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Maharashtra

Mumbai: Fine arts students from JJ college withdraw art from exhibition

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The flair of fine art shall remain shrouded this academic year, or so has been decided by the protesting students at JJ School of Arts. Fine arts students, on Friday, shunned their classrooms and carried their classwork to campus grounds, protesting the lack of infrastructure and permanent professors within the college.

Unsatisfied with the response they got from higher ups, the students, on Tuesday, decided to withdraw their artwork from ‘Rajya Kala Pradarshan’ or the state art exhibition which is to be held in January 2023, in Pune.

The irony being, a Fine Arts student awaits this day like no other, explained Santosh Parkar, General Secretary for the student body at JJ. “Our entire academic year revolves around this day. Whatever we learn and practice is reflected in what we present here. The winning students catch the eye of the entire state,” said Santosh who was to present a commercial complex miniature at this exhibition.

Despite their strong position against participation, students continue to work on the exhibition projects till they’re completed. After arriving on campus by 8 am every morning, Fine Art pupils begin their day’s work. “I have been spending nearly 13 hours on my temple-form sculpture over the past month. I feel guilty for not submitting it,” said Shekhar Salunke, a fourth year BFA student.

With the absence of facilities, these projects have become quite the ordeal. Rushikesh Ingole, another sculpting student, has been carving a rock to portray his childhood memory. “I have not been able to work on the metallic aspect of my model as the college has no functional foundry,” said Rushikesh. To work with metal, students like him have been shelling money from their own pockets to visit commercial foundries.

Those who work with other materials face similar problems as JJ school still lacks necessities like looms, furnaces, and art softwares. And at certain places, even lights and fans.

A student, In most cases, spends six years of her life studying at the JJ arts college. She starts off with a 4 year Bachelor’s in Fine Arts(BFA) before moving on to a two year Master’s called MFA.

These students have been fearing shifts within the pedagogy during these long years, as most of the college staff teaches only on a contractual basis. Several teaching contracts are to expire on December 12, reported students.

“Art cannot be taught like any other technical subject. There is an exchange of ideas and philosophies between students and their professor. If art is taught from contract to contract, then you cannot prevent an enormous gap in the curriculum,” said Amol Hirawadekar, a protesting alum.

The winning students at Rajya Kala Pradarshan are honored by the state and receive a cash prize. “Students from the JJ School of Arts bring home the majority of the prizes each year,” said Prof. Vishwanath Sable, Dean at JJ School of Fine Arts.

“Even though the students are refusing to put up their projects now, we are certain that all protest issues will be resolved by January and JJ students will certainly participate,” he added.

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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