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Maharashtra Elections 2024: MVA Finally Announces Candidate From Mumbai’s Colaba; Cong Fields Heera Devasi Against BJP’s Rahul Narwekar

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Mumbai: On Monday late night, the Congress released its fifth list of candidates for Maharashtra assembly elections consisting four names. With the latest announcement of candidates, the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) finally confirmed its candidate for the high profile seat of Colaba in southern Mumbai.

The Congress party has fielded Heera Devasi against BJP’s sitting MLA Rahul Narwekar. The Mahayuti had been taunting the MVA for unable to find a suitable candidate from Colaba highlighting that Narwekar would have a one-sided win.

Narwekar filed his nomination from the Colaba seat last week after holding a road show in presence of CM Eknath Shinde on October 25. “We do not see any competition. We (Mahayuti) will win the Colaba seat with a margin of 40,000 to 50,000 votes,” both CM Shinde and BJP candidate Rahul Narwekar had said.

Devasi was the Congress candidate from the Malabar Hill constituency during Lok Sabha 2024 elections against BJP’s sitting MP Mangal Prabhat Lodha. Lodha won the seat with a huge margin of more than 71,000 votes, with BJP’s vote share of 75 per cent.

In the fifth list of Congress released on Monday night, included three more candidates: Sajid Khan from Akola West, Chetan Narote from Solapur City Central and Madhurimaraje Chhatrapati from Kolhapur North (replacing Rajesh Latkar).

Today (October 29) is the last day of filing nomination forms for the Maharashtra assembly elections. The polling for 288 assembly constituencies will take place on November 20 and results will be declared three days after that.

Maharashtra

Eknath Shinde’s Operation Tiger was successful… Uddhav Thackeray’s rebellion in Shiv Sena UBT, Sanjay Raut is angry

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Mumbai: Operation Tiger has been successful. Shinde Sena has succeeded in forcing 6 MPs of Shiv Sena UBT to form another group, after which the rebellion has started again in UBT. The independent group has also been approved by the Lok Sabha Speaker. Now these 6 MPs can soon merge with Shiv Sena Shinde Party. After Operation Gaigar, Uddhav Thackeray group MP Sanjay Raut addressed a press conference and said that despite what Uddhav Thackeray did not do for these MPs, these people have acted dishonestly. This is dishonest. It is said that the rebel MPs are camped in Delhi and will merge with the Shinde group in the next two days. The operation in the state has been going on for the past several days and in June, a meeting of the India Alliance was also held in Delhi. In this meeting, Home Minister Amit Shah gave the green signal to Operation Tiger. The rebel MPs of the Thackeray group have been accommodated in a five-star hotel in Delhi. On Sunday, Uddhav Thackeray also held a meeting of his MPs in which five MPs attended the online meeting, due to which no one suspected them. This is the second biggest split in the Shiv Sena. After the rebellion of the Shiv Sena MPs, the Shiv Sena has become completely weakened. These rebel MPs include Sanjay Deshmukh, Ayut Mahal, Sanjay Jadhav, Parbhani, Sanjay Dina Patel, Mumbai, Nagesh Patil, Hingoli, Amarraje, Nimbalkar, Dhara Shiv. There is resentment in Shiv Sena after the rebellion of these MPs. Sanjay Raut is angry with them. He says that Uddhav Thackeray did so much for them but these people became dishonest.

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Maharashtra

Muslim students deprived of government schemes… Only Hindu candidates are accepted for drone pilot training scheme: Raees Sheikh

