Maharashtra Legislative Council Elections: Cong seeks ban on BJP MLA who shot Sena leader from voting

Congress has urged the returning officer of the biennial elections to the Maharashtra Legislative Council to prohibit BJP MLA Ganpat Gaikwad accused of firing upon a Shiv Sena leader inside a police station from casting his vote reported PTIIn a letter to the returning officer Abhijit Vanzari the representative of Congress candidate Pradnya Satav said Gaikwad is in judicial custody and cannot vote under Section 625 of Representation of the People Act 1951We hear Gaikwad will be coming to Vidhan Bhavan to vote Please stop him from doing so illegally and protect constitutional values without coming under any pressure Or else we will have to take legal recourse the letter said reported PTIGaikwad represents the Kalyan East assembly constituency He was arrested in February for allegedly opening fire on a Shiv Sena leader Mahesh Gaikwad inside a police station at Ulhasnagar in Thane district over a land disputeSince the incident the BJP leader has been in judicial custodyVoting is underway on Friday for 11 seats of the upper house of the state legislature with 12 candidates in the fray Polling is being held at the Vidhan Bhavan complex in south Mumbai between 9 am and 4 pmMaharashtra assembly elections Seatsharing talks in Maha Vikas Aghadi underway Congress likely to field candidates on maximum seatsAs the Maharashtra assembly elections are slated to be held later this year discussions on seatsharing in the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance consisting of the Congress the Nationalist Congress Party NCPSP and the Shiv Sena UBT among others are underway reported news agency ANIThe Maharashtra assembly elections are scheduled later this year to elect 288 members of the Maharashtra Legislative AssemblyEarlier on Tuesday the top leaders of the three major allies Congress NCPSP and Shiv Sena UBT held a meeting and deliberated on the seatsharing formula reported ANIAccording to the sources from the Congress the party is likely to contest 120130 assembly seats the Shiv Sena UBT 90100 seats while the NCPSP is likely to contest 7580 seats in the coming Maharashtra assembly elections reported ANIThe Maharashtra Congress Unit is set to hold a twoday meeting to discuss seatsharing starting todayEarlier after the conclusion of the Maharashtra Bharatiya Janata Party core committee on June 29 party state president Ashish Shelar said that the BJP will contest the assembly polls with its Mahayuti ally partners and a road map for the same was decided in the meetingShelar said that a proposal was passed appreciating the budget of Maharashtra which covers the welfare of all segments of society including farmers youth women etcBJP will contest assembly polls with its Mahayuti ally partners and a road map for the same was decided in the meeting No organisational changes are to be made in the state unit of the BJP Also a proposal was passed appreciating yesterdays budget of Maharashtra which covers the welfare of all segments of society including farmers youth women etc A clear road map for contesting and winning Assembly polls was discussed and finalised the BJP leader said reported ANIThe Lok Sabha polls 2024 have given a boost to the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance with the Shiv Sena UBT winning seven seats the Congress 13 and the NCPSP one taking the total tally of the alliance 17 reported ANIThe Bharatiya Janata Party BJP dipped to nine seats in Maharashtra against 23 in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls The vote share stood at 2618 per centIn the 2019 Maharashtra assembly elections the BJP and the undivided Shiv Sena had contested in an alliance The BJP won 105 seats while the Sena won 56 seats The undivided NCP had won 44 seats while the Congress had won 44 seats