New Delhi:

Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar has condemned political leaders remarks against women and directed officials to deal sternly with violators, news agency ANI said Friday.

Sources told ANI Mr Kumar’s reaction came during a review meet with district poll officers, municipal commissioners, and police chiefs before the November 20 Maharashtra election.

The Election Commission had earlier directed political parties and candidates to refrain from deeds, actions or utterances that will be repugnant to the honour and dignity of women.

Mr Kumar was reacting to controversy over comments by Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Arvind Sawant about Shaina NC, a BJP leader who joined the Shinde Sena faction to contest the election.

Mr Sawant’s comment was in response to a reporter’s question about Ms Shaina’s chances; she will contest the Mumbadevi seat that has been held by the Congress’ Amin Patel since 2009.

READ | Three-Time Winner Amin Patel, Shaina NC Fight For Mumbadevi

Responding to his remark, she said, “I am not some ‘maal‘ (goods). I am a daughter of Mumbai… this is a crass comment by Sawant. I am a ‘mahila‘ (woman) (and) everyone knows the Maha Vinash Aghadi (a play on the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition) does not respect women.”

She also slammed her rival – Amin Patel – for smiling at the remark. “Arvind Sawant called me ‘imported maal (goods)’ and Amin Patel was smiling. Would he have made this remark for his sister or wife?”

“I want to ask Uddhav Sena about Sanjay Raut’s statement… that there is no need to apologise because I am ‘imported’. Mr Raut, if you don’t have any objection… it shows your mentality!”

READ | “Shows Mentality”: Shaina NC On Sanjay Raut Defending Derogatory Remark

Mr Raut had said, “There has been no insult. Arvind Sawant just said Ms Shaina had come from outside (and) if she is ‘imported maal‘, how is this an insult to women?”, and pointed out that similar jabs have always been levelled against Congress veteran Sonia Gandhi.

Mr Sawant later claimed that he had a good equation with Shaina NC and she may have misunderstood his comment. “It refers to ‘goods’, but she could have misinterpreted it. I had no such intentions,” he said. A police case has been registered against Mr Sawant.

The row was also picked up on by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who this week attacked the Congress-led INDIA bloc, of which the Sena (UBT) is a member, for its silence in the matter.

READ | “Mothers, Daughters In Shock”: PM Modi On Shaina NC Remark

The opposition used “foul language” against a woman leader”, Mr Modi said in speech in Jharkhand, where too an election will be held this month.

“Mothers and daughters are in shock (and the) people will teach them a lesson,” he declared, also attacking the Congress for “humiliating” Sita Soren, the sister-in-law of Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren and a BJP candidate.

With input from agencies

NDTV is now available on WhatsApp channels. Click on the link to get all the latest updates from NDTV on your chat.

New Delhi:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday attacked the Congress-led INDIA bloc for its silence over Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Arvind Sawant’s sexist comments against Shaina NC, a BJP leader who joined the Shinde Sena faction to contest the November 20 Maharashtra election.

The opposition used “foul language” against a woman leader”, Mr Modi said in an election speech in Jharkhand, where too an Assembly election will be held this month. The INDIA bloc, allied with the Thackeray Sena and Sharad Pawar’s NCP in Maharashtra and with Hemant Soren’s Jharkhand Mukti Morcha in the latter, is seen as the BJP’s primary opposition in each.

“Mothers and daughters are in shock (and the) people will teach them a lesson,” the Prime Minister declared, also attacking the Congress for “humiliating” Sita Soren, his party’s candidate in this election and the sister-in-law of Chief Minister Hemant Soren.

Arvind Sawant – a Lok Sabha MP – made the objectionable comments last week during a media interaction. He had been asked about Ms Shaina’s chances in the coming election.

Responding to his remark, Ms Shaina said, “I am not some ‘maal‘ (goods). I am a daughter of Mumbai and working dedicatedly for the past 20 years. This is a crass comment by Sawant. I am a ‘mahila‘ (woman), not a ‘maal‘. Everyone knows that the Maha Vinash Aghadi (a play on the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition) has no respect for women.”

“We (BJP) campaigned for him… ask him where he was from. I am a ‘laadli‘ (beloved) daughter of Mumbai, and I am working for the people of the city. I don’t need any certificates from Mr Sawant or the Shiv Sena (UBT).”

