Supporters gather at SP head office in Lucknow on Friday ahead of the event at which Swami Prasad Maurya, Dharam Singh Saini and others officially joined the party. (Express file photo by Vishal Srivastav)2022 Assembly Elections Highlights: Ahead of Assembly polls in Uttarakhand, BJP suspended state cabinet minister Harak Singh Rawat from the party for six years. The party media coordinator for Uttarakhand, Manveer Singh Chauhan, said Rawat had been suspended for ‘indiscipline’.
In neighbouring Uttar Pradesh, an FIR has been lodged against Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and others for allegedly violating Covid protocols during a door-to-door campaign for a Congress candidate in Noida. As per party officials, the CM was holding a door-to-door campaign along with Pankhuri Pathak, the Congress candidate from Noida constituency.
According to police, the FIR has been filed against Baghel and others under sections 269 (acts spreading disease), 270 (spread of disease), 188 (disobedience of public order) and relevant sections of the Epidemic Act, in the police station at Noida’s Sector 113.
Moreover, police in Agra booked a Samajwadi Party MLA candidate and at least 40 others on charges of violating Covid-19 protocol, PTI reported quoting officials on Sunday. Madhusudhan Sharma, SP candidate from Bah Assembly constituency, along with his supporters, had performed a ‘puja’ at Bateshwar Temple on Friday after winning the election ticket, they said.
They did not maintain social distance, wear masks and failed to follow other COVID-appropriate behaviour, according to an official.”For violating COVID-19 guidelines and Section 144 of the CrPC imposed in the state, an FIR has been registered against Sharma and about 40-50 party workers,” Station Head Officer (SHO) at Bah police station Manoj Kumar told PTI.
Meanwhile, BKU national president Naresh Tikait extended his support to SP-RLD candidates in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh elections. The alliance of the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) and Samajwadi Party (SP) had on Saturday announced its second list of seven candidates for the assembly elections. All candidates are members of the Jayant Chaudhary-led RLD, according to the list shared by the party on social media. The alliance has fielded Rajpal Baliyan from Budhana and Chandan Chauhan from Meerapur, both in Muzaffarnagar district, and Ashraf Ali from Thana Bhawan in Shamli. “I hope people of the state will support the candidates of this coalition,” Tikait was quoted as saying by PTI.
Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav at the party head office in Lucknow.
Manipur Congress vice-president Kh Ratankumar Singh on Sunday resigned from the party post ahead of the assembly election, a senior leader of the party said.
According to the resignation letter, he quit the post but did not resign from the primary membership of the party, said the leader who does not want to be quoted.
Another vice-president of the Congress' state unit, Chaltonlien Amo, switched over to the ruling BJP on January 9. (PTI)
Ahead of Assembly polls in Uttarakhand, BJP suspended state cabinet minister Harak Singh Rawat from the party for six years. The party media coordinator for Uttarakhand, Manveer Singh Chauhan, said Rawat had been suspended for 'indiscipline'. Rawat had for some time publicly aired his dissatisfaction with the state government, and had threatened to resign in the last week of December.
BJP's Uttar Pradesh unit vice president and Noida MLA Pankaj Singh on Sunday said he has tested positive for Covid-19 and has mild symptoms.
Singh, the son of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, said he has isolated himself and requested those who came in contact with him over the last few days to get themselves isolated and tested for the viral disease.
Singh made the announcement on social media, a day after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) announced his candidature from Noida for the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls. (PTI)
Over 200 BJP booth-level workers and officials have tendered their resignation over the party's decision to field Gulab Devi from Chandausi in the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, a local leader claimed on Sunday.
Rajnish Varshney, who heads the BJP unit in the Chandausi constituency's Bahjoi area, said those who have "resigned are angry over the party ticket being given to Gulab Devi" as they were demanding ticket for "someone else".
Besides being the sitting MLA from the constituency, Devi is also minister of state for secondary education.
"Around 200 booth adhyaksh, 15 sector in-charges and a large number of party workers have tendered their resignation," Varshney told PTI.
"Those who have resigned are angry over the party ticket being given to Gulab Devi for the assembly elections. They were demanding a ticket for someone else, and we have also informed the party high-command about this," he said. (PTI)
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Sunday announced Pankaj Awana, a former employee of tech giant Apple, as its candidate from Noida for the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.
