Maharashtra, Jharkhand Election 2024 Live Updates: Baba Siddique's son Zeeshan joins Ajit Pawar's NCP ahead of polls

Zeeshan Siddique, son of Baba Siddique and sitting Congress MLA from Bandra (East), has officially joined the Ajit Pawar faction of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) ahead of the Maharashtra assembly elections.

Son of late NCP leader Baba Siddique, former Mumbai Youth Congress president Zeeshan Siddiqui joins the NCP in Mumbai.

NCP announces Zeeshan Siddiqui as party candidate from Bandra East Constituency for

BJP leader Nishikant Bhosale Patil and former BJP MP Sanjaykaka Patil joined the NCP on Friday in the presence of Deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, ahead of Maharashtra's upcoming elections.

According to sources, Sanjaykaka Patil and Nishikant Bhosale have received their AB forms and are now official candidates for the NCP in the Maharashtra Election 2024, representing Tasgaon and Islampur, respectively.

Earlier on Thursday, a crucial meeting was held in Delhi between home minister Amit Shah and leaders of the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance to prepare for the state elections. Chief minister Eknath Shinde, Deputy Chief Ministers Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar, along with leaders like Chandrashekhar Bawankule, Praful Patel, and Sunil Tatkare attended the meeting.

Son of late NCP leader Baba Siddique, former Mumbai Youth Congress president Zeeshan Siddiqui arrives at the NCP office in Mumbai.

Turning down the plea of the Sharad Pawar faction of NCP, Supreme Court on Thursday allowed the breakaway group led by Ajit Pawar to use the 'clock' symbol for Maharashtra assembly polls with the caveat that the deputy CM should mention in all print and audio/visual advertisements of the party that litigation over name and symbol of the undivided party is sub-judice.The apex court asked Ajit Pawar to give an undertaking that he would meticulously follow the directive.

26 BJP candidates filed their nominations today including Mangal Prabhat Lodha, Kalidas Kolambkar, Parag Alavani, Mihir Kotecha and Atul Bhatkalkar in Mumbai. All are sitting MLAs.

The Shiv Sena (UBT) has awarded the Sewri candidacy to its sitting MLA Ajay Chaudhry. Chaudhry's rival Sainik Sudhir Salvi, who is the secretary of the Lalbaugcha Raja Ganeshotsav Mandal, has been denied the seat. Salvi says he is disappointed by the refusal, but will remain loyal to Uddhav Thackeray and not defect to another party.

Thackeray said he has rewarded Chaudhry for "standing by him during difficult times".

"Baramati candidate selection is based on the demand from the local people of Baramati...I had the interaction with them...They have suggested he is the new face young & educated and can take everyone along...So we thought he would be the best person from our side...The way people are supporting him I think there will be different results this time," said Jayant Patil. (ANI)

The NCP (SP) Maharashtra chief Jayant Patil said, "Yogendra Pawar to contest from Baramati assembly constituency". Yongendra Pawar will face deputy CM and NCP chief Ajit Pawar.

"As per instructions from Nation President Sharad Pawar, I am announcing the first list of NCP SP. Jayant Patil to contest from Islampur. Jitendra Awahad to contest from Mumbra. Anil Deshmukh to contest from Katol. Rohit Pawar to contest from Karjat Jamkhed and Rohini Khadse to contest from Muktainagar...," said Maharashtra State President of the NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar faction). (ANI)

JD(S) leader & Union Minister Kumaraswamy's son Nikhil Kumaraswamy is NDA candidate for Channapatna Assembly bypoll, said BJP veteran Yediyurappa. (PTI)

"We are working together. INDIA alliance is working as one...SP and INDIA alliance will fight the election with strength...," Ajay Rai told to news agency ANI.

Maharashtra agriculture minister and NCP leader Dhananjay Munde, who is re-contesting the upcoming state poll from his Parli seat, on Thursday said no election is easy and he does not take even a local poll lightly. Winning the people's faith in a constituency after every five years is a tough job, Munde told reporters at Parli in Beed district before leaving for filing his nomination.

In the 2019 state assembly polls, the minister defeated his cousin and BJP leader Pankaja Munde from Parli.

Last year, Dhananjay Munde supported the NCP faction led by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, following a split in the party founded by Sharad Pawar.