Mr Sawant later claimed that he had a good equation with Shaina NC and she may have misunderstood his comment. “It refers to ‘goods’, but she could have misinterpreted it. I had no such intentions,” he said.

A police case has been registered against Mr Sawant.

Mumbai:

Hitting out at the opposition in Maharashtra after Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) MP Arvind Sawant made a derogatory remark against her, Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde faction) leader Shaina NC has said while the MP has apologised, another leader from the party, Sanjay Raut has justified the statement, revealing his “mentality”.

A day after a case was registered against Mr Sawant on the complaint of Shaina NC, who is the Shiv Sena candidate from South Mumbai’s Mumbadevi Assembly constituency, the MP apologised for the remark, saying it had been distorted. Speaking on the same day, Sanjay Raut, who is also a Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leader and a member of the Rajya Sabha, defended the statement, claiming the candidate from Mumbadevi had come from outside and was thus ‘imported’. He also pointed out that Shaina NC had switched from the BJP to the Eknath Shinde faction of the Shiv Sena. 

Addressing a press conference on Saturday, Shaina NC said, “Arvind Sawant called me ‘imported maal (goods)’ and the Mumbadevi MLA, Amin Patel, was smiling. Would Amin Patel have made this remark for his sister or wife? I want to ask the Uddhav Sena about Sanjay Raut’s statement that there is no need to apologise because I am imported. My family has been working in South Mumbai for three generations, I have also shown proof that I campaigned for Arvind Sawant between 2014 and 2019. I was your ‘Ladki Bahin’ then and have become ‘imported maal‘ now?”

“Mr Raut, if you don’t have any objection to words like ‘maal’, it shows your mentality. It is surprising that Mr Sawant apologised after 30 hours but Mr Raut is saying nothing wrong was said. So, what is the official stand of the ‘Maha Vinash Aghadi’ (a play on the opposition coalition Maha Vikas Aghadi)? What is the stand of Congress Maharashtra chief Nana Patole, NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) President Sharad Pawar and Shiv Sena (UBT) President Uddhav Thackeray,” she asked.

Shaina NC said with the Assembly elections due on November 20, discussions should be about the work that was done.

“The apology was made after a case was registered. Using the word ‘maal’ is objectification and it means that I am someone’s property, which I am not,” Shaina NC said, and went on to list schemes like ‘Ladki Bahin’ introduced for women under Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. 

Earlier in the day, Arvind Sawant had said, “I have always been at the forefront of giving women their due respect. My remarks were distorted and I was deliberately targeted. This hurt me. Still, if my comments hurt anybody’s sentiments, I regret them and apologise. In my 55 years of public life, I have never insulted women”

Sanjay Raut, however, defended the remark. “There has been no insult. Arvind Sawant is our senior MP. He just said that the BJP candidate from Mumbadevi (Shaina NC) has come from outside… If she is an ‘imported maal’, how is this an insult to women… What did you say about Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi? You should go through history once…If a person from outside contests elections, people say that they have come from outside…There is no need to create such a big issue,” he was quoted as saying by news agency ANI. 

Mumbai:

A case has been registered against Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) Mumbai South MP Arvind Sawant for his derogatory remark against Shaina NC, who is contesting the Mumbadevi Assembly seat as a candidate from the Eknath Shinde faction of the Shiv Sena.

Based on a complaint by Shaina NC, the Nagpada Police Station registered a first information report against Mr Sawant, 72. The Maharashtra State Commission for Women has also taken cognisance of the issue and asked the police to probe the matter thoroughly.

“I am not some ‘maal’ (goods). I am a daughter of Mumbai and working dedicatedly for the past 20 years. This is a crass comment by Sawant. I am a ‘mahila’ (woman), not a ‘maal’. Everyone knows that the Maha Vinash Aghadi (a play on the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition) has no respect for women. The Mahayuti government is doing a lot for our womenfolk, like the ‘Ladki Bahin’ scheme,” said Shaina NC.

She warned that the people of the Mumbadevi constituency would give an appropriate reply to Mr Sawant, who, she claimed, had won the 2019 Lok Sabha elections using the name of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Though a senior BJP leader earlier, owing to seat adjustments, Shaina NC, 52, joined the Shiv Sena and was given the ticket for the prestigious Mumbadevi seat, where she is fighting three-term Congress MLA Amin Patel and BJP rebel, Atul H Shah.

Mr Sawant had made the comments during a media interaction a couple of days ago, when he was asked about Shaina NC’s prospects.