The AAP also fielded Poonam Singh and Sanjay Chechi from the Jewar and Dadri assembly seats, respectively, as it released its first list of 150 candidates for the polls in the politically crucial state.
The party had in September last year only announced names of Awana and Singh as 'probable candidates' from their respective seats.
Gautam Buddh Nagar adjoining Delhi, where the AAP is in power, has three assembly seats -- Noida, Dadri and Jewar, and these have 6,90,231, 5,86,889 and 3,46,425 voters, respectively.
All three seats are currently held by the BJP with Pankaj Singh in Noida, Tejpal Singh Nagar in Dadri and Dhirendra Singh in Jewar. (PTI)
Around 15 lakh people have so far responded to the AAP's "Janta Chunegi Apna CM" drive, in which the party has asked people to name their choice for its chief ministerial face for the February 14 Punjab Assembly polls.
"In the 72 hours since the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has released the phone number 7074870748 to know the opinion of the people of Punjab as regards who should be the party's chief ministerial face for the upcoming election, around 15 lakh people have voiced their views," party MLA Harpal Singh Cheema said.
AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal had asked people on Thursday who should be the party's chief ministerial face for the Punjab polls, even as he had said that his own choice for the post is Bhagwant Mann.
Kejriwal had ruled himself out of the race as the AAP launched the "Janta Chunegi Apna CM" drive and said the name of the candidate for the top post will be announced after getting the feedback of people. (PTI)
'Gulabi Gang' commander Sampat Pal on Sunday said she has resigned from the Congress as the party denied her a ticket for the upcoming Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh.
Holding the state Congress leaders and the observers directly responsible for denying her the ticket, Pal said she will apprise about the 'internal politicking' to the Congress top brass in New Delhi.
Pal had contested the Assembly polls from Mau-Manikpur seat on the Congress ticket in the 2012 and 2017 polls. While she secured only 2,203 votes in the 2012 polls, she backed 40,524 votes in 2017 when she was the SP-Congress ally candidate.
The Congress, this time, has replaced her with Ranjana Bhartilal Pandey.
Pal runs a women's organisation named 'Gulabi Gang'. (PTI)
After being denied a Congress party ticket, Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi’s brother Manohar Singh said on Sunday that he would contest as an Independent candidate from the Bassi Pathana Assembly seat.
Meanwhile, BJP and its ally SAD (Sanyukt) have appealed to the Election Commission to postpone the February 14 polls in Punjab in view of Guru Ravidas Jayanti. Earlier CM Charanjit Singh Channi had also made a similar request. In other news, a case has been registered against Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Bikram Singh Majithia over alleged violations of Covid-19 norms.
Here are the top developments from poll-bound Punjab.
The Trinamool Congress (TMC)’s MP and Goa in-charge Mahua Moitra speaks to The Indian Express ahead of the 14 February Goa Assembly elections. She says TMC is open to an alliance with Congress just to defeat BJP. Read full interview here
AAP on Sunday released the names of three more candidates for the Punjab Assembly polls. All three had recently joined AAP from other parties. Former Congress leader Joginder Singh Mann had joined the Kejriwal-led party on Saturday. (ENS)
BJP leader and Home Minister Amit Shah is likely to hold a series of meetings in Uttar Pradesh from next week as the party looks to intensify its election campaign to retain power in the state.
With the Election Commission having been extended the ban on public meetings and roadshows till January 22 and the BJP leadership being busy in finalising its candidates for the assembly polls in five states, Shah will start his tour after Saturday and hold meetings, including with organisational leaders, to cover the entire stretch of Uttar Pradesh.
With several party leaders in the five poll-bound states seeking tickets for their kin, a senior BJP leader said any relation of a party member who is already holding an elected position like an MP or MLA is unlikely to be fielded. However, this rule will not apply to those who are already MLAs, he added.
Even if the ban remains in place, the EC has allowed indoor meetings under certain conditions, sources noted. (PTI)
The JD(U) will fight the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls on its own after the BJP, its ally in Bihar, did not reciprocate its offer of a tie-up, party spokesperson K C Tyagi said on Sunday, asserting it will contest on the plank of "Bihar model" of empowerment of the deprived sections of society.
