Mumbai: The election commission of India announced the polling schedule for Maharashtra assembly elections on Tuesday. The voting for all 288 assembly constituencies will be held on November 20 and the results will be declared on November 23. The state as of Tuesday has 9.63 crore registered voters who will pick the new government. However, the state election commission (SEC) of Wednesday said that the eligible voters who still have not registered themselves, have time till 12 am of October 19 to do so.

The SEC said that the citizens can fill the form at the election commission’s office in the respective assemblies or can visit the website https://voters.eci.gov.in/ for online voter registration. The citizens can also call toll free helpline no. 1950 for any information. New voter registration can also be done at ‘Voter helpline App’ and can also check the registered list.

The EC has been encouraging first-time voters, that is citizens who have just completed the age of 18 to register themselves with the election commission and exercise their right to vote. As of September 28, Maharashtra had 19.48 lakh first-time voters, which is expected to increase by October 19.

Meanwhile, the SEC has informed that voters can file complaints regarding code of conduct violations with the help of the ‘Cvigil app’ and the complaints made on this app are resolved within 100 minutes.

While, voters can gather information about the candidates on ‘KYC App’.

Apart from the helping number 1950, the residents of Mumbai can also contact the Collector Mumbai Suburban Office- Toll-Free No. 18002682910, Office of Collector Mumbai City- Control Room No- 022-2082 2781, Election Control Room – 7977363304 and can visit the state election commission’s website for any election-related information or help.

Mumbai: An unexpected and serious situation has situation has arisen in India aviation history as 12 Indian aircrafts, including Air India, IndiGo, Akasa Air and SpiceJet have received hoax bomb threats in the last three days. The threats leading to emergency situations and flight diversion have left flyers panicked and puzzled. The threats are not only creating significant disruptions, left hundreds of passengers stranded but raised grave questions over security measures and safety of passengers.

A Parliamentary Standing Committee met at 11 am on Wednesday over the issue preceded by a meeting called by Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu with Civil Aviation Ministry and Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) officials. Some culprits have been identified and the dark web is also being monitored. While a 17-year-old minor is being questioned in an Air India bomb threat call case.

On Wednesday afternoon, a Delhi-Bengaluru Akasa Air flight carrying 184 individuals returned to Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi on after a bomb threat prompted the airline to declare an emergency. Minutes after taking off from Delhi the flight was urgently diverted back. This became the 12th such aircraft in the last 72 hours which received an bomb scare.

Meanwhile, IndiGo’s Mumbai-Delhi flight was redirected to Ahmedabad. The aircraft was isolated, and all passengers were safely disembarked, an IndiGo Spokesperson said.

On Wednesday morning, Canadian Air Force aircraft safely transported 191 stranded passengers from Iqaluit Airport to Chicago, after an 18-hour delay due to a bomb scare on an Air India flight.

On Monday, three international flights that took off from Mumbai were diverted or delayed after an X (formerly Twitter) handle posted threats. While on Tuesday, seven flights, including the two Air India planes, were affected by the threats issued by another X handle which has now been suspended. Screenshots of some of the posts show the user had tagged the airline and local police and mentioned the flight number.

Notably, fo the delay in international flights, the agencies of the concerned countries also get involved in the investigations. The trend of issuing threats online had increased lately, raising serious questions over usage of social media, dark web, fake users as well as safety and security.

Mumbai: As the dates of the Maharashtra assembly elections come close, the political atmosphere in the state is heated with politicians engaging in verbal attacks. Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray once again attacked the BJP saying the it engages in double standard Hindutva. “We are against ‘Fake Hindutva’ and we do not tell people what to eat and what to dress,” Thackeray said.

Aaditya Thackeray, the MLA from Worli, Mumbai said, “I want to ask why India played a bilateral cricket series with Bangladesh when Hindus are being attacked there. We are against this double standards. We protect our religion when we have to.”

“The current CM is a contractor minister, and Maharashtra knows it. My father (Uddhav Thackeray) was backstabbed when he was at his lowest after his two surgeries. But here is about where Maharashtra moves forward. The state known for its law & order, and open society is now forced into BJP ideology. God forbid, even if I lose, I will continue fighting for Mumbai and Maharashtra and its sale to two contractor friends CM Eknath Shinde,” Aaditya Thackeray further said in the interview.

On Tuesday, after the election commission announced the schedule for Maharashtra assembly elections, Aaditya Thackeray had said that, “We have been seeing the loot of Maharashtra for the last 2 years, we (Shiv Sena UBT) now hope to get justice in the court of the people,” he said.

The elections for the 288 assembly constituencies in Maharashtra will be held on November 20 in a single phase and results will be declared on November 23.