Responding to his remark, Shaina NC, said, “We (BJP) had campaigned for him (Sawant) and he was elected on our strength. Ask him where he was from. I am a ‘laadli’ (beloved) daughter of Mumbai, and I am working for the people of the city. I don’t need any certificates from Mr Sawant or the Shiv Sena (UBT).” 

Mr Sawant later claimed that he had a good equation with Shaina NC and she may have misunderstood his comment. “It refers to ‘goods’, but she could have misinterpreted it. I had no such intentions,” he said. 

Mumbadevi (earlier Umarkhadi) elected Amin Patel in 2009 and then also during the BJP waves of 2014 and 2019.

Atul Shah, a former MLA from the erstwhile Khetwadi seat, could be a potential vote-cutter and talks are currently on to make him withdraw and bolster Shaina NC’s prospects. Shaina NC’s father was the late Sheriff of Mumbai Nana Chudasama and her mother is Munira Chudasama.

Mumbai:

BJP spokesperson Shaina NC has joined the Shiv Sena after the Eknath Shinde-led party fielded her from Mumbadevi in the November 20 Assembly election. She will file her nomination today.

“I would like to thank our hon prime minister @narendramodi ji our dynamic chief minister @mieknathshinde ji and dy cm Dev_Fadnavis ji and @AjitPawarSpeaks. Our Mahayuti leadership has given me an opportunity to serve the people of Mumbadevi for the assembly elections,” she said in a post on X.

I would like to thank our hon prime minister @narendramodi ji our dynamic chief minister @mieknathshinde ji and dy cm @Dev_Fadnavis ji and @AjitPawarSpeaks . Our Mahayuti leadership has given me an opportunity to serve the people of Mumbadevi for the assembly elections.… pic.twitter.com/DAMDaG7Iqf

— Shaina Chudasama Munot (@ShainaNC) October 28, 2024

Hours after the Shinde-led Sena announced her as a candidate, she joined the party in the presence of the Maharashtra Chief Minister and other party leaders.

Speaking to news agency ANI, Shaina NC said, “I have been living in South Mumbai all my life and I realise the kind of challenges citizens here have to face, whether it is cluster development, local hygiene, or open spaces. I am committed to the people of Mumbai.”

“I don’t want to just be an MLA, I want to be their voice. I believe that it is the collective consciousness of the administration, the legislature, and the citizens, that needs to be showcased in terms of good public service. I assure the people that I have no PA, I answer all my calls, and I will always be accessible and accountable to my citizens and all my voters,” she added. 

The Mumbadevi constituency is part of the Mumbai Lok Sabha seat. The Congress’s Amin Patel has represented it in the Assembly since 2009.

Earlier, there were reports that BJP may field Shaina NC in Worli. But the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena announced former Congress leader Milind Deora as its Worli candidate. He will now take on Shiv Sena (UBT) leader and Uddhav Thackeray’s son Aaditya Thackeray.

Mumbai:

Shaina NC, the spokesperson of the BJP, has made an appearance on the list of Shiv Sena of Eknath Shinde — one of the many surprises thrown up by the tussle over seats on either side in the assembly elections in Maharashtra. The 51-year-old has been fielded from Mumbadevi and will file her nomination at noon tomorrow, which is the last day for filing nomination. 

The Mumbadevi constituency is a part of the Mumbai Lok Sabha seat. It has been represented by the Congress since 2009.

Shaina NC was in fray for the Worli seat, which has gone to Shiv Sena’s Milind Deora. Fielding her from the Mumbadevi seat is seen as Sena’s way of making amends. 

“I am not at all upset. It is the party and the alliance’s decision to select the candidate. I congratulate my friend Milind Deora on his candidature as the Mahayuti candidate for the prestigious Worli assembly constituency,” Saina NC was quoted as saying by news agency ANI after the announcement.

“As an alliance, the decision to select a candidate is always the prerogative of the leadership. Our party believes in nation first, party next and individual last. Our agenda is development for Mumbai and Maharashtra is taken to new heights,” she had added. 

The Worli constituency will see a high-profile contest between Mr Deora and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray.

Polling in Maharashtra is scheduled for November 20, with counting of of votes set for November 23.

In the 2019 assembly elections, the BJP won 105 seats, the Shiv Sena 56, and the Congress 44. In 2014, the BJP secured 122 seats, the Shiv Sena 63, and the Congress 42 seats.