Excerpt from DNA, reported by Surendra Gangan on Sunday, October 11, 2009: Read Full Article

Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav’s rally in Govandi — to garner support for his state unit chief, Abu Azmi — turned out to be a flop show on Saturday. Singh could not pull in the large numbers he hoped for. Two rallies held by Mulayam at Bhiwandi and Govandi were for Azmi, who is contesting both seats.

The SP has fielded 32 contestants across the state. The turnout in Govandi, in the Mankhurd-Shivaji Nagar constituency, was so low people assembled in the Mhada colony grounds compared it to Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati’s poorly-attended rally last week.

As reported in TOI  by Sharad Vyas, on 10 October 2009

In the run up to the assembly polls, the BMC has, for the first time, filed FIRs against political parties for defying the election model Code of Conduct. Five FIRs were registered on Friday at Deonar and Shivaji Nagar police stations against Raj Thackeray’s MNS, the SP and the Congress for defacing public property.

Two FIRs against the MNS were registered-at Shivaji Nagar and Deonar. One FIR each was lodged against the SP at the same stations, and one FIR against the Congress was filed at Deonar. The action, carried out by the state-appointed quick response team of constituency 171 of Mankhurd, was based on a complaint filed by the local election observer. “We were informed about the incident in the afternoon. The parties had put up flags on electric poles; but by the time we reached there, we found the workers themselves cleaning yup the mess, said N Mhatre, head of the team. The team includes one police officer, a videographer, a representative of the returning officer and a vehicle for patrolling.

A police officer from Shivaji Nagar said: “If found guilty, we may even end up arresting individual candidates of these parties.”

While the MNS has fielded Appasaheb Wagare, Abu Azmi is contesting on an SP ticket and the Congress’s K Sayed Ahmed is also in the fray from the Mankhurd constituency.

Defacement of public property is an offence under the Maharashtra Prevention of Defacement of Property Act, 1995, and can attract prosecution. The BMC can also take measures against the accused under Section 328 of the BMC Act. “The police will now prosecute them. If found guilty, they face imprisonment of up to three months,” said Mhatre.

As reported in  economictimes.indiatimes.com on 9 Oct 2009, by  Abhiram Ghadyalpatil, ET Bureau

A popular television show host versus an old Shiv Sainik now in the Congress camp. Another old Shiv Sainik versus a new Shiv Sainik. And Sainik versus Sainik. Elections to the six Assembly segments in the Mumbai South-Central Lok Sabha constituency have multiple mutinies being fought.

The results will largely determine who rules the political space in the island city because Mumbai South-Central constituency is the only Lok Sabha segment, apart from Mumbai South, which now represents the old city. The Shiv Sena, the Congress and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena have much at stake in the six Assembly segments here. In two of these, the Congress-NCP have two of their ministers contesting.

Much has changed in this part of the city since Congress nominee Eknath Gaikwad defeated Shiv Sena’s Suresh Gambhir by over 76,000 votes in the Lok Sabha election. The Shiv Sena has lost one of its footsoldiers and sitting legislators, Sada Sarvankar, to the Congress, which promptly fielded him from Mahim constituency. But the change in Mr Sarvankar’s political address happened after the Sena leadership gave ticket to popular television show host Aadesh Bandekar.

Now, it’s the new Sainik versus the old Sainik in the very heart of the Sena. But between the saffron and the secular, the Mahim constituency, which has parts of the old Dadar segments after delimitation, has a third shade to vote for.

The MNS has fielded one of its star candidates, Nitin Sardesai, from Mahim, banking on support from the traditional Shiv Sena voters. Three top politicians have their prestige at stake in the Mahim contest. Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray has to prove that the Sena is still the kind of its castle.

His estranged cousin, Raj Thackeray, will make a grand statement of his growing clout if the MNS nominee manages to upset the Sena in its backyard. The stakes are also high for Congress leader and former Shiv Sainik Narayan Rane, who got Mr Sarvankar the Congress ticket.

In Dharavi, Congress nominee and sitting legislator Varsha Gaikwad has an edge since five months ago the electorate voted her father to Parliament. But it may not be a smooth sailing, Congress sources caution. They point out that Dharavi recorded a very low percentage of voting in the Lok Sabha election and did not give Mr Gaikwad as thick a lead as he expected.

An interesting contest is on the cards for the old Matunga constituency, now renamed Sion-Koliwada. Against the sitting Congress MLA Jagannath Shetty, who won by a slender margin in 2004 from Matunga, the BJP has fielded Manisha Kayande with eyes on the Marathi vote bank mainly comprising the Koli community. The Third Front has fielded RPI (Athavale) functionary Manoj Sansare, who wields a significant clout in the constituency, so a division in the “secular” vote bank is possible. The MNS factor is strong here, too.

