Thirty activists of Republican Party of India (RPI) were today arrested on charges of unlawful assembly outside a counting centre in suburban Chembur.

The workers started shouting slogans and staged demonstration in the evening when they realised that their party candidate Deepak Nikhalje was losing the polls , According to the RCF police,

“As they were causing inconvenience to people, we asked them to stop their demonstration. Despite orders, the workers staged protests following which they were arrested,” Shirish Shelke, senior police inspector, RCF police station. he also added that the workers demanded a re-polling and alleged that the EVM machines used in the elections were faulty. The accused will be produced before a local court tomorrow.

Excerpt from CG+, reported by Vrunda Moghe Dev on  Saturday, October 10, 2009: Read Full Article

With the Lok Sabha elections done with plenty of complaints of missing names at times omissions of entire buildings from the voters’ lists, the local Election Commission office was asked to take note of these complaints and gear up for the State Assembly elections.

With the latter almost at the threshhold, the newly made cards too are not free from errors. Prabhakar Ranande, president of Bal Vikas Sangh showed how many errors just two cards,-his and his wife’s, contained. Ranade lamented, “I have been a voter for more than three decades and have been a resident of the same place.

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.

Candidates of Mankhurd Shivaji Nagar 2009 Assembly Election

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.