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Nominations for Rajya Sabha polls trigger war of words between BJP and Congress in Madhya Pradesh

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A fresh round political tug-of-war has ensued between the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress in Madhya Pradesh over the fielding of candidates for the Rajya Sabha polls scheduled on June 10.

While the BJP leaders are patting their backs for nominating two women — one OBC and a Sheduled Tribe (ST) — for the Rajya Sabha elections, the Congress has fielded a Kashmiri Pandit, Vivek Tankha, to contest for a place in the Upper House.

By nominating Kavita Patidar (OBC) and Sumitra Valmiki (ST), the BJP has set the tone for the 2023 Assembly polls, sending a message to both the communities which account for a considerable vote share in the state.

By fielding Kavita Patidar, the BJP seems to have countered Congress’ relentless allegations on the OBC reservation issue.

“The BJP fielded an OBC candidate, Kavita Patidar, for the Rajya Sabha polls. The difference with the Congress is clear,” tweeted BJP spokesperson Pankaj Chaturvedi.

“Why didn’t the Congress field Arun Yadav (OBC) for the Rajya Sabha polls,” asked MP BJP media in-charge, Lokendra Parasar, in a tweet.

Patidar is the general secretary of the party’s state unit from Indore. She is also the first woman OBC leader from the Malwa division to have been sent to the Upper House after OBC quota row erupted.

Talking about Sumitra Valmiki, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who accompanied her when she filed her nomination on Tuesday, said, “Sumitra (Valmiki) had never thought of going to the Rajya Sabha. Even demanding a ticket was a distance thought. But this is the BJP.”

The Congress, on the other hand, accused the BJP of hypocrisy on the Kashmiri Pandit issue.

Responding to BJP’s jibe for nominating senior advocate Vivek Tankha for a second term in the Rajya Sabha, Congress office-bearer Piyush Babele said, “The BJP is a wonderful party. Two months back, it was beating its chest for supporting the Kashmiri Pandits’ cause following the release of the film ‘The Kashmir Files’. But when the Congress nominates a Kashmiri Pandit (Vivek Tankha) for a second term in the Rajya Sabha, BJP leaders are protesting.”

At present, BJP’s Rajya Sabha members from Madhya Pradesh are Jyotiraditya Scindia, L. Murugan, Dharmedra Pradhan, M.J. Akbar, Ajay Pratap Singh, Kailash Soni, Sumer Singh Solanki, and Sampatiya Uike.

The Congress’ Rajya Sabha members from the state are Vivek Tankha, Digvijaya Singh and Rajmani Patel.

National News

Madhya Pradesh gears up for NEET-UG 2026; CM directs officials to ensure ‘zero-error’ conduct of exam

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Bhopal, June 16: With the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET-UG) 2026 scheduled to be held on June 21, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav on Tuesday reviewed the state’s preparedness and directed government officials to ensure a “transparent, secure and error-free conduct” of the examination across all examination centres.

Chairing a high-level review meeting via video conference from the Mantralaya, the Chief Minister said the credibility of a national-level examination depends on meticulous planning and flawless execution.

“NEET is a national-level examination. All preparations must be completed in advance and the examination should be conducted with complete transparency. There should be no lapses or errors at any stage,” Chief Minister Yadav said in statement.

The examination will be conducted at 283 centres spread across 30 districts of the state, with Indore, Bhopal, Gwalior and Jabalpur accounting for the largest number of centres.

The examination will be held from 2 to 5:15 p.m. on June 21 in pen-and-paper mode.

Against the backdrop of heightened scrutiny of competitive examinations in recent years, the Chief Minister directed government officials to strengthen security arrangements and ensure that biometric verification systems, CCTV cameras and jammers are installed at all examination centres by June 19.

He also ordered trial runs of the equipment a day before the examination.

The review meeting paid special attention to Jabalpur, where President Droupadi Murmu is scheduled to visit on the same day.

Chief Minister Yadav instructed district administration and police officials to formulate a detailed traffic management plan to ensure that candidates reach their examination centres without delays.