The Shiv Sena has a point or two to prove in Wadala also which was Naigaon before delimitation. Here, the Sena is fighting one of its old footsoldiers, Kalidas Kolamkar, who joined the Congress with Mr Rane in 2005. Mr Kolamkar is a sitting legislator challenged by Sena’s Digambar Kandarkar. A major plus in the Congress nominee’s favour is, again, the MNS.

In Chembur, sitting Congress MLA and minister Chandrakant Handore is sweating it out against the double trouble posed by Anil Thakur of the BJP and Deepak Nikalje of the RPI-Athavale. It was by a very thin margin that Mr Handore had won in 2004 and Mr Nikalje had taken away a huge chunk of vote then also.

Another minister and NCP nominee, Nabab Malik, is pitched against a formidable Sena corporator Tukaram Kate in Anushakti Nagar. Mr Malik has history, resources and a vote bank in his favour. In addition, the Sena candidate, though fairly popular here, has the MNS to worry about.

As reported in Gulfnews.com by Pamela Raghunath, on October 08, 2009

Delimitation of constituencies and squabbles over seats among political parties have brought new challenges to candidates contesting in the Maharashtra assembly elections.

Nationalist Congress Party’s Labour Minister Nawab Malek’s Kurla constituency became a reserved seat for the scheduled caste. He then hoped to stand for elections from the neighbouring Kalina seat. However, that too was taken away and given to Congress’s Kripashankar Singh.

Now, Malek is contesting from Anushaktinagar constituency in Trombay where a whole new set of challenges stand before him.

“From a compact constituency in Kurla, I have to now cover a sprawling area stretching across 16km with varied kind of issues affecting the residents who comprise slum dwellers and well-to-do as well as those living in residential complexes of industries, telecom, oil companies and central government,” he told Gulf News.

With more than 35 years in politics, Malek confidently says his “social work” has known no boundaries. That is why he has been able to quickly immerse into his election campaign with a fresh vigour to listen to people’s problems.

“For more than 20 years, this area has been ignored and neglected. Except for a shabbily-run civic hospital, medical facilities are negligible for the middle class. The slum dwellers in Mankhurd and Govandi suffer from water shortage and lack of sewage facilities.”

He goes on to say how the Deonar abattoir, the only one for Mumbai, is in a terrible shape and the area’s connectivity to South Mumbai and western suburbs is so poor that nearly an hour or two is spent on commuting.

Malek, however, is resolved to make life better for voters, if they chose him.

As reported in  by India Today,  Seema Kamdar, on October 8, 2009

It’s so full of criminals, the list of candidates for Maharashtra’s Assembly polls almost looks like a dossier on prison inmates.

Two of them ‘boast’ of underworld connections while many others have been booked for murder, attempt to murder, dangerous assault, wrongful confinement, robbery, and burglary. Some of the would-be legislators have been accused of even more horrifying crimes such as dealing with slaves and using minors for prostitution.

These revelations have been made by the National Election Watch (NEW), a cluster of NGOs. NEW has compiled the candidates’ profiles, based on the affidavits filed by the candidates themselves. The report says 127 of the 470 candidates screened in Mumbai and Thane have criminal backgrounds.

Sadashiv Lokhande, a Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) candidate from Kurla, has been booked under Section 371. This deals with ‘habitual dealing in slave’ and is punishable with a jail term of 10 years or even a life sentence.

Some candidates have even been accused of trading in minors for purposes of prostitution.

In Jogeshwari East, Congress candidate Bhai Jagtap, who has declared assets worth Rs 12 crore, has five cases against him. These include wrongful confinement and buying a minor for prostitution.

Former BJP corporator Gopal Shetty, a candidate from Borivli, faces charges of ‘habitual dealing in slave’ and ‘buying minor for prostitution purposes’. The Shiv Sena candidate from Dahisar, Vinod Ghosalkar, has also been accused of slave-dealing.

Broadly speaking, both these offences relate to human trafficking, says crime lawyer Tejas Bhatt. “A person booked under Section 371 is charged with not giving the person (deemed as slave) his/ her minimum wages or other benefits under the labour laws,” he explains.

Under Section 373, anyone who keeps a minor can be presumed to be doing so for the purpose of prostitution.

Sada Sarvankar, till recently a Shiv Sena leader who will represent the Congress in Mahim, has 25 cases against him, including attempt to murder and use of dangerous weapons.

Ramchandra Kadam, an MNS candidate from Ghatkopar West, faces charges of cheating and “inducing delivery of property by dishonest means”. Bhavesh Bhinde, an Independent candidate from Mulund, has 25 cases including “taking gift to recover stolen property”. Senior Sena leader Subhash Desai, who is seeking a re-election from Goregaon, has 10 cases against him. Most of them are political such as rioting and defamation.

Pitted against him is a wellknown trade unionist, Sharad Rao, with five cases against him. Rao is fighting on a Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) ticket.

