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Maharashtra

Mumbai: Andheri by-election pits Uddhav-led Sena against Shinde Gut and BJP

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It will be the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena versus the BJP in the Andheri East Assembly by-election on November 3. The BJP will field Murji Patel, who had garnered 31.14 per cent votes as an independent to finish second to the Sena’s winner, the late Ramesh Latke, in 2019. It is learnt that the Eknath Shinde faction is not interested in contesting the by-poll because it does not have a candidate with good electoral prospects.The Shiv Sena factions’ petitions for the party’s official symbol of bow and arrow are pending before the Election Commission of India for the hearing which has been cleared by the Supreme Court.

The first big election to be held after June’s power shift will be watched for the EC’s decision, if any, before the by-poll nomination process ends on October 14. People in the know said they did not expect Thackeray’s candidate to get the official symbol. They said in similar cases in the past, the symbol was frozen and the warring factions told to pick new symbols. The Thackeray faction could be the one to forego the bow and arrow against the BJP’s established lotus.

Sources said the Sena was prepared to meet the challenge and has asked party workers to ensure victory even if they fight with a new symbol. Thackeray has decided to nominate Rujuta Latke, the former local MLA’ s widow who could get sympathy votes. Her husband had gained 42.67% votes against Patel’s 31.14%. The Congress’ Amin Kutty had finished third with 19% share.

The BJP expects to breach the gap, but the Sena sees its prospect better, not just because of sympathy votes, but also because the Congress has decided to not field its candidate expecting to shift its valuable share to the Sena nominee.State Congress chief spokesperson Atul Londhe told mid-day that it was the MVA’s policy to keep the seat with the respective winner. “We wonder why the Shinde group, which according to the BJP is the real Sena, has not been given the seat?” he asked, saying the Congress will be with the Sena. The Nationalist Congress Party’s (NCP) boss Sharad Pawar declared his party’s support to the Thackeray Sena on MondayThe unified Sena and BJP were in a pre-poll alliance in 2019 and yet Patel contested as an independent to prove his worth with tacit support from the party. His great finish landed him the official responsibility. He was asked to prepare much ahead of the by-poll announcement on Monday. The polling will be on a working day, Thursday, November 3, followed by the counting on November 6.

In 2019, the BJP had marched ahead of the Sena by winning 16 of 36 seats in Mumbai which was its best ever show in the metro that had voted it to win 82 seats in a close fight against the Sena (84) in the BMC polls two years before. The Sena won two short of the BJP’s Assembly tally in the city. The Congress was reduced to four seats. The NCP and Samajwadi Party got one each.

The by-poll comes ahead of the BMC election slated to be held this year end or early next year. It is expected to be a pilot in terms of the collaboration between the BJP and the Shinde group, which would also like to take credit if the rival group is defeated.

disaster

Mumbai’s Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Sudhakar Pathare, who was posted in the Port Zone, passed away in a road accident on Saturday.

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Pathare had visited Hyderabad for training. He was on his way to visit a temple with a relative when the accident occurred. Both Pathare and his relative lost their lives in the crash.

Mumbai Police have been informed about the incident.

More details are awaited.

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Maharashtra

Order to demolish the tomb of Hazrat Syed Bale Shah Baba in Mira Bhayander

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Mumbai: The state government has issued an order to demolish the four hundred year old dargah of Hazrat Syed Bale Shah Peer Rahmatullah Alaih located in Mira Bhayander. Mira Bhayander Municipal Corporation has sent a letter to the collector declaring this dargah illegal and ordered action against it. As the dargah is located on forest land, communalists had started demanding the demolition of the dargah. In the House, Darranjan Daukhre had also demanded action against the dargah, after which now the state government has ordered to run a bulldozer on the dargah. An order has also been issued to remove and demolish the dargah by May.

Dargah trustee Amjad Sheikh said that this dargah is ancient and this order is illegal in itself. In this case, communal forces had launched a campaign against the dargah, after which this order was issued.

There is a dargah on the beach and citing the threat of terrorist and illegal activities and the presence of terrorists here, there was a demand to demolish the dargah. The dargah is close to the sea and in such a situation, the threat of a terrorist attack on Mumbai from the sea has been expressed, while the dargah administration has clearly denied this and said that communal organizations are running their agenda against the dargah and there is no such threat. Muslims have opposed this decision of the government and Muslims have also expressed their displeasure and anger over it.

The trustee says that this dargah is ancient and earlier the collector and the municipal corporation had given a notice, after which the illegal shed and other premises were demolished here and the dargah administration has taken this action at its own level. Now an order has been issued to demolish the dargah itself.

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Maharashtra

Haji Ali Dargah will be closed for pilgrims for a few hours on Eid due to rising sea level

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Mumbai: Due to rising sea level at Haji Ali Dargah in Mumbai, the dargah will be closed for pilgrims for a few hours on Eid. On March 31, the dargah will be closed for pilgrims from 12 noon to 3 pm. During this time, entry of pilgrims to the dargah will be restricted. The dargah will be closed on Tuesday, April 1 from 12:45 pm to 3:45 pm and on Wednesday, April 2 from 1:30 pm to 4:30 pm.

Therefore, we have appealed to the pilgrims not to gather at the dargah during these hours. This information has been released by Tahir, administrative officer of Haji Ali Dargah. Pilgrims visit Haji Ali Dargah on Eid-Basi and Tiwasi, but due to the rising water level of the sea, water gets accumulated on the way to the Dargah and entry to the Dargah is prohibited and the gate of the Dargah remains closed during these days, due to which there is a lot of crowd there. Therefore, pilgrims have been requested to come to the Dargah only at the scheduled time.

The police also remains vigilant at the Dargah during the rising sea level, as there is a crowd of pilgrims here during Eid and festivals. The Haji Ali Dargah administration has said that on the occasion of Eid, lakhs of pilgrims visit the Dargah of Haji Ali (RahmatullahAlaih). These pilgrims include pilgrims from the country and abroad, so the Dargah administration has also claimed special security arrangements on Eid. Spiritual scenes are also seen at Haji Ali Dargah during Eid prayers.

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