Ravindra Waikar`s kin booked for using phone inside counting centre on June 4

The brother-in-law of newly elected Mumbai North West Lok Sabha MP Ravindra Waikar has been booked for allegedly using a mobile phone at a counting centre on June 4, a police official said on Saturday, according to the PTI.

On June 4 results of the India General Elections 2024 were announced.

The Vanrai Police Station official said that the case against Mangesh Pandilkar was registered on Wednesday for his alleged act inside a counting centre in Goregaon, which is part of Ravindra Waikar`s constituency, as per the PTI.

“Mangesh Pandilkar was booked on the complaint of polling personnel Dinesh Gurav. An independent candidate noticed the former using a mobile phone despite a ban on such devices at the counting centre and alerted the returning officer. The RO in turn approached Vanrai police,” he said, the news agency reported on Saturday.

Mangesh Pandilkar has been booked under Indian Penal Code section 188 (disobeying official order), the official added.

MVA will win Maharashtra assembly polls: Uddhav Thackeray

Upbeat after the Maha Vikas Aghadi`s (MVA) “victory” in the Lok Sabha elections 2024 in Maharashtra, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday said it was only a beginning and the opposition alliance will maintain its winning streak in the coming assembly elections in the state, reported the PTI.

For the first time after the MVA`s spectacular performance in parliamentary polls, where it won 30 out of 48 Lok Sabha seats in the state, Uddhav Thackeray held a joint press conference here with his MVA allies NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar and senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan.

The press conference followed a preliminary meeting of leaders of the Sena (UBT), NCP (SP) and Congress for preparations for the assembly elections, due in October.

“During the election campaign, I addressed my audience as `deshbhakts` (patriots)….all deshbhakts came together to save democracy,” the former Maharashtra chief minister said, adding that people have awakened and the struggle has just started, according to the PTI.

The “Modi sarkar” is now “NDA sarkar”, and it remains to be seen how long it lasts, he said.

The BJP had ridiculed the MVA as an unnatural alliance, he noted, asking should the alliance at the Centre be now dubbed natural or unnatural.

(with PTI inputs)