammed Imran Abul Hasan Khan

Ward 162 (Chandivali) Khan Mohammed Aamir Arif

Ward 163 (Chandivali) Jain Sonu Shailesh

Ward 166 (Kalina) Ghanshyam Bhapkar

Ward 180 (Sion Koliwada) Smita Shankar Mhatre

Ward 181 (Sion Koliwada) Kamlesh Ramdular Yadav (Pappu Yadav)

Ward 188 (Dharavi) Mariammal Muturamalingam

Ward 187 (Dharavi) Ayesha Aslam Khan

Ward 190 (Mahim) Dayashankar Ramgopal Yadav

Ward 200 (Wadala) Suresh Kale

Ward 205 (Shivadi) Apurva Praveen Salistekar

Ward 211 (Byculla) Khan Mohammad Waqar Nisar Ahmed

Ward 216 (Mumbadevi) Rajshree Mahesh Bhatankar

Ward 223 (Mumbadevi) Gyanraj Yashwant Nikam

Earlier on Sunday, the party announced its alliance with Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) for BMC elections. Under the arrangement, Congress will contest 150 seats, while VBA will field candidates in 62 wards, leaving 9-12 seats for Rashtriya Samaj Paksha led by Mahadeo Jankar.

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