Mahayuti hails ECI announcement, MVA says govt will collapse in one stroke
While the Mahayuti hailed the announcement, calling it the biggest festival of democracy, the opposition lamented that less time has been given for campaigning.
Leaders of the Maha Vikas Aghadi and the ruling Mahayuti had their own take on the announcement. (File photos)
MOMENTS after the Election Commission of India declared the schedule for the single phase Maharashtra assembly election, leaders of the ruling Mahayuti and the Maha Vikas Aghadi had their own take on the annoucement. While the Mahayuti hailed the announcement, calling it the biggest festival of democracy, the opposition lamented while less time has been given for campaigning, the government will fall in one stroke.
Reacting to the annoucement of the Maharashtra assembly elections, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said, “The biggest festival of democracy has been announced by the Election Commisison of India today. Diwali is a festival of lights, and we shall celebrate another Diwali on November 23. Maharashtra awaits blessings of the voters and strong mandate for the sake of development.”
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Fadnavis said under the BJP’s leadership, big wins were registered in the 2014 and 2019 assembly elections. Let us all come together and celebrate Mahayuti’s mega victory on November 23. Everyone should participate in this festival of democracy.”
Leader of Opposition Vijay Wadettiwar, who is a Congress leader, said that the ECI has given less time for campaigning this time. “The ECI generally gives a minimum of 40 days for the parties to finalise their candidates and submit their nomination papers besides carry out campaigning. This time it has given only 35 days which is unsual. We will have less time to campaign. I think this must be a part of some plan by the Mahayuti,” he said.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut said, the MVA was fully prepared to fight the assembly elections. “Compared to the Lok Sabha, the MVA will do far better in the assembly elections. The Mahayuti is well aware of this and therefore it went on a decision-taking spree. But this will have no effect whatsoever on the voters who have made up their mind to oust the present rulers,” he said.
He said the ECI has failed to address the objections raised by the opposition parties over misuse of EVMs. “Even at today’s press conference, the ECI officials failed to address the issue,” he said.
Deputy Chief Minister and NCP president Ajit Pawar said his party was completely prepared for the elections. “Our development record is testimony to our commitment for the welfare of the people of Maharashtra. Our work is before the people of Maharashtra – our historic budget, our development record, the Ladki Bahin Yojana, three free cylinders, electricity bill waivers for farmers.”
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Telling party workers to be poll battle-ready, he said, “We have worked tirelessly to ensure that our schemes reach people and now it’s time for us to go to the people with folded hands and ask for their votes.” Reaffirming his commitment to the ideals of, Shivaji, Shahu, Phule and Ambedkar, he underlined that the NCP was dedicated to ensuring everyone’s welfare and uplifting the poor.
State NCP president Jayant Patil said, “Mahayuti Government is in a state of fear. The government has made several announcements to woo voters and return to power. But Maharashtra knows it very well. After this election, MVA will return to power. Maharashtra will have a single phase election. In one stroke, the Mahayuti will be ousted from power.”
Shiv Sena spokesperson Sanjay Shirsat, “The opposition was demanding a single phase poll, now how will they react? They have no face to show.”
Shirsat said, “The opposition succeeded during Lok Sabha election but during the assembly election they will be swept away. We have launched several welfare measures including the Ladki Bahin Yojana, which have gone down well with voters.”
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In his reaction, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aditya Thackeray said, “The moment that we all have been waiting for is here… The polling will take place on November 20. The change that we want to bring is to drive away the Shinde-BJP government that has looted Maharashtra for the past two years. We waited for justice and now justice will be done by the electorate.”
Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades.
Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives.
Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees.
During Covid, over 50 doctors were asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they demanded....The story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa.
Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died.
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