Tyagi said JD(U) leader and Union minister R C P Singh, who was deputed by the party to hold alliance talks with the BJP, reached out to senior BJP leaders Amit Shah and Dharmendra Pradhan besides its president J P Nadda but in vain.
The JD(U) will hold a meeting in Lucknow on January 18 to decide on the number of seats it will contest, Tyagi said.
The party will run its campaign in the state around its Bihar model, he said, claiming that no government has done as much work for women and poor and backward sections of society as carried out by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar-led dispensation. (PTI)
Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday attacked the BJP, saying the party's 'double engine' model seems to have failed, with its central leadership not giving the Uttar Pradesh chief minister the seat of his choice to contest the state assembly polls.
While there was speculation that Yogi Adityanath may be fielded from Ayodhya, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Saturday said the party has decided to put him in the fray from Gorakhpur, his traditional political turf that he has represented in Lok Sabha for five consecutive terms.
Chief Minister Adityanath is willing to contest from any of the 403 seats in the state, the senior BJP leader said.
Speaking to reporters at the Samajwadi Party (SP) office, Yadav said that there is "a chief minister who seeks a ticket, and does not get a ticket of his choice".
"Sadhus and seers say that if he comes to Faizabad (Ayodhya), then he will be given a farewell. The BJP has already given him a farewell by sending him off to Gorakhpur," he said. (PTI)
BJP, SAD (Sanyukt) seek postponement of Punjab assembly polls in view of Guru Ravidas Jayanti
The BJP and its ally SAD (Sanyukt) have appealed to the Election Commission to postpone the February 14 assembly election in Punjab in view of Guru Ravidas Jayanti, after the BSP and Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi made similar requests to the poll panel.
The birth anniversary of Guru Ravidas falls on February 16.
In a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner on Sunday seeking postponement of the election, Punjab BJP general secretary Subhash Sharma said, "The state has substantial population of followers of Guru Ravidas ji, including the Scheduled Caste (SC) community which is about 32 per cent of the population of Punjab." (PTI)
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday said while the BJP's list of candidates for the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls has given representation to different sections of society, the Samajwadi Party's list consists of names of criminals.
Speaking to reporters after reviewing the King George Medical University's preparedness to deal with Covid cases, Adityanath said, "The BJP yesterday released its list of candidates. You have seen that it symbolises social justice, and has given representation to different sections of society."
Every person, who has seen the BJP list, feels that the essence of 'sabka saath, sabka vikaas' has been incorporated in it, the chief minister, who will be contesting the polls from Gorakhpur, said.
"But, if you have seen the list of the Samajwadi Party (SP)-alliance, then tickets have been given to people responsible for the exodus of Hindu traders from Kairana and riots in Muzaffarnagar, and to a history sheeter from Loni," Adityanath said. (PTI)
The Shiv Sena will contest 10-15 seats in the next month's Goa Assembly elections, party leader Sanjay Raut said on Sunday and stressed that the Maharashtra-based outfit will field “common men” as its nominees.
Responding to a question on whether the Sena will contest the polls in Goa along with the NCP, its alliance partner in the Maharashtra government, Raut said, “We will also go. Their (NCP) leaders are coming to Goa.”
“We will contest 10-15 seats in Goa,” he added.
The Sena has so far failed to succeed in electoral politics in Goa which has a sizable Maharashtrian population. The Uddhav Thackeray-led party has been fielding candidates in the Marathi-dominated pockets of the tiny coastal state. (PTI)
Taking a dig at the TMC and the AAP in the run-up to the next month's Assembly elections in Goa, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Sunday said that these parties have already come to power in the coastal state in their imagination.
Apart from traditional contestants like the BJP, Congress, MGP, and GFP, the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party and Trinamool Congress under Mamata Banerjee are vying for a power pie in Goa scheduled to go to polls on February 14.
Raut also took a swipe at Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, saying while the coronavirus is spreading in the national capital he is busy in a door-to-door campaign in Goa.
"The Delhi chief minister is undertaking a door-to-door campaign in Goa. Coronavirus is spreading in Delhi and he is going door-to-door. It is good to spread one's party but...let's see what happens in Goa. I was on the road while he was campaigning,” he said.
