Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav at the party head office in Lucknow.2022 Assembly Election Highlights: Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Friday took a swipe at Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, saying by the “80 versus 20” assertion, he meant only 20 per cent of the population will back the BJP in the Uttar Pradesh elections, while the remaining 80 per cent will support his party.
“Baba mukhya mantri (Adityanath) should engage a math teacher,” the SP president was quoted as saying by PTI, referring to the chief minister’s “80 vs 20” remarks. Yadav also dismissed BJP’s claim of winning three-fourth seats in the 403-member Uttar Pradesh Assembly, saying, “they meant they will win three or four seats.”
Earlier today, the party welcomed into the party Swami Prasad Maurya, Dharam Singh Saini and five other MLAs who had quit the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) earlier this week. Taking a dig at the flurry of resignations from the BJP, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav said, “wickets gir rahe the (wickets were dropping).”
In Punjab, snapping his five-decade-long ties with the Congress, former minister and a noted Schedule Caste (SC) leader of the party in Phagwara, Joginder Singh Mann, on Friday resigned from the Congress and as Chairman of the Punjab Agro Industries Corporation (Cabinet rank). In other news, the Election Commission issued the notification for the first phase of the UP polls today. The last date of filing nominations for the first phase is January 21 (Friday).
The Congress screening committee, that met on Friday, has sent a revised list of at least 70 candidate names to AICC chief Sonia Gandhi for her final nod, with sources stating that the party may release its list anytime now. The Central Election Committee (CEC) of the party is not scheduled to meet on Friday.
Sources said the list mostly comprises of names on which the screening committee had a consensus. These names, it is learnt, were cleared by the Central Election Committee of Congress on Thursday. The screening committee, led by Ajay Maken, will meet again in the evening to clear names for the second list.
“There is no CEC meet as of now today [Friday]. We have not received any information. But the party can announce the first list anytime as they have a revised list in which all candidates included have a consensus. These names were read out by CEC on Thursday and faced no opposition. Wherever there were issues, these were sorted,” said a leader, privy to the discussions. More details here.
A case was registered on Friday after a massive crowd, in violation of Covid norms, gathered at the Samajwadi Party office here for the joining-in function of two rebel ministers and some MLAs. The FIR was registered according to the directives of the Election Commission on Covid-related norms, officials said. (PTI)
BSP leader Satish Chandra Misra Friday took a dig at UP’s prominent OBC leader Swami Prasad Maurya, who recently quit the Adityanath Cabinet and the BJP to join the SP, by sharing an old video.
In the video, posted on the Koo app, Maurya can be heard taking potshots at the then Samajwadi Party in the state. Before joining the BJP in 2017, Maurya was considered a close confidant of BSP chief Mayawati.
An information commissioner of Punjab has been accused of campaigning for the BJP despite holding a constitutional post after he uploaded on Facebook photos “showing his “involvement in party activities”.
Anumit Heera Sodhi—son of BJP leader Rana Gurmeet Singh Sodhi, who was formerly with the Congress — rejected the criticism saying he was allowed to meet people from all sections of society. “I am still a state information commissioner. If I am asked to contest election then I will resign from my post. Right now I am not campaigning. I am meeting people in society. I am allowed to meet the people. People from all sections of society meet me,” Sodhi told The Indian Express when asked if he is allowed to run a political campaign. Read the full report here.
BSP worker Arshad Rana was caught on camera crying bitterly over election ticket claims. According to ANI, Rana says that he was promised a ticket in UP election only to be denied at the last moment despite putting up hoardings for the upcoming polls.
"I've been working for 24 years; was formally declared candidate from Charthawal in 2018 (for 2022 UP polls), have been trying to get in touch with party, no proper response; have been told to arrange Rs 50 lakhs...had already paid about Rs 4.5 lakh," Rana alleged.
A day after Priyanka Gandhi Vadra named the Unnao rape victim’s mother as a Congress candidate for the Uttar Pradesh elections, the BJP launched a scathing attack asking why the Congress leader didn’t visit the family of a disabled girl who was allegedly sexually abused in Rajasthan’s Alwar district.
“When this gruesome incident took place in Alwar, Priyanka Vadra, who calls herself [a] champion of women was there. It was Priyanka Vadra’s birthday and she was with her husband, Mr Vadra, in the Ranthambore forest. She was there to celebrate her birthday,” BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra told a presser, referring to Tuesday night’s incident where a disabled girl was found abandoned 25-30 km away from her Alwar home after alleged sexual assault. More details here.
Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Friday took a swipe at Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, saying by the "80 versus 20" assertion, he meant only 20 per cent of the population will back the BJP in the Uttar Pradesh elections, while the remaining 80 per cent will support his party.
"Baba mukhya mantri (Adityanath) should engage a math teacher," the SP president was quoted as saying by PTI, referring to the chief minister's "80 vs 20" remarks. Yadav also dismissed BJP's claim of winning three-fourth seats in the 403-member Uttar Pradesh Assembly, saying, "they meant they will win three or four seats."
