Alok Deshpande

Special Correspondent with The Indian Express, formerly with The Hindu, HT, DNA. Views expressed here are personal. Retweets are not endorsements.

[Rajdeep Sardesai @sardesairajdeep]

Important: So @ECISVEEP stays ‘silent’, doesn’t respond to Cong demand to reconsider Meenakshi Natarajan nomination for Rajya Sabha from MP when all the available evidence suggests that prima facie this was hardly a case which required a nomination rejection. At the very least, one would have expected clarity from a top constitutional body. Meanwhile, all 3 BJP candidates declared unopposed. Matter will now be heard in SC only tomorrow and expect ‘tareek pe tareek’ and a prolonged hearing. Yet another nail in the coffin of an institution one looked upto as a neutral umpire. 🙏

[Rajdeep Sardesai @sardesairajdeep]

INTERESTING: If Nehru became PM only after the 1952 election as is now being claimed , then was Sardar Patel never really Deputy PM and India’s first Home Minister since he died in 1950?
The trouble with cherry-picking history is that it eventually contradicts itself.🙏

[Ritika Chopra @RitikaChopra__]

Even as Opposition parties attack Maharashtra's farm loan waiver scheme for excluding distressed farmers, the govt's OWN cabinet note quietly acknowledges the same eligibility conditions will reduce the state's actual payout below the projected Rs 36,585 Cr.

@alokdesh's scoop in today's edition of @IndianExpress
https://t.co/VYMQzUj83v

[Vallabh Ozarkar @OzarkarVallabh]

SIR battle begins: Parties deploy booth armies across Maharashtra

BJP, Congress, Shiv Sena and NCP have mobilised leaders and lakhs of workers to monitor voter verification and prevent deletions during the month long electoral roll revision.

@alokdesh https://t.co/aQK8EUSYFz

[Alok Deshpande @alokdesh]

NCP chief and Deputy CM Sunetra Pawar has convened core committee meeting today at 5 which will be attended by Praful Patel, Sunil Tatkare, Chhagan Bhujbal, Dilip Walse Patil, Hasan Muahrif, Dhananjay Munde to discuss Legislative council elections in Maharashtra @IndianExpress

[Ritika Chopra @RitikaChopra__]

Maharashtra's voter mapping exercise requires every current voter to be traced back to a 24-year-old electoral roll. In Mumbai, fewer than half have been matched so far.

The state CEO has written to the EC seeking permission for online self-mapping. This is significant, given the same exercise in West Bengal and UP saw voters excluded over small name differences between 2025 and 2002 rolls.

@alokdesh reports
https://t.co/BMCuwfjkly via @IndianExpress

[Ritika Chopra @RitikaChopra__]

Maharashtra's environment dept led by BJP's Pankaja Munde, has scrapped 14 lake conservation projects cleared under previous governments, including 11 sanctioned when former CM Eknath Shinde, an ally, held the portfolio.

@alokdesh's break in today's edition.
https://t.co/WZ75qufQ9S via @IndianExpress

[Ritika Chopra @RitikaChopra__]

Ajit Pawar first won the Baramati seat through a bypoll in 1991. He won 90% of the vote then.

34 yrs later, his wife Sunetra is walking the same path. Same constituency, same bypoll format, same foregone conclusion.

But the contrast in styles is striking. Where Ajit Pawar was boisterous & at ease with words, Sunetra appeared soft-spoken, reading from prepared notes & occasionally fumbling amidst a dais full of senior leaders.

On the last day of campaigning, @alokdesh went to Baramati and found that the only real question is not who wins, but by how much.

https://t.co/wOtpL7ymJR via @IndianExpress

[Ritvick Bhalekar @ritvick_ab]

Victory for Accessibility! ✊🚆
Public outcry works! Following the backlash, Gate B-4 at Vidhan Bhavan Metro is now OPEN. While Gate B-5 still remains closed, Let’s ensure the elevators are running too! ☝️
@AshwiniBhide @CMOMaharashtra
#MumbaiMetro3 #AquaLine #PowerToThePeople

[Ritvick Bhalekar @ritvick_ab]

Closing Gates 4,5 & elevators @MumbaiMetro3 for the Budget Session is a major blow to accessibility.Forcing commuters,especially with disabilities,to climb 2 flrs is insensitive and unacceptable. Why is VIP security being prioritized over citizens' basic mobility? @CMOMaharashtra

[(((Charles Fishman))) 💧 @cfishman]

The Washington Post laid off its entire award-winning photo staff.