On Saturday, Kejriwal joined the door-to-door campaign for the candidates of his party at St Andre Assembly constituency in North Goa. (PTI)
A month after quitting the Congress and joining the Trinamool Congress, former Goa MLA Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco on Sunday quit the Mamata Banerjee-led party, the move coming a few weeks ahead of Assembly polls in the state scheduled for February 14.
Reginaldo was MLA from Curtorim and was working president of Goa Congress when he quit the party and the state Assembly in December. He did not give any reason in the letter that he sent to Banerjee informing her about his decision to leave TMC.
Meanwhile, BJP-turned-Congress leader Micheal Lobo invited Lourenco to return to the Congress. (PTI)
The Election Commission of India has allowed journalists to cast their votes through postal ballot facility, according to an official statement of the office of Punjab chief electoral officer on Sunday.
Voting for Punjab's 117 assembly seats will be held on February 14 and the counting of votes will take place on March 10. The ECI has allowed mediapersons, authorised by the poll body, to exercise their franchise using postal ballot facility, said the statement.
"Mediapersons, during a press conference, had asked Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Punjab Dr S Karuna Raju to include them in absentee voters so that they can cast their votes using the postal ballot facility," it said.
Raju said any absentee voter wishing to vote by postal ballot has to make an application to the returning officer in Form-12D, giving all requisite particulars and get the application verified by the nodal officer appointed by the organisation concerned. He said any voter opting for postal ballot facility would not be able to cast a vote at the polling station. (PTI)
An FIR has been lodged against Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and others for allegedly violating Covid protocols during a door-to-door campaign for a Congress candidate in Noida.
According to police, the FIR has been filed against Baghel and others under sections 269 (acts spreading disease), 270 (spread of disease), 188 (disobedience of public order) and relevant sections of the Epidemic Act, in the police station at Noida’s Sector 113.
Moreover, police in Agra booked a Samajwadi Party MLA candidate and at least 40 others on charges of violating COVID-19 protocol, PTI reports quoting officials said on Sunday.Madhusudhan Sharma, SP candidate from Bah Assembly constituency, along with his supporters, had performed a 'puja' at Bateshwar Temple here on Friday after winning the election ticket, they said.
They did not maintain social distance, wear masks and failed to follow other COVID-appropriate behaviour, according to an official."For violating COVID-19 guidelines and Section 144 of the CrPC imposed in the state, an FIR has been registered against Sharma and about 40-50 party workers," Station Head Officer (SHO) at Bah police station Manoj Kumar told PTI.
Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi's brother Manohar Singh, who was eyeing a Congress ticket from Bassi Pathana assembly seat, on Sunday said he will contest as an independent from the constituency after the ruling party fielded its sitting legislator.
In its first list of 86 candidates, the Congress on Saturday gave the ticket to party MLA Gurpreet Singh GP from Bassi Pathana (SC) seat.
Manohar Singh dubbed the decision of the Congress giving ticket to Gurpreet Singh GP as “injustice” with the people of the constituency and alleged that the sitting legislator was “incapable and ineffective”.
“Several prominent people of Bassi Pathana area have asked me to fight as an independent and I will go by what they have said. There is no chance of going back and I will surely fight the polls,” Manohar Singh told PTI over the phone.
Singh had in August last year resigned as a senior medical officer from Kharar civil hospital. Singh has done his MBBS and MD. He also holds a postgraduate degree in journalism and has also studied law. He said he took the decision of contesting as an independent after meeting several councillors, village sarpanch and panch who asked him to fight the polls. (PTI)
After the Congress’s lukewarm response to the Trinamool Congress’s (TMC) call for Opposition unity in Goa, Delhi Chief Minister and AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal said Sunday that the AAP will not ally with the TMC as the people were not interested in “jod-tod ki rajneeti (politics of making and breaking).” Speaking at a hotel in Dona Paula on Sunday he, however, repeated that if the Legislative Assembly election in Goa throws up a fractured mandate, the AAP would think about forming a post-poll alliance with a non-BJP party. Read more
BKU national president Naresh Tikait extended his support to SP-RLD candidates in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh elections.
