Maharashtra Council Polls: MVA, BJP win 5 seats each
Mumbai, Jun 20: In another setback for the MVA, the BJP won all five seats it contested in the Maharashtra Legislative Council on Monday, while two candidates each of ruling coalition allies Shiv Sena and the NCP, including Eknath Khadse of the NCP, also sailed through, but their partner Congress suffered a jolt as it managed to bag just one seat.
Ten Council seats were up for grabs and 11 candidates were in the fray for the elections, which came days after the Rajya Sabha polls, which saw the BJP handing an embarrassing defeat to the Shiv Sena-led ruling coalition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA).
While the BJP had enough numbers in the Assembly to get four nominees elected easily, its fifth candidate Prasad Lad, too, made it to the Upper House of the state legislature after securing support from MLAs outside his party's pool of legislators, who voted in the elections earlier in the day.
Eight candidates, four of the BJP and two each of the Shiv Sena and the NCP, secured the minimum quota of 26 votes each to make it to the Upper House in the first round of voting, said an official.
Chairman of Legislative Council and NCP candidate Ramraje Nimbalkar, Leader of Opposition in the Upper House Pravin Darekar of the BJP and former BJP minister and now NCP nominee Eknath Khadse easily bagged sufficient number of first preference votes to post wins.
Both the candidates of the Shiv Sena -- Sachin Ahir and Aamshya Padavi - also won the election, while the two nominees of the Congress, which is part of the ruling coalition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), failed to secure the minimum quota of the first preference vote.
The BJP had fielded five candidates - Darekar, Ram Shinde, Uma Khapre, Shrikant Bharatiya and Prasad Lad - of which the first four bagged the minimum quota of votes required to win the poll in the first round of counting.
The fifth candidate of the BJP -- Lad and Congress nominee Bhai Jagtap secured sufficient number of votes and won in the second round.
The second Congress candidate, Chandrakant Handore, secured 22 first preference votes, while his party colleague Jagtap got 19, but the latter managed to get more second preference votes and eventually won. Handore could not made it to the finishing line as he failed to bag enough second preference votes.
The BJP has 106 MLAs in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, while remaining votes for its candidates have either come from independent MLAs, or those from small parties or from other parties.
Atul Bhatkhalkar, an MLA of the BJP said, "Darekar secured 29 votes of first preference, while Ram Shinde and Bharatiya secured 30 votes of first preference each. It means, our excess votes of top three candidates on the list were transferred to our fifth candidate Prasad Lad." "If you count all the votes of first preference to the BJP candidates, we have won 134 votes. It means, we have won more votes than we secured in the Rajya Sabha elections (held on June 10)," he said.
Earlier in the day, voting for the elections to 10 vacant MLC seats was held between 9 am and 4 pm at the Legislature Complex in south Mumbai. In all, 11 candidates - five of the BJP and two each of the Sena, the NCP and the Congress were in the fray.
All 285 eligible MLAs took part in the polling process, but two votes were invalidated.
The counting of votes began after a two-hour delay at around 7 pm.
The results of the Council polls have come as a major boost to the opposition BJP, which just 10 days ago, managed to win a third Rajya Sabha seat from Maharashtra despite lacking in numbers in the Assembly and in the process defeated its former ally Shiv Sena. The Uddhav Thackeray-led party had fielded two candidates for the Rajya Sabha polls, but one of them, Sanjay Pawar lost.
The latest outcome has once again raised questions over the cohesiveness and coordination among the MVA allies - the Shiv Sena, the NCP and the Congress.
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.
Real Madrid fines Valverde and Tchouaméni half a million euros each for altercation
Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.
The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.
On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."
His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.
In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”
Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”
Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.
After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.
“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.
“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”
Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.
Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay.
Chaotic end to a poor season
===================
The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.
It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.
Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.
Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.
