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.
Strict security measures in place in Mumbai for Messi's events at 2 venues Dec 14, say police
Mumbai (PTI): In view of Argentine superstar footballer Lionel Messi's visit to Mumbai on Sunday, the city police are implementing stringent security measures, like not allowing water bottles, metals, coins inside the stadiums and setting up watchtowers to keep an eye on the crowd, officials said.
The police also said taking extra care to avoid any stampede-like situation and to prevent recurrence of the chaotic situation that unfolded in Kolkata during Messi's visit on Saturday as thousands of fans protested inside the Salt Lake stadium here after failing to catch a clear glimpse of the football icon despite paying hefty sums for tickets.
Messi is expected to be present at the Cricket Club of India (Brabourne Stadium) in Mumbai on Sunday for a Padel GOAT Cup event followed by attending a celebrity football match. He is expected to proceed to the Wankhede Stadium for the GOAT India Tour main event around 5 pm.
"In view of Lionel Messi's visit to Mumbai, the police are geared up and have put in place a high level of security arrangements in and around the stadiums located in south Mumbai. Considering the chaos that prevailed in Kolkata and the security breach, we have deployed World Cup-level security arrangements at Brabourne and Wankhede stadiums," an official said.
Expecting heavy crowd near the stadiums during Messi's visit, the city police force has deployed more than 2,000 of its personnel near and around both the venues, he said.
As the Mumbai police have the experience of security 'bandobast' during the victory parade of ICC World Cup-winning Indian team and World Cup final match at the Wankhede Stadium, in which over one lakh cricket fans had gathered, we are prepared to handle a large crowd of fans, he said.
"We are trying to avoid the errors that occurred in the past," the official said.
There is no place to sneak inside the stadiums in Mumbai like the Kolkata stadium, according to him.
The police are also asking the organisers to provide all the required facilities to the fans inside the stadium, so that there will be no chaos, he said, adding the spectators have purchased tickets in the range of Rs 5,000 to 25,000. After paying so much of amount, any spectator expects proper services, while enjoying the event, he said.
The police are expecting 33,000 spectators at the Wankhede Stadium and over 4,000 at Brabourne Stadium. Besides this, more than 30,000 people are expected outside and around the stadiums just to have a glimpse of the football sensation, he said.
The organisers responsible for Messi's India visit recently came to Mumbai to discuss security arrangements. During the meeting, the Mumbai police asked them not to take the event lightly, according to the official.
After those requirements were fulfilled, the final security deployment was chalked out, he said.
Police has the standard procedure of the security arrangements inside the Wankhede Stadium, where people are barred from taking water bottles, metals objects, coins. Police are setting up watch towers near the stadiums and there will be traffic diversions, so that there is maximum space available to stand, according to the official.
Police are also appealing to the spectators to use public transport service for commuting and avoid personal vehicles to reach south Mumbai.
To avoid any stampede-like situation, police are also taking precautionary measures and will stop the fans some distance ahead of the stadium and public announcement systems will be used to guide the crowd. Barricades will be placed at various places to manage the crowd.
In case the crowd swells up beyond expectation, the police will divert people to other grounds and preparations in this regard underway, he said.
Additional police force has been deployed in south Mumbai to tackle any kind of situation, he said.
