BJP drops Poonam Mahajan, picks 26/11 prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam from Mumbai North Central seat
New Delhi, Apr 27: The BJP on Saturday dropped incumbent Lok Sabha MP Poonam Mahajan as its candidate from the Mumbai North Central seat and named lawyer Ujjwal Deorao Nikam in her place.
Nikam is a well-known name in the legal circle and was a government counsel in the the Mumbai terror attack case.
Mahajan, the daughter of late BJP leader Pramod Mahajan, was elected from the constituency in 2014 and 2019.
She is also a former president of the BJP's youth wing.
Party leaders have claimed that the decision to drop her was based on organisational feedback.
Though indications had been there for some time that Mahajan would be dropped, it was the party's search for her replacement that took time, sources said.
The Congress has fielded its city unit chief and Dharavi MLA Varsha Gaikwad from Mumbai North Central.
Voting in Mumbai is scheduled to be held on May 20 in the fifth phase of the polls.
The BJP also named eight more candidates for the Odisha assembly polls, which will be held alongside the general elections.
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SIT initiates probe to identify persons who 'forced' woman to lodge complaint in sexual abuse case
Bengaluru (PTI): The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the alleged multiple instances of sexual abuse by Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna has initiated an inquiry to identify those who allegedly called a woman and "forced" her to register a "fake complaint" against the JD(S) leader, sources said on Friday.
The move comes after the National Commission for Women (NCW) said that one woman complainant who reached out to it claimed she was forced to register a fake complaint against the 33-year-old, who is the Lok Sabha poll candidate for Hassan and the grandson of JD(S) patriarch and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda.
Sources said the investigating team headed by Additional Director General of Police B K Singh got to know about the woman only after NCW forwarded the complaint to SIT.
A senior official who is a part of the investigation team said that no one from SIT has contacted her before and she has not filed any complaint with them in this regard.
“SIT has initiated an inquiry into this matter to identify the persons who made phone calls to the woman and accordingly necessary legal action will be taken against such persons,” a source said.
According to the NCW, the woman complainant came to the commission to register a complaint against three individuals, allegedly introducing themselves as Karnataka Police officials and forcing her to allegedly give a false complaint in this case.
“She stated that she is being called by random phone numbers threatening her (telling her to lodge) a complaint. It has come to light that this complainant was forced by a group of individuals to file a complaint, under the threat of potential harassment and false implications. The victim has sought protection for her family’s welfare, underscoring the seriousness of the situation,” the NCW stated.