The alliance of the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) and Samajwadi Party (SP) had on Saturday announced its second list of seven candidates for the assembly elections. All candidates are members of the Jayant Chaudhary-led RLD, according to the list shared by the party on social media.
The alliance has fielded Rajpal Baliyan from Budhana and Chandan Chauhan from Meerapur, both in Muzaffarnagar district, and Ashraf Ali from Thana Bhawan in Shamli. “I hope people of the state will support the candidates of this coalition,” Tikait said while addressing people at Sisauli. (PTI)
AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal held a door-to-door campaign in a poll-bound Goa on Sunday. “We just did a door-to-door campaign. People are very excited to vote for Aam Aadmi Party as they want change and are tired of the other two parties,” he was quoted as saying by ANI.
Accusing the BJP of indulging in polarisation in the run-up to the Uttar Pradesh polls, RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary on Sunday said the BJP is driving a "one gear-car" that is headed backwards, and asserted that the anti-Muslim rhetoric will not work as people are fed up of such politics.
The 43-year-old Chaudhary, whose party has tied up with the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party, also said he will not contest the upcoming polls in Uttar Pradesh and would instead focus on campaigning.
In an interview to PTI, Chaudhary said the quitting of leaders from the ruling BJP in Uttar Pradesh to join the SP-RLD alliance ahead of polls shows that they were peaking at the right time and are an "attractive, viable alternative" that wants to represent the grassroots.
The Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) chief also expressed confidence that Opposition votes would not get divided, asserting that it was a direct fight between the SP-RLD alliance and the BJP. "Not only will the Opposition votes not get divided, there is a great confidence with which I can say that many people who voted for the BJP last time are in fact going to shift to our alliance with the SP. That is because the core issues of governance, leadership, and development have not been addressed over five years by the incumbent government," Chaudhary said.
Asked about the ministers, MLAs and leaders quitting the BJP to join the SP and RLD, he said the ticket seekers, sitting MLAs and people of political prominence joining the alliance was a sort of an indicator of the groundswell of support. (PTI)
A Samajwadi Party worker allegedly tried to immolate himself outside the party office in Lucknow claiming he was denied a ticket to contest in UP polls. “I have worked for the party in constituency 74 of Aligarh in the last 5 years. I want justice,” Thakur Aditya, SP worker, was quoted as saying by ANI.
Radha Soami sect Beas, which has a sizeable number of followers in Punjab and some other parts of the country, has asked them to vote as they see fit in the assembly elections in five states.
Polls are being held in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur in seven phases between February 10 and March 7. The counting of votes will take place on March 10.
According to sources, the circular issued from the Beas headquarters headed by Gurinder Singh Dhillon to all Radha Soami Satsang centres across the nation says the sect has “respect for all political parties as all are equal for us.”
“To cast vote is the personal right of each individual. So, here we all should exercise our voting right after the application of mind and keeping in view the wellbeing of the entire society,” said the circular.
In the past too, the sect has refrained from asking its followers to exercise their vote in favour of a particular party. (PTI)
Outgoing BJP MLA from Gorakhpur Urban Assembly seat Radha Mohan Das Agarwal has welcomed the party's decision to field Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath from the seat in upcoming state polls.
Agarwal has been an MLA on the seat since 2002. "I am a BJP worker and welcome the decision of the party," he said late on Saturday night.
Releasing the first list of 107 candidates for the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, the BJP on Saturday fielded Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath from Gorakhpur Urban seat and his deputy Keshav Prasad Maurya from Sirathu in Kaushambi.
Except for Adityanath and Maurya, all the names are for 105 of the 113 seats which will go to the polls in the first two phases on February 10 and February 14. (PTI)
Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi on Sunday said empowering women has always been on top of his agenda as their empowerment is vital for the development of any society.
"Empowering women is vital for the development of any society & it has always been on top of my agenda. No society can prosper without giving a due respect to women. Have taken several path breaking initiatives to empower them & I, their brother, shall always stand by their side," he tweeted.
Channi also said that the short time (of 111 days) which he got as the chief minister before the model code of conduct came into force with the poll announcement, he did his best for the welfare of all.
