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Congress to take a call on Presidental poll after Udaipur ‘Chintan Shivir’

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The Congress will take a call on the Presidential polls after the Chintan Shivir scheduled in Udaipur next week.

While the grand old party has no strength of its own to defeat the yet to be named NDA nominee, all eyes are on the joint opposition candidate, as and when it is announced. However, the ruling coalition is short of votes to get simple majority and the 1,17,000 approx. votes of non-NDA and non-UPA parties can play the game in the elections.

A Congress leader said on condition of anonymity, “We are more focused on the Chintan Shivir now, and there is no serious discussion on Presidential elections yet, though it may come up.”

Congress sources said that the party may go for a joint opposition candidate, which can test the opposition unity ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

However, a Congress leader said that “the issue may come up in early June and Sonia Gandhi may call all the UPA partners to take a collective decision, but UPA will field a candidate for sure.”

Another Congress source said that the party can support a joint opposition candidate, but not a BJP nominee though it had supported A.P.J. Abdul Kalam in 2002 despite the fact that he was a BJP contender. But that was the era of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who was best at reaching out to the opposition.

Kalam won the 2002 Presidential polls, defeating Left party candidate Lakshmi Sahgal. He was backed by the Congress, the Samajwadi Party and the Nationalist Congress Party.

Many feel that it’s not possible to come up with a joint opposition candidate given that many regional parties are likely to go with the BJP, including the BJD and YSRCP, which have good number of MPs in the Parliament.

The BJD has 12 Lok Sabha and nine Rajya Sabha members, which have 8,496 and 6,372 vote strength, respectively, while the YSRCP has 22 MPs with a vote strength of 15,576 in the Lok Sabha and 4,248 votes in the Rajya Sabha, which is enough to bail out the ruling party.

The biggest vote share among the regional parties is with the DMK, Trinamool Congress and the Samajwadi Party (SP). And the SP had supported Kalam in 2002, who was an NDA candidate.

The electoral college, comprising 776 MPs from both the Houses and 4,120 MLAs of all the states and Union Territories, has 1,098,903 votes, and a majority is 549,452 votes. As far as the value of votes is concerned, Uttar Pradesh has the highest number of votes, approximately 83,824, followed by Maharashtra and West Bengal.

The BJP has a majority in the Parliament, but in terms of big states, which are key to the Presidential elections, its strength has reduced in Uttar Pradesh, while some other crucial states are ruled by the opposition parties, whose unity can pose a challenge for the saffron camp.

In fact, Trinamool supremo Mamata Banerjee has warned the BJP that the Presidential elections will not be a cake walk for the BJP, as it doesn’t have even half of the legislators of the country.

Maharashtra

Mumbai: Student dies, four injured after tree falls on school bus in Chembur.

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Mumbai, June 30: A student died and four others were injured in an accident in the Chembur area of ​​Mumbai, Maharashtra. A tree suddenly fell onto a bus belonging to Universal School, located on Road No. 11 in Chembur. This resulted in the death of one student on board and injuries to four others.

According to reports, there were 12 children on the school bus at the time of the accident. The sudden fall of the tree caused significant damage to the bus and sparked panic among the children inside. A total of five students sustained injuries, with one being critically hurt. The critically injured student was declared dead at 4:23 PM. He has been identified as 11-year-old Vihan Srivastava.

Upon receiving news of the incident, locals and rescue teams rushed to the scene. All students trapped inside the bus were safely evacuated, and the injured were immediately taken to the hospital.

The four injured students are currently undergoing treatment at Zen Hospital in Chembur under medical supervision. Following the incident, the police, fire department, and other relief and rescue teams arrived at the site and brought the situation under control. The police have initiated an investigation into the matter.

Officials from various departments, including the BMC, arrived at the scene after the incident and engaged in relief and rescue operations. Work also began to remove the damaged bus, which had been pinned beneath the tree. Describing the incident as heart-wrenching, Mumbai’s Deputy Mayor Sanjay Ghadi stated that the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) would take strict action against those responsible.