The Election Commission has issued notification for the upcoming Phase 1 of UP polls. The nomination process for 58 Assembly Constituencies begins with the issue of notification.
The Samajwadi Party (SP)’s campaign might have been boosted by the induction of a slew of MLAs from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), including ministers, and other parties into its fold in the run-up the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, but SP president Akhilesh Yadav will now have to deal with the formidable task of ticket-distribution in their constituencies which already have many existing aspirants from his own party. Read the full report here.
Several MLAs from Opposition parties joined the Samajwadi Party on Friday.
Taking a dig on the flurry of resignations from the BJP, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav said, "wickets gir rahe the (wickets were dropping)."
Welcoming the ex-BJP MLAs and ministers, the SP chief reiterated what Swami Prasad Maurya had said earlier, "he makes the government wherever he goes."
"In the last 5 years, OBCs and Dalits were completely exploited in the field of politics, economy, employment and reservation. In view of this, we backward, Dalit people are going to join the Samajwadi Party at the time of Makar Sankranti," Dharam Singh Saini said on Friday.
MLAs Roshan Lal Verma, Mukesh Verma and Brajesh Kumar Prajapati, who resigned from the BJP, along with Apna Dal MLA Chaudhary Amar Singh on Friday joined the Samajwadi Party.
"January 14, on the occasion of Makar Sankaranti, the end of BJP is being written," Swami Prasad Maurya said as he joined the Samajwadi Party on Friday.
"The BJP has deceived the poor, Dalits and OBCs to seize power," he claimed. He went on to state that the BJP had earlier discussed that either Swami Prasad Maurya or Keshav Maurya would be made the chief minister of the state, but later they instated Adityanath.
The Samajwadi Party on Friday welcomed into the party Swami Prasad Maurya and Dharam Singh Saini, both of whom had quit the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) earlier this week, along with several other MLAs from the Opposition parties.
"I want to thank (Amritlal) Bharti, who belongs to the Scheduled Caste (SC) community, for inviting me for 'Khichri Sahbhoj' on the occasion of Makara Sankranti today," CM Yogi Adityanath said.
Snapping his five-decade-long ties with the Congress, former Punjab minister and a noted Schedule Caste (SC) leader of the party in Phagwara, Joginder Singh Mann, on Friday resigned from the Congress and as Chairman of the Punjab Agro Industries Corporation (Cabinet rank).
Though Mann, a Valmiki Madhvi Sikh, did not divulge his future plans, he has been in talks with the Aam Aadmi Party and is likely to join AAP in the coming days.
In an emotional letter to party chief Sonia Gandhi, the three-time MLA from Phagwara, who has been a minister in the cabinets of Beant Singh, H S Brar, Rajinder Kaur Bhattal and Captain Amarinder Singh, said, “I had a dream that when I will die, the Congress tricolour will be wrapped around my body but with the Congress patrons guilty of the post-matric scholarship scam, my conscience doesn’t allow me to stay here”. Read more
Former Navy Chief Admiral Laxminarayan Ramdas (retd) wrote an open letter to Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra seeking action on calls for inciting violence at ‘Dharam Sansads’, adding that it is a violation of both the Constitution and the Election Commission’s model code of conduct.
“We have expressed our deep concern regarding the rise in hate speech targeting the main minority community — namely Muslims, and others too, across the country. The specific reference is to the recently-concluded Dharma Sansad in Hardwar on Dec 17-19; and a similar event in Delhi, where the speakers, openly gave speeches (that) tantamount to calling for genocide of Indian Muslims,” he said.
“Elections have been called by you Sir. Despite this, there continue to be further similar incidents and press conferences announcing similar Sansads in other locations. This is violative of both the Constitution and also the Code of Conduct,” he wrote. Read more
UP Minister Sidharth Nath Singh on Friday stated that the "OBCs and Dalits are being misguided in the state". Referring to the MLAs who have resigned from the party, the minister said, "Let them list 10 welfare schemes by SP (Samajwadi Party) for OBCs and Dalits. SP only works for Muslims and Yadavs. I want to tell them that other OBC communities will never join the Muslims and Yadavs."
According to news agency ANI, the Minister further said, "There are several reasons for these MLAs to leave BJP. Some are going for their personal benefit, others fear that they won't get a ticket from the constituency of their choice. In logo ne 5 saal tak BJP ke saath rahkar malai khaane ka kaam kiya. (These people have reaped benefits by staying with the BJP for five years.)"
The number of Assembly seats declared “sensitive” by the Uttar Pradesh Police this election has risen to 73. That is 35 more than the 2017 state elections, when 38 seats were declared “sensitive”.
Among seats declared “sensitive” this time is Kannauj Assembly constituency, which was in news recently after Central agencies conducted searches at the residences of three perfume traders and recovered a large tranche of unaccounted money.
“There are different criteria to select ‘sensitive’ seats. These include caste position, previous law and order history, and who are contesting the election. Heavy deployment of security forces in these seats ensure that elections are held smoothly,” Additional Director General (Law & Order) Prashant Kumar said. Read more