"I have always stood for equal opportunities and worked for the progress and prosperity of the state and its people. With the little time I had, I did my best for welfare of all. With your continuous support, we will soon restore the pristine glory of the State," he said in another tweet.
A few days ago, the Punjab chief minister had claimed that "it will be a one-sided sweep" by the Congress. "We will win the election with an overwhelming majority," he had said, exuding confidence that the Congress will retain power with a big majority. (PTI)
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday said the BJP's politics of "hatred" is very harmful for the country and is also responsible for unemployment. The former Congress chief said this a day after he attacked the BJP government by putting out an online quiz.
"I also believe that the hate politics of the BJP is very harmful for the country. And this hatred is also responsible for the unemployment," he said in a tweet in Hindi. "Domestic and foreign industries cannot run without peace in the society. Will defeat this growing hatred around you everyday with brotherhood. Are you with me? #NoHate," Gandhi added.
Union Minister Anurag Thakur on Sunday targeted the Samajwadi Party, saying that people indulging in riots go to Akhilesh Yadav's party, while those who catch the rioters join the BJP.
The BJP leader was speaking at the Uttar Pradesh BJP headquarters on the occasion of former IPS Asim Arun joining the saffron party.
Asserting that those with a clean image are coming to the BJP, he said, "Those who indulge in riots go to the Samajwadi Party, and those who catch the rioters, join the BJP". "The real 'khel' (game) of Samajwadi Party is that the candidate is either in jail or on bail," the Union Information and Broadcasting Minister said.
"If you see MLA Nahid Hasan (SP candidate from Kairana), he is SP's candidate number one. He is in jail. The second MLA is Abdullah Azam, who is on bail. If you see the list of SP candidates, it starts from the one in jail, and ends with the one on bail. The game of jail-bail is the real 'khel' (game) of the Samajwadi Party," Thakur said.
On Asim Arun joining the BJP, the Union minister said, "This is clear before society that officials with clean image are coming to join the BJP, while those indulging in riots are in the SP." (PTI)
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday said he would complaint to the Election Commission to remove former IPS officer Asim Arun and other retired officers like him who have joined the BJP over the years. “We will complain to the EC about all such officials who join the BJP. Questions will arise if EC doesn’t probe the matter,” Yadav said. Arun joined the saffron party on Sunday, days after taking voluntary retirement from service.
Accusing the BJP of doing little to help backward classes in UP, SP Chief Akhilesh Yadav said: "Backward classes & Dalits have understood that it's BJP's strategy to privatize everything with time, & later jeopardize BR Ambedkar's Constitution & finish the reservation system. No one can lie more than this BJP CM." (ANI)
Former UP minister Dara Singh Chauhan, who had left the BJP on Thursday, joined the Samajwadi Party on Sunday. Chauhan, a resident of Azamgarh, is the sitting MLA from Madhuban Assembly seat in Mau district.
Taking a dig at the BJP's claim of being a 'double-engine sarkar', RLD Chief Jayan Chaudhary said that the ruling party was "driving a one-gear car backwards" by indulging in 'polarisation' ahead of the UP Assembly polls.
"BJP leaders quitting to join SP-RLD alliance shows we are peaking at right time, and are an attractive alternative," he said in an interview with PTI. His comments come after several BJP leaders in the state, including ministers from the Yogi Adityanath Cabinet, joined the Akhilesh Yadav-led SP this week.
BJP legislator of Uttar Pradesh's Purqazi Assembly constituency Pramod Utwal and his 27 supporters have been booked for violating the poll code and Covid norms, officials said on Sunday. According to an FIR lodged with the police, the action was taken after a video emerged on social media, purportedly showing the distribution of 'khichdi' at his public meeting in Meghna Chandan village. (PTI)
Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami, too, will attend the meeting.
AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday announced a 13-point agenda ahead of the Assembly Elections in Goa. Here is a list of the party's promises:
1. Provide Jobs
2. Restart Mining
3. Restore Land Rights
4. Better Education
5. Better Health Infra
6. Corruption Free Govt
7. Rs 1000 for every woman above 18
8. Better Agriculture.
9. Simplified Trade & Industry norms
10. Develop Tourism
11. Free 24x7 Electricity
12. Free 24x7 Water
13. Better Roads
deleting_message
deleting_message
As part of his 13-point action plan for Goa, Kejriwal said that he would ensure 24x7 free electricity and water in the coastal state. He also vowed to provide Rs 10,00 to every woman above 18 years of age.