It is worth noting that Mumbai is currently experiencing rainfall. During this period, strong winds pose a risk of trees and dilapidated buildings collapsing. The BMC makes preparations for this every year. However, this incident, occurring right at the onset of the monsoon, has raised several questions.

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Maharashtra

Fayyaz, who distributed poison pills on Ashura Day, participated in the election, important conclusion in the investigation

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Mumbai: Fayyaz Premji, who distributed poisonous capsules on Ashura Day in Mumbai, was mentally disturbed. He had also contested the election for the Khoja Committee here and after his defeat, he became disheartened. He was an atheist since 2005. He also started criticizing the Shia community and religious scholars. He committed this act to register his presence in the Khoja Committee. His intention was not to kill the mourners. He had ordered poisonous rat poison from MM Reshamwala of Madhya Pradesh and had also transferred money online for 40 kg of the substance. Fayyaz lives in Pune’s Women Nagar. Ever since he started making controversial statements against the Shia community, his family has also distanced themselves from him. Fayyaz also visited Iran in 2025 during this time. He confessed to the Mumbai police that his intention was not to take the lives of the mourners or kill them, so the capsule pills he distributed had only 1.5 or 1.1 grams of rat poison mixed in them so that the mourners would only get sick and not die. In this case, the police have also started investigating whether Fayyaz’s plan was prepared by him alone and whether more people are involved behind it and whether this is not a conspiracy of a lone wolf attack because it is also a part of global terrorism. In this regard, the police have started investigating this case from every angle, but in this case, the police have made it clear that Fayyaz’s mental state is also unstable and this is also leading to new conclusions in the investigation. The police have not denied the involvement of more people in this case, but in the investigation so far, only Fayyaz’s involvement in this case has been confirmed.

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Maharashtra

Political parties should cooperate in the process of Special Revision (SIR) of voter lists: District Election Officer and Municipal Commissioner Ashwini Bhide

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Mumbai: As per the instructions of the Election Commission of India, the process of Special In-depth Revision (SIR) of Voter Lists is underway in the Mumbai region (Mumbai city and suburbs) under the programme. Political parties should cooperate in the various processes going on in this regard. In addition, District Election Officer and Municipal Commissioner Ashwini Bhide has appealed to the public to assist in the house visits of Polling Station Level Officers (BLOs) from June 30 to July 29, 2026 to ensure maximum counting. To provide information about the Special In-depth Revision of Voter Lists programme, a meeting of representatives of various political parties was held today (June 30, 2026) at the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Headquarters under the chairmanship of the District Election Officer and Municipal Commissioner.

Deputy Mayor Sanjay Gadi, Additional Municipal Commissioner (City) and Additional District Election Officer Prajakta Verma-Laungare, Additional Municipal Commissioner (Western Suburbs) and Additional District Election Officer Dr. Vipin Sharma, Additional Municipal Commissioner (Projects) and Additional District Election Officer Abhijeet Bangar, Additional Municipal Commissioner (Eastern Suburbs) and Additional District Election Officer Dr. Avinash Dhakane, District Collector (Mumbai City District) and Additional District Election Officer SMS. Aanchal Goyal, Joint Commissioner (Tax Assessment and Collection) Mr. Vishwas Shankarwar etc. were present on the occasion. Representatives of various political parties were also present. District Election Officer and Municipal Commissioner Ashwini Bhide further said that the Polling Station Level Officers (BLOs) will visit the house between June 30 and July 29, 2026. Voters are expected to provide necessary information to the concerned BLOs. The aim of this entire process is that no eligible voter is left out and no ineligible person is included. Therefore, Smt. Bhide has appealed to all political parties to cooperate in this process. The representatives of political parties were provided with detailed information about the process, schedule and action taken under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the Voter List Programme. Apart from this, various issues raised by the representatives of political parties were discussed.

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