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EC showcauses Ajit Pawar
The State Election Commission (SEC) on Friday served a show cause notice on deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar for allegedly violating the code of conduct for the forthcoming municipal corporation and Zilla Parishad polls.
In its notice, the SEC demanded to know from Pawar as to why he chose to lay a foundation stone for the construction of a fly-over on January 3 evening, hours after it announced the schedule for the polls to 10 municipal corporations and 27 ZPs in the state. The SEC also sought an explanation from Pune Mayor Mohan Singh Rajpal on the same issue.
The development came a day after State Election Commissioner Neela Satyanarayan sought a report from Pune Municipal Commissioner Mahesh Pathak on the facts in the case.
Within hours of Pawar laying foundation stone for a flyover at Shivaji Nagar on Tuesday evening, the local Shiv Sena leaders had lodged a complaint with the Municipal Commissioner, alleging that the deputy chief minister had in the process violated code of poll conduct. Simultaneously, Sena spokesperson Neelam Gorhe also lodged a similar complaint with Satyanarayan.
On his part, Pawar has steadfastly refused to comment on the show cause notice served by the SEC. When media persons buttonholed him for his comment, he preferred not to say anything.
Meanwhile, the stalemate between the ruling Congress and NCP over the sharing of seats for the Mumbai and other municipal corporations in the state, continued for the second consecutive day on Friday.
A day after Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) president Manikarao Thakre said that his party would allot 34 out of 227 seats in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to the NCP, an annoyed Sharad Pawar-led party scaled up its demand to 65 seats.
However, the Congress is no mood to oblige the NCP. Such was the state of affairs that no fresh round of seat-sharing talks took place between the DF partners on Friday. Leaders of the two parties held separate meetings during the day.
The Congress’ contention is that in the outgoing 227-member BMC, the Congress enjoys a strength of 83, as against the NCP’s tally of 13 members and that its demand for 65 seats is “unrealistic”.
Though both the Congress and NCP were initially planning to contest the polls to all 10 municipal corporations, including BMC, as an alliance, there are now serious doubts as to whether the DF partners would hammer out seat-sharing tie-up between them for even three to four municipal corporations.
Former Union Minister and City MP Gurudas Kamat on Friday shot off a letter to Congress President Sonia Gandhi making strong case for the party not aligning with the NCP in the BMC poll.
In his letter, Kamat cautioned Gandhi that if the Congress had a tie-up with the NCP in the BMC poll, there would be rebellion among party men seeking tickets to contest the polls.
On its part, the NCP has thrown enough hints to the Congress that it would go it alone in the Pimpri-Chinchwad and Pune Municipal corporation polls.
Not to be outdone, the Congress has also told the NCP that it would not have any alliance with the NCP in Solapur municipal corporation, while the Pawar party opposed the alliance between the two parties in Amravati municipal corporation.
The State Election Commission (SEC) on Friday served a show cause notice on deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar for allegedly violating the code of conduct for the forthcoming municipal corporation and Zilla Parishad polls.
In its notice, the SEC demanded to know from Pawar as to why he chose to lay a foundation stone for the construction of a fly-over on January 3 evening, hours after it announced the schedule for the polls to 10 municipal corporations and 27 ZPs in the state. The SEC also sought an explanation from Pune Mayor Mohan Singh Rajpal on the same issue.
The development came a day after State Election Commissioner Neela Satyanarayan sought a report from Pune Municipal Commissioner Mahesh Pathak on the facts in the case.
Within hours of Pawar laying foundation stone for a flyover at Shivaji Nagar on Tuesday evening, the local Shiv Sena leaders had lodged a complaint with the Municipal Commissioner, alleging that the deputy chief minister had in the process violated code of poll conduct. Simultaneously, Sena spokesperson Neelam Gorhe also lodged a similar complaint with Satyanarayan.
On his part, Pawar has steadfastly refused to comment on the show cause notice served by the SEC. When media persons buttonholed him for his comment, he preferred not to say anything.
Meanwhile, the stalemate between the ruling Congress and NCP over the sharing of seats for the Mumbai and other municipal corporations in the state, continued for the second consecutive day on Friday.
A day after Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) president Manikarao Thakre said that his party would allot 34 out of 227 seats in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to the NCP, an annoyed Sharad Pawar-led party scaled up its demand to 65 seats.
However, the Congress is no mood to oblige the NCP. Such was the state of affairs that no fresh round of seat-sharing talks took place between the DF partners on Friday. Leaders of the two parties held separate meetings during the day.
The Congress’ contention is that in the outgoing 227-member BMC, the Congress enjoys a strength of 83, as against the NCP’s tally of 13 members and that its demand for 65 seats is “unrealistic”.
Though both the Congress and NCP were initially planning to contest the polls to all 10 municipal corporations, including BMC, as an alliance, there are now serious doubts as to whether the DF partners would hammer out seat-sharing tie-up between them for even three to four municipal corporations.
Former Union Minister and City MP Gurudas Kamat on Friday shot off a letter to Congress President Sonia Gandhi making strong case for the party not aligning with the NCP in the BMC poll.
In his letter, Kamat cautioned Gandhi that if the Congress had a tie-up with the NCP in the BMC poll, there would be rebellion among party men seeking tickets to contest the polls.
On its part, the NCP has thrown enough hints to the Congress that it would go it alone in the Pimpri-Chinchwad and Pune Municipal corporation polls.
Not to be outdone, the Congress has also told the NCP that it would not have any alliance with the NCP in Solapur municipal corporation, while the Pawar party opposed the alliance between the two parties in Amravati municipal corporation.
