Maharashtra Council polls: MVA snatches Amravati graduates seat from BJP
Mumbai, Feb 3: In a boost to the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), its candidate Dhiraj Lingade won the Amravati division graduates constituency of the Maharashtra Legislative Council on Friday, defeating sitting legislator Ranjit Patil of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Counting of votes for the Amravati graduates seat lasted nearly 30 hours as it ended at 1.30 pm, even as the process had begun at 8 am on Thursday.
The results of four other seats of the Upper House of the state legislature were declared on Thursday, and two of those four seats were won by the MVA - an alliance of Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress.
In Amravati, MVA's Lingade bagged 46,344 votes, while BJP's sitting MLC Ranjit Patil secured 42,962 votes, an official said.
The counting got delayed because no candidate could secure the necessary quota of votes required for the win, the official said.
After the counting of votes ended, the figures were sent to the Election Commission for approval, and the results were declared at around 4 pm.
There were 23 candidates in the fray in Amravati, of whom 21 were eliminated in the counting of second preference votes. A total of 94,200 votes were polled, of which 8,387 turned invalid, the official said.
Voting for these five Council seats - three teachers segments (falling in Nagpur, Konkan and Aurangabad divisions) and two graduates constituencies (Nashik and Amravati divisions) - was held on January 30 and counting began on Thursday morning. Teachers and graduates fulfilling certain criteria and enrolled as voters formed the electoral college for these elections.
The ruling BJP-Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena combine suffered a setback as MVA-backed candidates clinched three of the five Legislative Council seats. These were the first MLC polls after the Eknath Shinde-led government took charge in June last year. However, there were no candidates directly fielded by either of the Shiv Sena factions (led by Shinde and Uddhav Thackeray each).
In the Nagpur teachers constituency, MVA-backed independent candidate Sudhakar Adbale trumped BJP-supported candidate Nagorao Ganar.
NCP candidate Vikram Kale won the Aurangabad teachers constituency seat defeating BJP nominee Kiran Patil.
The BJP managed to win the Konkan division teachers constituency. BJP candidate Dnyaneshwar Mhatre defeated MVA-backed nominee Balaram Patil.
Independent candidate Satyajit Tambe, whose rebellion rocked the state Congress ahead of polls, won the Nashik graduates constituency comfortably.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
