Opposition leader Devendra Fadnavis celebrates after BJP's victory, at the Vidhan Bhavan on Monday. (Express Photo by Ganesh Shirsekar)Mumbai News Live: In a major blow to the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance (MVA), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday swept the state Legislative Council polls with 133 votes, including 27 votes from other parties and Independents. All its five candidates – Pravin Darekar, Ram Shinde, Shrikant Bharatiya, Uma Khapre and Prasad Lad got elected. On the other hand, the ruling alliance was left red-faced as Congress’ Dalit face, Chandrakant Handore, lost out following cross-voting by at least three MLAs each of Shiv Sena and Congress, and furthermore from its smaller alliance partners. This is the second consecutive loss for the ruling MVA in a matter of two weeks as the BJP had, on June 10, managed to trump MVA in the Rajya Sabha polls.
Mean While, Former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh has alleged that it was Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and his son Aaditya, also a state cabinet minister, who ‘pressured’ him to reinstate suspended cop Sachin Waze. Singh’s allegations are part of the ‘corruption’ charge sheet filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against former state home minister Anil Deshmukh.
Also, Mumbai University’s decision to start its admission for degree courses in affiliated colleges while students of Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and Indian Certificate of School Education (ICSE) are still waiting for their Class 12 results, has been heavily criticised for being “unfair and discriminatory”.
The agency wants to question Parab in connection with a money laundering case linked to Sai Resort at the hill station of Dapoli. (File)
For the first time, several High Courts will hold Yoga Day celebrations and have invited judges, advocates and court staff to the court complex to attend a live telecast of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s address to mark the day on June 21 at 6:30 am.
Bharat Bhushan Gupta, Registrar (Administration), Rajasthan High Court, said: “This is the first time the court would hold Yoga Day celebrations. These are being held because we have received directions from the Department of Justice, Government of India.”
Mahendra Chandwani, Registrar General of the Bombay High Court, and Rahul Bhagwat, Registrar (Original Side) of the court, said the Ministry of Ayush has issued guidelines regarding holding the event and the Ministry of Law and Justice, along with the Supreme Court, has given directions in this regard. Read more.
Yoga by personnel from Western Naval Command for celebrating International Yoga Day at naval dockyard.
Express photo by Narendra Vaskar.
The Maharashtra Congress suffered a major loss of face on Monday after it failed to ensure the victory of its candidate Chandrakant Handore, who interestingly was deemed as the party’s first choice candidate, and the most likely to get elected in view of the numbers that the party has in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly.
The Congress had fielded two candidates in the Legislative Council elections in spite of having numbers to ensure the victory of only one. The candidate list released by the Congress had Handore’s name as the first candidate and many felt that he would easily sail through while the second party candidate, Bhai Jagtap, would face a tough battle as he needed votes from the party’s allies to see his candidature sail through.
While Jagtap emerged triumphant, Handore suffered a defeat. Read more.