Jalgaon: The day after the municipal election was announced, a meeting of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) was held to discuss seat allocation to counter the Maha Yuti (grand alliance). However, the issue of party strength dominated the meeting, and Sharad Pawar's faction walked out over the seat allocation dispute, while Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena announced that it would contest the elections independently.
Since the filing of nomination papers for the elections is starting from the 23rd, Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena faction began talks with Sharad Pawar's NCP faction, but no agreement was reached on seat allocation between the two parties.
Despite the challenge of standing together against the Maha Yuti in this election, a rift has emerged between them. After an hour and a half of discussions, seeing that no consensus could be reached on seat allocation, Sharad Pawar's faction walked out of the meeting, and with the meeting failing, the Shiv Sena announced that it would contest the election independently.
In 2017, Shiv Sena managed to win 15 seats, while the NCP could not win a single seat. After the split in both parties, even though the strength of Sharad Pawar's NCP faction has diminished, Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena faction did not accept their demand for 40 seats and declared that it would fight the election independently.
According to sources, in this meeting, Sharad Pawar's faction demanded 40 seats, while the Thackeray faction of Shiv Sena expressed its willingness to give 10 to 15 seats. In the meeting, both the Thackeray faction and the Sharad Pawar faction claimed the same seats. Therefore, no compromise could be reached between the two parties regarding the seats.
Consequently, the Thackeray faction announced that it would contest the elections independently. After the split in the Nationalist Congress Party, the majority of the district's leaders and office-bearers joined the Ajit Pawar group, leaving the Sharad Pawar group in a very precarious position, lacking even party workers.
Unfortunately, the Sharad Pawar group's office-bearers do not acknowledge the fact that not a single corporator from the NCP was elected in the last election. Similarly, after the Shiv Sena split, the majority of Shiv Sena leaders and workers went to the Shinde group, leading the Nationalist Congress Party to question the strength of the Thackeray group, thus provoking them and causing the talks to break down.
168 banners and 73 flags were removed from the city in 48 hours
As soon as the code of conduct for the municipal elections was implemented, the municipal administration immediately began strict enforcement. According to the instructions of the Election Commission, orders were given to the encroachment removal department to remove unauthorised banners and hoardings.
According to this order, 123 banners and 30 flags were removed from the city on the first day, while on the second day, 45 banners and 43 flags were removed, totalling 168 banners and 73 flags. A warning has been issued that action will be taken according to the rules against any banners or flags found in the city after this notice.
Meanwhile, against the backdrop of dissatisfaction expressed regarding unauthorised advertising hoardings that are defacing the city, the municipal corporation has started taking immediate action.
Ward-wise committees have been formed to take immediate action regarding these unauthorised advertisements, and citizens have been urged to contact these ward officers to file complaints. If the ward officers do not take action within 24 hours, citizens have been given the option to complain directly to the Deputy Commissioner.