"Roads will be improved and free education will be given in all government schools," he said in a press conference on Sunday.
Ahead of the upcoming Goa Assembly elections, the Aam Aadmi Party announced a 13-point agenda for the coastal state. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal vowed to ensure employment, tackle the issue of corruption, and to re-start mining within the first six months of being elected.
If elected the Aam Aadmi Party will set up mohalla clinics in every district and village of Goa, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said during a press conference on Sunday.
THE most famous flyover in Punjab now, the Piareana overpass in Ferozepur district came up just six months ago. It is unimpressive by the standards of its city counterparts, all of 600 metres and built at a cost of Rs 4 crore by the National Highways Authority of India. But it was here that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was stuck for over 20 minutes on January 5, placing the small stretch on the Ludhiana-Ferozepur road, with 10-12 shops on one side and the Piareana village lining it, plonk at the heart of the BJP’s poll discourse.
The most action this area expected to see was at the PGI Satellite Centre, about 9 km away, which was where the PM was to go that day after paying homage at the National Martyrs’ Memorial in Hussainiwala. One of the reasons the flyover came up was to cater to the expected traffic increase following the unveiling of the PGI centre. Read more.
Former IPS officer Asim Arun joined the BJP on Sunday in the presence of Union Minister Anurag Thakur and other BJP leaders, in Lucknow.
here are 23,492 more female voters in Mizoram than male ones, as per the new electoral roll. There are 8,33,426 voters in the state, as per the final roll published on Saturday.
Among them 4,28,459 are females and 4,04,967 males. There are no voters in the third gender category, as per the roll. The number of voters increased by 17,288 from the final roll published in January last year. Aizawl district with 12 assembly constituencies has the highest number of voters at 2,76,155, followed by Lunglei district, which has 97,303 voters.
There are six assembly constituencies in Lunglei district in the southern part of the state. (PTI)
A day after two former UP ministers and five BJP MLAs shared stage with him, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday said his party would not induct any more legislators or ministers from the saffron party.
“I would tell the BJP that I am no longer going to take BJP MLAs or ministers (into SP), you can cut their tickets,” he told mediapersons at the SP headquarters here. Without revealing the name, he, however, said another BJP leader would soon switch to the SP.
On former UP minister Dara Singh Chauhan, who had left the BJP on Thursday, Akhilesh said he and a few others would be inducted into the party on Sunday. Read more.
By the BJP’s calculation, this year will see the 2,327th birth anniversary of Emperor Ashoka. As good a time as any, it appears, to find out his “caste”.
With defections setting the caste cauldron of Uttar Pradesh again on the boil ahead of the Assembly polls, the focus is on the Mauryan king who ruled over most of what is now called India between 268 BCE and 232 BCE. On two sides of the battlefield are rallied parties in neighbouring Bihar, the state which claims the king as its own.
The BJP, which has an eye for icons covered in the cobwebs of history, was one of the first to recognise the political value of the Great Ashoka. In 2015, the Bihar BJP marked his 2320th birth anniversary, and the party’s government at the Centre issued a postal stamp on him. Read more.
The Election Commission Saturday issued a notice to Samajwadi Party (SP) for allegedly violating the model code of conduct and Covid-19 protocols during the induction ceremony of former BJP minister Swami Prasad Maurya and some MLAs. The poll body has sought a response within 24 hours.
Weeks after its talks with the Samyukt Samaj Morcha (SSM) failed, the Aam Aadmi Party has begun to train its guns on the fledgling party floated by farmer unions, accusing it of being in cahoots with the BJP and trying to lure away its candidates.
Last week, party chief Arvind Kejriwal said they were in talks with SSM president Balbir Singh Rajewal for an alliance but it hadn’t worked out because the latter was demanding more tickets than AAP could give. He also admitted that the SSM’s decision to go it alone would hit AAP the hardest.
