Maharashtra elections: Five INDIA candidates move Bombay High Court against Mahayuti victories
Mumbai: Following their defeat in the Maharashtra assembly elections, five candidates from parties under the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) have filed petitions before the Bombay High Court, challenging the victories of rival Mahayuti candidates.
The candidates who have approached the court are Manohar Krishna Madhavi, Prashant Sudam Jagtap, Mahesh Kothe, Naresh Ratan Manera, and Sunil Chandrakant Bhusara. They are seeking the annulment of the election results in their contested constituencies, as reported by Bar and Bench on Wednesday.
The petitioners have alleged misconduct in the elections, including duplicate voting, concealed criminal cases, asset concealment, EVM malfunctions, bribery, and a lack of transparency in the election process, the report mentioned.
Madhavi, a Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate from Airoli, lost to BJP's Ganesh Chandra Naik. In his petition, Madhavi alleges that Naik and the Election Commission allowed duplicate voting entries and misused the electoral system by letting people vote multiple times during the elections.
Jagtap, a Nationalist Congress Party (SP) leader, who contested from Hadapsar has challenged the election win of Chetan Vitthal Tupe, an NCP candidate from the Ajit Pawar faction. In his petition, Jagtap claims that Tupe hid his criminal cases and failed to disclose his income details, violating Section 125A of the Representation of People Act, 1951.
Kothe, another NCP (SP) candidate from Solapur North, has contested the election result where BJP's Vijaykumar Deshmukh emerged victorious. His petition claims that Deshmukh violated election rules as he concealed immovable properties and other assets. The petition also argues that the returning officer improperly accepted the nominations.
Manera, a Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate from Ovala-Majiwda, has challenged the election win of Pratap Baburao Sarnaik, an NCP (AP) MLA and current transport minister in the Devendra Fadnavis-led government. The petition claims issues with the EVM-VVPAT system at one polling booth, which allegedly helped Sarnaik win. It also criticises the overall conduct of the election process.
Bhusara, a NCP (SP) candidate from Vikramgad constituency, has contested the victory of BJP's Harishchandra Sakharam Bhoye. According to Bhasura's plea, Bhoye used corrupt practices, including bribery to win, undermining the Representation of People Act. Additionally, the petition claims that there was a refusal to provide Form 17-C and CCTV footage reducing transparency in the election process.
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Modified scheme to provide cashless treatment for road accident victims nationwide: Nitin Gadkari
New Delhi, Jan 8: The government will come up with a modified scheme by March to provide cashless treatment for road accident victims nationwide, under which they will be entitled to a maximum amount of Rs 1.5 lakh per accident per person, Union minister Nitin Gadkari said on Tuesday.
According to Gadkari, the scheme will be applicable to all road accidents caused by the use of motor vehicles on any category of road.
The National Health Authority (NHA) shall be the implementing agency for the programme, in coordination with police, hospitals and State Health Agency etc.
The programme will be implemented through an IT platform, combining the functionalities of the e-Detailed Accident Report (eDAR) application of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and the Transaction Management System of NHA.
"The broad contours of the pilot programme are -- victims entitled to cashless treatment up to a maximum of Rs 1.5 lakh per accident per person for a maximum period of 7 days from date of the accident," Gadkari said while addressing a press conference.
The government will come up with a modified scheme by March this year.
On March 14, 2024, the ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH) had launched a pilot programme to provide cashless treatment to road accident victims.
The pilot programme -- initiated in Chandigarh -- was aimed at establishing an ecosystem for providing timely medical care to the victims of road accidents, including during the golden hour.
The pilot project was later expanded to six states.
The road transport and highways minister also said the government is studying labour laws to frame a policy for fixing working hours for commercial drivers, on the lines of pilots, as driver fatigue is resulting in fatal road crashes, Gadkari said, adding that India is facing a shortage of 22 lakh drivers.
MoRTH organised a two-day workshop on January 6, and 7, 2025 to holistically deliberate issues, solutions and next steps to be taken to help drive transformation in India's road transport sector.
During the two-day workshop, accelerating implementation of Vehicle Scrapping Policy, pan-India adoption of PUCC 2.0, timelines for introduction of BS-VII norms were discussed, along with expected reduction in pollution with the norms.
Gadkari also launched the scheme for pan-India setup of Driver Training Institutes (DTI) which provides incentives for setting up DTIs and additional incentives for integrated infrastructure of ATSs and DTIs.
The minister stressed on the introduction of specific regulations and guidelines for improving E-Rickshaw safety, given the proliferation of e-rickshaws across the country.
Gadkari said deliberations were done for introduction of Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) for trucks and strict enforcement of retro reflective tape for transport vehicle safety.
Implementation of monitoring centers & vehicle location tracking devices (VLTD) for safety of women and children were also discussed.
The meeting also discussed the launch and integration of all faceless services by the end of March 2025.
"Further, a Committee of Secretaries with representatives from States, MoRTH and NIC will work towards standardization of faceless services modules, document standardization for registration," he added.
