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Maharashtra

Maharashtra: More Than 360 Booked For Violence Over Maratha Quota In Jalna

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A day after a protest over Maratha quota turned violent in Maharashtra’s Jalna, leading to some police personnel and others getting injured, the situation is under control on Saturday and the police have filed a case against more than 360 persons, of whom 16 have been identified, for their alleged involvement in violence, an official said.

Police used baton-charge and fired teargas shells to disperse a violent mob at Antarwali Sarathi village on Dhule-Solapur road in Ambad tehsil, around 75 km from Aurangabad, on Friday.

The protesters, led by Manoj Jarange, had been staging a hunger strike demanding reservation for the Maratha community at the village since Tuesday. The trouble began when police tried to shift Jarange to a hospital on doctors’ advice, officials said.

The agitation turned violent as some persons targeted state transport buses and private vehicles, police said. Villagers claimed that police fired some rounds in the air, but officials did not confirm it.

Agitators remain firm on their demand

On Saturday, the agitators remained firm on their demand and said they would continue with the stir till the government provides reservation to the community. They also questioned the police action against their “peaceful” agitation and asked why they fired bullets in the air and lathi-charged the protesters.

According to police, around 40 police personnel and some other persons were injured in the violence. The protesters torched at least 15 state transport buses and some private vehicles, they said.

“An offence was registered at Gondi police station in Jalna against 16 agitators, who have been identified, and around 350 others for their involvement in violence on Friday,” a senior police official said.

The case was filed under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 307 (attempt to murder), 333 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt to deter public servant from his duty), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) and others, he said.

Police personnel are now deployed at the village

Police personnel and a company of the State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) are now deployed at the village, the official said.

Jalna Superintendent of Police (SP)Tushar Doshi told, “Nearly 40 police personnel were injured in the violence yesterday. Police used plastic bullets and tear shells to disperse the protesters and bring the situation under control. No arrest has been so far and the situation is under control now.” Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Friday made an appeal for peace and announced that a committee will be set up for a high-level probe into the violence, while Deputy Chief Minister and Home Minister Devendra Fadnavis claimed that the police were forced to use baton-charge due to stone pelting.

Reservation was quashed by SC earlier

The reservation provided by the state government for the politically dominant Maratha community was quashed by the Supreme Court earlier.

Talking to reporters in Antarwali Sarathi village this morning, protest spearhead Jarange said, “The hunger strike won’t be called off now. Our sisters and the entire village have been protesting in a peaceful manner. The CM has formed a committee over the Maratha reservation, but it has not submitted a report and hence we are agitating.”

Showing a bullet in hand he said, “These bullets were fired and we were lathi-charged inhumanly. Women were also beaten up. Are we Pakistanis or do we have relatives in that country? Why did they fire? We will not stop until we get a reservation, let (CM) Shinde fire as many bullets as he wants.”

A woman, who has also been on a hunger strike with Jarange, sought to know why the police lathi-charged the protesters. “What was the need (for the police) to disturb the atmosphere here. If we wanted to beat someone, then we would have come with lathis in our hands…The government should provide reservation to the Maratha community,” she said.

Former MP Sambhaji Chhatrapati, a descendant of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and prominent Maratha leader, visited Antarwali Sarathi village on Saturday morning and extended his support to those agitating for the quota demand.

Addressing media persons, he said, “Those on hunger strike here are followers of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and not of Mughals or Nizams. Firing on people and using lathis against them used to happen during the era of Mughals and Nizams.” “For how many more years the community will have to fight for the reservation demand. The government must tell when they will provide reservation. The same party rules the state as well as at the Centre,” he said.

The government should withdraw the cases registered against the protesters, the founder of ‘Swarajya’ organisation said, adding that 58 peaceful marches were taken out across the state over the Maratha quota demand in the past.

Sharad Pawar to visit Sarathi village on Saturday

Meanwhile, an official said that Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar is scheduled to visit Antarwali Sarathi village post-noon on Saturday. He will arrive in Aurangabad and then go to the village. He will also visit the sub-district hospital in Ambad and a primary health centre.

In the wake of the violence in which several state transport buses were torched, the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) has decided to run buses only on selected routes in the division for the time being.

MSRTC’s Divisional Controller Sachin Kshirsagar said, “Nearly 350 buses have been kept off roads in different depots of the division. Buses are not being operated on Aurangabad-Ahmednagar-Pune, Beed, Jalna, Paithan routes (from Aurangabad). Limited number of buses are being released on certain routes.” 

Maharashtra

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

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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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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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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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