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Quaid Najmi

4 January 2025 at 8:56:24 pm

Aaditya bats for ‘truth’

Mumbai: Two days after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered a FIR in the Disha Salian case, Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA and ex-Minister Aaditya Thackeray broke his silence – to proclaim that he would “fight for truth and against injustice”, here on Wednesday. “For the sake of truth, against injustice, our fight will continue,” vowed Aditya, daring his opponents that all attempts to silence him through ‘politically motivated character assassination’ will not succeed. Thackeray Jr’s...

Aaditya bats for ‘truth’

Mumbai: Two days after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered a FIR in the Disha Salian case, Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA and ex-Minister Aaditya Thackeray broke his silence – to proclaim that he would “fight for truth and against injustice”, here on Wednesday. “For the sake of truth, against injustice, our fight will continue,” vowed Aditya, daring his opponents that all attempts to silence him through ‘politically motivated character assassination’ will not succeed. Thackeray Jr’s assertion came after the CBI recorded the statement of Disha Salian’s father Satish Salian as per the September 2 directives of the Bombay High Court handing over the case probe to the central agency. Taking to X today, Aaditya said: “To stop the dust of rumors once again, I'm stating only and only the facts! Let’s cut through the noise and talk facts, once again. I have never met Disha Salian, nor did I have any acquaintance with her, or have known her." Nevertheless, Aaditya said that for the past six years, due to political motives arising out of personal enmity and with the intent of character assassination, “some people have been deliberately trying to link my name to this unfortunate incident repeatedly, despite there being no evidence or connection whatsoever”. With an apparent tinge of regret, the SS (UBT) MLA said that the false discussions on television channels and media trials carried out through empty bluster cannot alter the truth. “Loud TV debates and media trials do not change the facts. Let the official re-investigation proceed without malicious distractions and relentless smear campaigns run by vested interests without a single shred of evidence and truth is highly unfortunate,” Aaditya said. The controversy dates back to June 2020, when Disha Salian, 28, a celebrity manager who had worked with the late actor Sushant Singh Rajput, died after falling from a high-rise building in Malad. The Mumbai Police initially investigated the death as an accidental-death matter and subsequently concluded there was no foul play. Later however, her father Satish Salian challenged the handling of the case and sought a fresh investigation. Allowing his plea, the high court ordered the CBI to register an FIR and conduct a substantive investigation with an open mind into the circumstances surrounding her death. Crucially, the court also stated that it was not making findings against any individual and directed that no person be treated as an accused unless material emerged during investigations.

NCP (SP) suffers from confusion over symbol

Suyash Padate
Nov 26, 2024
2 min read

Updated: Nov 29, 2024

NCP

Mumbai: Did the confusion over party symbols cost Sharad Pawar’s NCP at least nine Assembly seats. Yes, looking at the votes tally this fact has been underscored.


A man blowing the turha is the election symbol of the NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar). However, the symbol trumpet misled the voters in many constituencies. In Jintur, Ghansavangi, Shahapur, Belapur, Anushakti Nagar, Ambegaon, Parner, Kej and Paranda rival parties smartly fielded independent candidates with the symbol of a trumpet, spreading confusion among rural and illiterate voters in these nine seats in Maharashtra. As a result the rival candidates narrowly escaped forcing the debacle for NCP (SP) candidates.

NCP (SP) candidate Vijay Bhamble lost to Meghana Bordikar of the BJP by 4,516 votes in the Jintur assembly seat, where the unknown independent candidate with the trumpet symbol, surprisingly garnered over 7,430 votes. Similarly this happened with Rajesh Tope in Ghansavangi who lost to Hikmat Udhan of ShivSena (Shinde) 2,309 votes. Independent candidate with a trumpet symbol got 4,830 votes.


Pandurang Barora, Sandeep Naik, Fahad Ahmed, Devdutta Nikam, Rani Lanke, Prithviraj Sathe and Rahul Mote who lost to this symbol trumpet with narrow margin.


Significantly, this is not happening for the first time. Five months ago during the Lok Sabha election the NCP faced the same problem. NCP (SP) candidate Shashikant Shinde lost to BJP candidate Chhatrapati Udayan Raje Bhosale by 33,000 votes in the Satara Lok Sabha seat, where the independent candidate Sanjay Gadhe, with the trumpet symbol, surprisingly managed to get over 37,000 votes. The same confusion also significantly reduced the victory margins of NCP (SP) candidates in other constituencies.


The NCP (SP) had appealed to the poll panel to not allot any symbol resembling the party's trumpet symbol to any other party or Independent candidate to avoid confusion among voters. The party got the relief from the Election Commission of India. The Commission barred the usage of the word 'tutari', which is the Marathi translation of trumpet. A man blowing a trumpet (tutari) is the election symbol of the NCP (SP).


The party claimed that it suffered and lost votes in the recent Lok Sabha elections due to the mention of the trumpet symbol as 'tutari'. The Election Commission made it clear that it had agreed to a request by NCP (SP) for prominent display of its poll symbol — man blowing 'turha' — on ballot units of EVMs, but refused to freeze the trumpet symbol.


NCP state president Jayant Patil said, “The candidates who have lost the election due to this trumpet symbol have lodged their complaints with the party. We are seriously thinking over this issue. After the consultations with the legal experts we will decide the further course of action”.

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