Deepak Nikhalje, underworld don Chhota Rajan’s brother, is fighting from Chembur, apparently against his brother’s wish.

Nikhalje is being fielded by the Republican Party of India (Athavle). He has assets worth about Rs 4 crore and two police cases against him.

Arun Gawli, who has formed the Akhil Bharatiya Sena, is seeking re-election from Byculla.

He faces 13 cases, including murder, extortion and theft.

Apart from dealing in slaves and buying minors, MNS’s Lokhande has also allegedly abetted “the desertion of soldier, sailor, or airman”. His party colleague Pravin Darekar, who is standing from Magathane, and Ashish Shelar, the BJP’s Bandra West candidate, have also been accused of similar offences.

Samajwadi Party’s Abu Asim Azmi, who was acquitted in the serial bomb blast case and is contesting from Mankhurd- Shivaji Nagar, has nine criminal cases against him including extortion, forgery and promoting enmity between groups.

But not all constituencies have crime-tarred candidates.

Some like Mumbadevi and the reserved constituency of Dharavi have a clean slate.

As reported in TOI  by Roana Maria Costa & Viju B, on 6 October 2009

Samajwadi Party leader Abu Asim Azmi, who is contesting from Mankhurd-Shivaji Nagar constituency-which is known for having a huge slum population as well as a large number of people relocated due to civic projects-is Mumbai’s richest assembly candidate with assets of Rs 126.88 crore. Independent candidate Abdul Merchant, standing from the same constituency, has declared Rs 6.01 crore.

At the other end of the spectrum is Raghunath Rane (Independent), Ranjeet Misal (Independent), Mohammed Bukhari (Independent), Sanchit Borade (Independent), Subhash Putran, PRI (D), Sayed Aftab (Independent) and Sabir Chouhan (Independent). All of them have declared zero assets.

Mankhurd also has the maximum number of candidates, 26.

National Election Watch (NEW), Maharashtra, an umbrella organisation for over 1,200 NGOs and citizens’ groups, on Monday released data complied from the affidavits of 470 of 705 candidates contesting the polls in Mumbai and Thane districts. City-based NGOs, under the banner of Mumbai Election Watch, have formulated a citizens’ charter and sent it to all the major political parties (see box).

“We demand the immediate adoption of the police commission’s recommendations and the impartial enforcement of law and speedy justice. We also want the Nagar Raj bill to be passed and the implemenation of the public disclosure law,” said Ajit Ranade, of Maharashtra Election Watch. NEW sent the charter Manikrao Thackeray (Congress), R R Patil (NCP) Uddhav Thackeray (Shiv Sena), Nitin Gadkari (BJP) and Raj Thackeray (MNS).

NEW analysis of different aspects-like criminal records, individual assets and educational qualification-throw up some interesting findings. Dharavi and Mumbadevi are the only two constituencies where not a single candidate faces criminal charges.

The NEW report shows that there are more than 100 crorepatis standing in the polls in Mumbai and Thane. “Of the total of 470 candidates we analysed data for, the candidates put forth by the BJP had the highest perecentage of crorepatis, with 80%. This was followed by NCP (73%),” according to a NEW representative.

As reported in TOI  by Vijay V Singh,  on 5 October 2009

The police on Sunday registered a case against fugitive gangster Chhota Rajan and his two aides for allegedly making threat calls to some of the supporters of his brother Deepak Nikhalje, a Republican Party of India-Athavale candidate from Chembur constituency. Rajan and his associated reportedly asked the workers to abstain from campaigning for Nikhalje.

Nikhalje had unsuccessfully contested the 2004 assembly polls from Chembur. He was defeated by Congress candidate Chandrakant Handore, minister for social justice and welfare. This year too, Nikhalje is contesting against Handore.

According to the police, four RPI supporters received calls from Chhota Rajan, asking them not to associate with Nikhalje. The gangster reportedly told them to work for Handore.

The victims, said the police, received calls from international as well as local mobile numbers on September 14, 16 and 29. Following a written complaint, the police verified the call details and registered a case against Rajan and two others.

The officer said that the local calls were made by Rajan’s local contact and investigations are on. One of the complainants, Ramesh Dhochhe, has alleged that he had received call from Rajan last week. The police will record Nikhalje’s statement as part of the investigations.

Excerpt from DNA, Ashutosh Shukla  on saturday, October 3, 2009: Read Full Article

With 10 days left for the assembly elections, residents’ associations across the city have come up with plans to help voters and ensure a high voter turnout. They have already come up with a helpline which will provide a white paper on candidates that will give a comparison of criminal records, if any, and assets of the candidates in the fray.

They are also taking the help of students to ensure that their parents would come out and vote on the D-day.

“There is a lot of confusion in areas like Chembur. Some areas come under Kurla. So we are giving such details of the constituencies and candidates in our fortnightly paper,” said V Sangole of Pestom Sagar advanced locality management (ALM).