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Mumbai: Raising the issue of Muslim youth and students being deprived of the government’s ‘Amrit’ institute schemes, Samajwadi Party MLA from Bhiwandi East Raees Sheikh has said that applications are being accepted for the drone pilot training programme of the institute run by the state government’s Other Backward Classes Welfare Department, while online applications from Muslim candidates are not being accepted. In his letter to Minister Atal Seo and the Chief Executive Officer of Maharashtra Research, Advancement and Training (AMRUT) Institute, MLA Raees Sheikh said that the Amrit Institute has invited applications till June 30 for drone pilot training which is aimed at candidates from Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) of the open category. “However, when applicants try to fill the online form, they are required to provide information about their religion and caste. The portal offers caste options only for Hindu communities, which prevents Muslim applicants from successfully submitting their applications.” Sheikh said he had received several complaints regarding this issue. Pointing out that the Amrit Institute aims to serve the economically weaker sections in the open category, he said that as an autonomous government institution, the founding government resolution (August 22, 2019) of Amrit does not mention any specific religion. It aims to work for different communities in the open category. Therefore, restricting applications in this manner is against the rules, he claimed. The Maharashtra government has set up several institutions for different social groups, including Barati, Aarti, Sarathi, Mahajyoti, Marti, and Amrit. While each institution may focus on a specific target group, it can be limited to a certain extent. They also provide training opportunities to and benefits to other communities. Sheikh added that unemployment is currently a major concern for youth of all castes and religions across the state. He said, “The Amritsar should not interpret the rules in such a way that Muslim youth are deprived of skilling opportunities. Minister Atul Sivaji, who heads the Other Backward Bahujan Welfare Department, should ensure that Muslim youth are not excluded from these training programmes.”

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Maharashtra

Maharashtra Freedom of Religion Bill 2026: Important seminar in Mumbai on constitutional rights and minority concerns, Justice Abhay Thapsay and legal experts express their views

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Mumbai: “The Constitution of India gives every citizen the full right to practice and propagate his religion, but the government has become a tradition of ‘saying one thing and doing another’. The ‘Maharashtra Freedom of Religion Bill 2026’ is ostensibly named ‘religious freedom’, but its real purpose is to impose strict restrictions on religion and suppress minorities. When the language of the law becomes ambiguous, it becomes a cause of concern rather than protection, and this ambiguity damages the social fabric and mutual tolerance.” These views were expressed by Justice Abhay Thapsay, a former judge of the Bombay High Court, while addressing an important seminar organized by ‘United Against Injustices and Discrimination’ (UAID) and ‘Association for Protection of Civil Rights’ (APCR) at the Mayor’s Hall in Andheri West. More than 250 intellectuals, lawyers and social workers from different schools of thought participated in the seminar.

Addressing the seminar, renowned lawyer Advocate Lara Jessani shed detailed light on the provisions of the bill and said that hate crime is being systematically promoted in the country. The provisions of this law are so vague that under the guise of ‘allurement’, an attempt is being made to criminalize education, marriage, charity, employment and especially the relief activities of minority schools. She said that under the law, conversion of religion in the name of marriage or by luring has been proposed with a sentence of up to 10 years and a fine of Rs 5 lakh. Moreover, any third party or the police can register an FIR at their own will, and the most dangerous aspect is that the onus of proving innocence has been placed on the accused, which is a serious constitutional conspiracy to keep citizens in jails for years without being proven guilty.

Dolphy D’Souza of Police Reforms Watch revealed that the draft of this sensitive bill was prepared in secret within just 72 hours, without any public consultation, hence the majority and the minority should all come together to raise their voice against this ‘divide and rule’ politics.

Dr. Salim Khan, member of the Central Advisory Council of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, said that faith and trust are a matter of the heart which cannot be changed through laws. He strongly criticized the anti-people and undemocratic policies of the government, citing Maulana Umar Gautam and Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui, and termed it a manifestation of political failure.

Earlier, APCR Maharashtra General Secretary Shakir Sheikh, while directing the program, referred to the country’s situation, bulldozer operations, mob lynching and UCC and said that this draft is also a link in this chain. Renowned intellectual Irfan Engineer clarified that this law is not only anti-Muslim or anti-Christian, but also an ‘anti-Hindu’ law suppressing the backward classes, which has been brought to end secularism. At the end of the seminar, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind Mumbai PR Secretary Syed Sharif Yunus expressed his gratitude to all the guests and participants.

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