Every photographer, fired.

The WaPo photo staff has won 5 Pulitzers, including as recently as 2019.

With a newsroom that still has 300 journalists, how do you produce a daily report with…no photographers?

—>

[The Indian Express @IndianExpress]

The calm in Uttarakhand's Pauri Garhwal broke when Bajrang Dal members heckled and threatened a 70-year-old Muslim shopkeeper over using ‘Baba’ in his shop's name.

A man stood up to the mob, and when asked his name, replied: "Mera naam Mohammad Deepak" (My name is Mohammad Deepak). While his act won many hearts online, he is facing brickbats back home. Indian Express spoke to the man about what made him stand up to the crowd, and does he regret anything.

[The Indian Express @IndianExpress]

Maharashtra SEC sends ‘marker pens’ for chemical testing after BMC election ink controversy

✍️@alokdesh

https://t.co/5g0eFRFEbc

[Vallabh Ozarkar @OzarkarVallabh]

Mumbai’s #BMCElections result shows a simple fact:unity beats popularity

The oppn #MVA had support but split votes among parties in the same wards

Sena-BJP stayed together& converted votes into more seats

Data shows unity&coordination wins

Read here👇
https://t.co/p8WglwOjFW

[The Indian Express @IndianExpress]

#ExpressMumbai | Confusing e-KYC question halts #LadkiBahin payments for 24 lakh beneficiaries

@alokdesh reports:
https://t.co/VMh04s4Wjk

[Alok Deshpande @alokdesh]

I Am a Troll: Inside the Secret World of the BJP's Digital Army

Book by Swati Chaturvedi

[Swati Chaturvedi @bainjal]

Incredibly hurt at this comment by musical genius A R Rehman. Reminds me of a TV IV, I did with him once when I kept begging him to sing or at least hum his divine “Ma Tuje Salaam” Vandataram & throughout the half an hour he steadfastly refused. I was upset because artists are never so obdurate particularly about their greatest hits

[Alok Deshpande @alokdesh]

@satyajeettambe Thanks a lot for your wishes!

[Prashant Kadam @_prashantkadam]

मुंबईत यावेळी सगळ्या वॉर्डमध्ये एकाच वेळी मतमोजणी होत नाहीये

प्रत्येक रिटर्निंग ऑफिसर त्याच्या अधिकारातल्या 2 वॉर्ड ची मतमोजणी करणार आणि ती झाली की पुढची असा पॅटर्न आहे

23 रिटर्निंग ऑफिसर आहेत.. म्हणजे एका वेळी 46 वॉर्ड ची मतमोजणी होणार आहे

प्रत्येक टप्प्याला दीड ते दोन तास लागेल असा अंदाज

म्हणजे पहिल्या दोन तासात 46 जागांचेच निकाल हाती येतील त्यानंतर चार तासात 92..

चुकून सगळ्या जागांचे आकडे स्क्रीनवर दिसत असतील तर काळजी घ्या.

[Alok Deshpande @alokdesh]

The Maharashtra State Election Commission has not yet officially released the polling percentage of 29 Municipal Corporations that went to polls yesterday. But The counting of votes will begin in 2 minutes from now. #amazing #MaharashtraElections2026

[Alok Deshpande @alokdesh]

SEC has now confirmed that total polling percentage for 29 Municipal Corporations till 9.30 AM is 7.03%. Municipal Corporation wise data is yet not released.

[Alok Deshpande @alokdesh]

Four hours since polling began in Maharashtra local body polls. The state election commission has yet not officially released a polling percentage of the first two hours. #maharashtramunicipalelection2026