Elections to the 288-member Maharashtra assembly will be held on November 20 and votes will be counted on November 23.

The MahaYuti partners comprising BJP, Shiv Sena and NCP hope to arrive at an understanding on the occasion of auspicious Gurupushyamrut Yog on Thursday after a meeting with union home minister Amit Shah.

MahaYuti sources said there are about 30 seats where the three allies have yet to arrive at a consensus. The MahaYuti allies hope to seal the seat-sharing agreement after the intervention of HM Amit Shah who had recently told them to reach out to him if they fail to reach a consensus during their talks.

Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has already left for Delhi while deputy chief Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar have been in the national capital since Wednesday as the joint meeting was to take place in the night.

Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate from Worli, Aaditya Thackeray says, "I am very confident that people will bless me with their love & votes because we are about to form govt in Maharashtra. That's for sure."

On Maha Vikas Aghadi seat-sharing, he says, "All of that will happen. What is important is to defeat Eknath Shinde and BJP that have looted Maharashtra."

The BJP on Thursday launched a vitriolic attack on the Gandhi family, saying Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's nomination from Wayanad was a victory of dynastic politics and defeat of merit. BJP national spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia also alleged discrepancies in the declaration of assets in Priyanka Gandhi's poll affidavit

Addressing a press conference here at the BJP headquarters, he also accused the Gandhi family of "insulting" Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, a Dalit, by not allowing him to join the filing of nomination inside the collector's office.

"It's a victory of corruption of Gandhi family and dynastic politics and defeat of merit," he said slamming the Congress over nomination of Priyanka Gandhi from the Wayanad seat in Kerala.

Expressing happiness over the nomination of Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra for the Wayanad Lok Sabha by-elections, her husband Robert Vadra said that he is delighted that she has taken a step for herself as she has previously only thought for her family and the people of the country.

The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance--comprising the Congress, the NCP (Sharad Pawar faction), and the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT)--will contest 85 seats each in the upcoming Maharashtra assembly elections, confirmed Shiv Sena (UBT) Sanjay Raut. He added that the MVA's unity should come before the people and that the Maharashtra assembly elections must be held without any hindrance.

"Yesterday a list came on X, that will have to be rectified because there are a lot of corrections in it. It will be done today. We have reached a consensus on the 85 seats for the three parties and the work will be completed in the remaining assembly constituencies by this evening. Our small parties will also have to be given seats. We will discuss that as well," said Sanjay Raut.

Aam Aadmi Party Convenor Arvind Kejriwal will campaign for INDIA bloc candidates in Maharashtra and Jharkhand, ANI reported quoting sources.
As per the sources Arvind Kejriwal is likely to campaign on assembly seats where AAP has a volunteer base and where the MVA candidates don't have a controversial background.

"Shiv Sena-UBT and NCP-SP have approached Aam Aadmi Party for Arvind Kejriwal to campaign in Maharashtra. Kejriwal is likely to campaign on assembly seats where AAP has a volunteer base and where the MVA candidates don't have a controversial background. In addition to Kejriwal, other senior AAP leaders will also campaign for MVA candidates," sources said.

Kejriwal is also likely to campaign for JMM candidates in Jharkhand.

In a setback to Congress, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav announced on X late Wednesday evening that 'India bloc' candidates will contest on 'bicycle' symbol on all nine seats in the forthcoming bypolls in UP.

Congress candidate from the Dausa Assembly constituency in Rajasthan, Deen Dayal Bairwa, has termed the upcoming by-election the fight between the ideology of his party and that of the BJP.

He slammed the 10-month-long BJP government in the state saying that it ended all the public welfare schemes of the previous Congress government in the state and that it did not do anything in the public interest.

"This election is an election of ideology. The BJP candidate is contesting the election with the BJP ideology and I am contesting the election with the ideology of the Congress," Bairwa told reporters after his candidature was announced by the Congress.

Chandrakant Patil, Maharashtra minister and Bharatiya Janata Party candidate from Kothrud assembly seat, said on Thursday that people felt betrayed when the Waqf amendment bill was sent to the Joint Parliamentary Committee, and due to that the people have decided to give a huge majority to the party in the state's upcoming assembly elections.