The extent of the hurt has been obvious since. AAP’s Punjab co-in-charge Raghav Chadha called a press conference to accuse the Election Commission of giving concessions in registration to help a “morcha”, and said this was part of BJP conspiracy to keep AAP at bay. While Chadha didn’t name anyone, it was obvious that he meant the SSM, which started its process to register with the EC just days before the announcement of the elections. Read the full report here.
Leaders of the Congress and the Trinamool Congress (TMC) continued to spar over the possibility of an alliance between the Opposition parties in Goa on Saturday, even after the Congress’s senior election observer P Chidambaram said there cannot be an alliance in which the party does not play a lead role.
The Congress’s Goa desk in-charge, Dinesh Gundu Rao, tweeted, “If @kcvenugopal’s tweet wasn’t reply enough, I wonder who from amongst Delhi leaders response is @MahuaMoitra awaiting. And Trinamool’s brilliant strategy to defeat BJP in Goa is weaken Congress and divide the anti-BJP vote. Whom does that help Moitraji?”
Soon after Rao’s tweet, Moitra tweeted that her party was serious about defeating BJP. “Uninformed false bravado no substitute for rational thinking and maturity. Definitive offer between principals on table – waiting for revert. No desire to engage in further Twitter shadowboxing with various INC functionaries,” she wrote. On Friday she had said a formal and definitive offer had been made to the Congress two weeks before.
The Election Commission on Saturday decided to extend the ban on public rallies and roadshows till January 22. Earlier, while announcing the poll schedule for Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa, Punjab and Manipur on January 8, the poll panel had decided to ban public rallies, roadshows and similar physical campaigning events till January 15 in view of rising Covid-19 cases.
As several leaders from the BJP shifted allegiance to the Samajwadi Party (SP) saying it worked for the Dalits and backward classes, BSP supremo Mayawati on Saturday pooh-poohed the claim saying the party's past record shows its "anti-Dalit" approach.
Mayawati also clarified that she would not contest the Assembly elections, but take the legislative council route, if her party is voted to power.
Addressing a press conference on her birthday, she announced names of 53 BSP candidates for constituencies that would go to the polls in the first phase on February 10. "The SP's past record shows it always took an anti-Dalit approach," Mayawati said. (PTI)
*Ahead of the Assembly polls in the state, Congress on Saturday released its list of candidates for 86 seats, providing tickets to 60 sitting MLAs, which included 17 ministers and CM Channi. It has denied tickets to four sitting MLAs--Dr Harjot Kamal (Moga), Deputy Speaker Ajaib Singh Bhatti (Malout), Nathu Ram (Balluana) and Balwinder Singh Laddi (Sri Hargobindpur).
*Punjab Congress has decided to field Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi from Chamkaur Sahib constituency and PPCC chief Navjot Singh Sidhu from Amritsar (East). The party has also bet big on Malvika Sood, sister of Bollywood actor-turned-philanthropist Sonu Sood, deciding to field her from Moga while Punjab singer Sidhu Moosewala will contest from Mansa.
*Channi’s brother, Dr Manohar Singh, who had resigned from government service to stake a claim for the party’s candidature from Bassi Pathana, has not been nominated. The party has instead fielded sitting MLA Gurpreet Singh GP, who was being backed by Sidhu.
*The party has fielded four out of five former ministers, who were dropped from the Cabinet after the ouster of former CM Amarinder Singh. Click here to know more.
AAP National Convenor and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal Saturday launched a door-to-door election campaign in St. Andre assembly, North Goa. "People are excited to give chance to a new party and are looking for an honest alternative. AAP will give honest govt," he told ANI.
"I will contest the election from the Khatima constituency. We all are together and ready to contest polls. This time, we have given a slogan 'Abki Baar 60 Paar'. The candidates' list will be announced soon," Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami was quoted as saying by ANI after the BJP Core Committee meeting.
Noida BJP MLA Pankaj Singh received a rousing welcome from supporters after his name was announced as the party's candidate from Noida for upcoming polls.
Taking a swipe at Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh said, "Sometimes Mathura… Sometimes Ayodhya… And now they are saying Gorakhpur. Before the public, their party has already sent him (Yogi) back home. Actually, he hasn't received a ticket, but a return ticket."
The Punjab Congress on Saturday released the list of candidates on 86 seats for the upcoming Punjab polls. Here's the full list of candidates: