Kejriwal discharged in DDCA defamation case
New Delhi, April 19: A court here on Thursday discharged Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and suspended BJP parliamentarian Kirti Azad in a criminal defamation complaint filed by the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) and its then Vice-President Chetan Chauhan.
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal allowed Kejriwal's application for discharge, saying that there was not an iota of evidence that the DDCA or any official were personally defamed by his statement.
Chauhan, in February 2016, filed a defamation case against Kejriwal and Azad and accused them of defaming the cricket body by passing "scandalous" remarks.
Referring to Kejriwal's interview to a news channel wherein he allegedly said that sexual favours were sought for selecting players, the complainant alleged that "false" charges were levelled against the cricket association.
The plea claimed that Kejriwal's "false" statements were immediately endorsed and repeated by Azad.
The complainant said the accused (Kejriwal and Azad) had severely damaged the credibility and reputation of the complainant (DDCA) in the eyes of thousands of cricket lovers and citizens of India as well as internationally.
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Ajit Pawar wins Baramati battle, defeats nephew Yugendra by more than 1 lakh votes
Baramati, Nov 23: Maharashtra deputy Chief Minister and NCP president Ajit Pawar on Saturday won from his traditional Baramati assembly constituency by defeating his nephew and NCP (SP) candidate Yugendra Pawar by more than one lakh votes.
Ajit, who parted ways with his uncle Sharad Pawar last year and was seeking an eighth term from this family bastion in Pune district, polled 1,81,132 votes while Yugendra Pawar polled 80,233 votes.
Ajit, thus, defeated his younger brother's son by 1,00,899 votes.
Five months ago, Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP) had triumphed in Baramati in the Lok Sabha elections, with incumbent MP and Sharad Pawar's daughter Supriya Sule defeating Ajit Pawar's wife Sunetra by a margin of 1.5 lakh votes.
Both the NCP factions did not leave a single stone unturned during the assembly campaign, and even Sharad Pawar's wife Pratibha Pawar and Sule's daughter Revati were seen campaigning for Yugendra, while Ajit Pawar brought his mother on stage during his concluding rally in Baramati.
While Sharad Pawar told the people of Baramati that they needed a new leadership, alluding to Yugendra Pawar whom he described as a highly-educated candidate, Ajit Pawar cautioned people not to fall prey to the "emotional pitch" by the senior Pawar.
After Saturday's results, Ajit Pawar, who along with several other NCP legislators sided with the BJP-Shiv Sena government in 2023, could claim to be the real political heir of his estranged uncle who founded the NCP in 1999.
Sunetra Pawar, now a Rajya Sabha member, thanked the people of Baramati for reposing their faith once again in `Dada' (elder brother in Marathi, as Ajit is fondly called).
