916 candidates in Maharashtra have criminal cases

New Delhi : A total of 916 candidates contesting the October 21 Maharashtra Assembly elections have declared criminal cases against themselves, up from 798 in 2014, according to a joint report.

The report by the Maharashtra Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) has said that of the 916 candidates, 600 have declared serious criminal cases, while 27 have declared convicted cases.

The report said that 96 out of 162 candidates analysed from the BJP, 83 out of 147 candidates analysed from Congress and 75 out of 124 candidates analysed from Shiv Sena have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.

Provocative speech

Election Commission has issued a notice to Mumbai BJP chief, Mangal Prabhat Lodha for delivering a 'provocative speech' during an election campaign.

Election Commission has asked Lodha to reply and give clarification regarding his statement delivered during the speech.

Lodha delivered a communally-charged speech in Mumbadevi assembly constituency stating that the bombs and bullets used in terror attacks after the 1992 Bombay riots were manufactured in the majority-dominated area.

Pak chemistry with Congress?

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said under the Congress'' misrule, no one was safe neither "jawans" nor farmers or sportspersons.

Lashing out at the party for not supporting it on Balakot or Article 370 decisions, the Prime Minister asked "what sort of chemistry the Congress has with Pakistan".

"Pakistan uses the Congress to strengthen its case globally on issues against India," he said as he slammed the grand old party for not supporting its decision taken in the national interest.

'PM should steal ideas from Cong'

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi alleged that the government is "clueless" about the economy and said Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman should "steal" ideas from his party's Lok Sabha poll manifesto to tackle the "mess".

Gandhi's attack on the government came over a media report which claimed rural consumption generally grows faster than urban consumption, but in this quarter the trend has been reversed with rural consumption being at its lowest in seven years for the quarter of September.