"There was a bit of betrayal felt regarding the Waqf amendment bill, not only the ministers but common people felt that the bill should not have been sent to the Joint Parliamentary Committee. When the abrogation of Article 370 was passed, it was passed in the morning, first by cabinet then went through lok sabha, rajya sabha and by night the president signed it, but this was not the case because in Lok Sabha there were a little less seats won, so no people have decided to give a majority to the party," he said.

"People were casual before, that the party would cross 400 anyway, but now they will be attentive and vote for us," he added.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday said it would hear on Wednesday a plea filed by veteran leader Sharad Pawar-led group raising the issue over the use of "clock" symbol by Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar-led faction of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). The application was mentioned for urgent listing before a bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan.

The counsel appearing for the Sharad Pawar faction informed the bench that the matter was supposed to be listed today (October 22) but hadn't found a mention in the causelist.

He argued the plea seeks that both factions be directed not to use the "clock" symbol.

"On this issue, we had earlier passed some detailed order... It was kind of a consent order," the bench observed.

Union minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Wednesday hit out at the ruling JMM-led coalition in Jharkhand, accusing it of plundering the state's rich resources. Addressing a rally in Garhwa in support of BJP candidate Satyendra Nath Tiwari, Chouhan alleged that the JMM-led government has "completely destroyed" Jharkhand's wealth -- forests, water, and minerals.

"There is a long list of scams and corruption associated with this dishonest government. Large sums of money have been recovered from the houses of JMM ministers while ordinary citizens suffered from rising costs and dwindling resources. The BJP on being voted to power here will ensure good governance and alleviate the plight of the people," he said.

Alleging that ministers in the state government embezzled funds allocated for central schemes such as the Jal Jeevan Mission and MNREGA, he said, "While 'Kumbhakarna' slept for six months, they consumed resources round the year."

Chouhan said this election was not just about electing representatives but about saving "our land, our daughters, and our jobs".

Maharashtra Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis will file his nomination papers from Nagpur South-West assembly constituency here on Friday, a BJP release said. The BJP has already released its first list of candidates for the November 20 Maharashtra assembly elections. Along with Fadnavis, the party's Nagpur-South candidate Mohan Mate and Nagpur-East candidate Krishna Khopde will also file their nominations at the Nagpur district collectorate on October 25.

After hectic daylong negotiations with Congress and NCP (SP), Shiv Sena (UBT) Wednesday announced its first list of 65 candidates for the assembly polls. It has renominated 14 of its 15 sitting MLAs and declared nominees for 13 seats in Mumbai, including Aaditya Thackeray from Worli and Aaditya's cousin Varun Sardesai from Bandra East.

While naming candidates for 12 seats in broader Mumbai Metropolitan Region, the party has fielded Kedar Dighe, nephew of the late Shiv Sena leader Anand Dighe, from Kopri-Pachpakhadi against CM Eknath Shinde, who speaks of Anand Dighe as his mentor.

Amid the ongoing stalemate over seat-sharing arrangements in the Mahayuti alliance over at least four seats in Mumbai and adjoining areas, senior BJP functionaries, including Maharashtra deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis and state president Chandrashekhar Bawankule on Wednesday called on Union home minister Amit Shah to explore possible solutions.

BJP released its first list of 99 candidates last Sunday after which Shiv Sena workers opposed BJP candidates in at least four seats, including Kalyan East, Thane, Navi Mumbai and Murbad.

The JMM on Wednesday announced candidates in six more assembly segments, taking its tally of seats to 41. However, it did not announce name Jama (ST) seat, held by CM Hemant Soren's sister-in-law Sita since 2009 until she moved to the BJP before Lok Sabha election earlier this year.

Rajya Sabha MP Mahua Maji was fielded in Ranchi against BJP's CP Singh, who is seeking a seventh consecutive term this time. Maji, elected to the Upper House in 2022, fought in the seat in 2014 and 2019. She lost to Singh by 5,900 votes five years ago. Maji will file her nomination papers Thursday.

The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance of Congress, Sharad Pawar's NCP, and Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena in Maharashtra has sealed the seat-sharing deal for the upcoming assembly elections. The three parties have agreed to contest on 85 seats each, the bloc announced on Wednesday."We have decided that Congress, NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) and Shiv Sena (UBT) will contest on 85 seats each," Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole and Uddhav Sena's Sanjay Raut told reporters.