He also noted that the International Yoga Day programmes would coincide with the examination and said administrative arrangements should be made to prevent any disruption to students.

“No candidate should suffer because of transportation or traffic-related issues. If required, administrative and police officials should assist students in reaching examination centres through available government resources,” the Chief Minister said.

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Maharashtra

Mumbai: BMC’s helpline ‘My BMC Marg System’ launched ahead of monsoon, special focus on filling potholes

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Mumbai: BMC launches special helpline to fill potholes in Mumbai With an aim to address citizens’ complaints promptly and effectively, the Mumbai Municipal Corporation has implemented an integrated complaint management system ‘MyBMC MARG’ (Complaint Management and Redressal System) this year. Through this system, citizens will be able to register 114 different types of complaints related to the Municipal Corporation through a single application and they will also be able to follow up on them. Under this, the facility of registering complaints of potholes on roads on the ‘MyBMC MARG’ system has been provided to the citizens.

Potholes sometimes form on the roads during the monsoon season. In this context, the Municipal Corporation is constantly striving to take immediate notice of the complaints received from the citizens and take necessary corrective action. Digital media is being used to make the process of registering pothole complaints easy and efficient for the citizens. Last year, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation had launched a separate mobile application ‘Pothole QuickFix’ for lodging complaints about potholes on roads. Through this application, citizens can lodge complaints with information, photos and location of potholes on roads. The initiative received a good response from the citizens. During this time, citizens had to use different systems for lodging complaints related to different departments of the municipal corporation. Keeping this in mind, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has launched a comprehensive system ‘MyBMC MARG’ from this year to provide more comprehensive and convenient services to the citizens. The mobile application ‘Pothole QuickFix’ has been integrated into this system. Accordingly, the facility to lodge a total of 114 types of complaints related to various departments of the municipal corporation including potholes, solid waste management, sewage issues, water supply, road maintenance, parks, public health, pest control, encroachments, lighting is available on ‘MyBMC MARG’.
The feature of the ‘MyBMC MARG’ system is that it is possible for citizens to register complaints from one platform, upload relevant images, check the current status of the complaint, track the action taken by the concerned department and get information about it after the complaint is resolved. Hence, the entire process from complaint registration to redressal has become more transparent and citizen-centric. This initiative by the Burhan Mumbai Municipal Corporation has made the complaint registration process easy, transparent and efficient and has provided a single comprehensive digital platform for citizens to follow up on their grievances. Especially when citizens register complaints of potholes on the roads, it becomes easier for the concerned department to take immediate action. This helps in expediting the pothole repair process. Android users can download the MyBMC MARG application on their smartphones using MyBMC MARG – Apps on Google Play and iPhone users can download the MyBMC MARG app – App Store. The people of Mumbai are appealing to the Municipal Corporation to register all complaints regarding potholes on the roads on the ‘MyBMC MARG’ system.

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Maharashtra

Mumbai: Two accused arrested for staging a drama of jewellery theft worth over Rs 60 lakh in Andheri

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Mumbai: Police have succeeded in arresting two such clever accused who had fabricated a story of theft and road accident and staged a drama of jewellery worth Rs 60 lakhs being stolen. However, during the police investigation, it was revealed that the person delivering the gold jewellery was the thief and he had committed the theft along with his friend. MIDC police had registered a case of theft on the complaint of Kanchan Pawar of Gold Star Company. According to the details, the complainant had sent his employee Avinash Gangadhar Kadam (26) to deliver the gold jewellery. At the same time, he told that his motorcycle Activa had met with an accident and during this time the gold jewellery and bag were also stolen. He pretended to be admitted to the hospital without any injury or wound. During this, the police examined several CCTV footage and it was revealed that the suspect, whose name is Manoj Hemant Jogdand (41), was patrolling here in a suspicious manner before the accident. During the investigation, the police came to know that It turned out that both of them had faked the theft and planned the robbery by describing the incident as an accident. After that, the police also took Avinash into custody. In this case, the police arrested both the accused and solved the mystery. This operation was carried out by DCP Dutta Nalawade on the instructions of Mumbai Police Commissioner Devin Bharti.

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