UP elections: Campaigning for first phase ends, all eyes on Jat stronghold
Campaigning for the first phase of assembly polls in western Uttar Pradesh ended on Tuesday evening, with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the main opposition Samajwadi Party (SP) releasing their manifestoes.
Covering the Jat-dominant belt of western UP, the first phase will see a total of 58 constituencies across 11 districts going to polls on February 10. The districts where the elections will be held are Shamli, Hapur, Gautam Buddh Nagar, Muzaffarnagar, Meerut, Baghpat, Ghaziabad, Bulandshahr, Aligarh, Mathura and Agra.
The ruling BJP party has fielded 17 candidates from the Jat community, while the RLD has fielded 12 Jat candidates, and the SP six. There is anger in the community over the now withdrawn farm laws; issues like the payment of sugarcane dues also have some traction.
Punjab Manifesto: Farming, landless farmers in focus, BJP vows debt waiver, free rainwater harvesting kits
Complete debt waiver for farmers with less than five acres of landholding, guaranteed minimum support price for fruits, vegetables, pulses, and oilseeds, dedicated annual budget of Rs 5,000 crore crop diversification, a similar amount for sustainable agriculture and organic farming, free rainwater harvesting units to check depleting water table and 300 units of free power to each household are among some of the promises that the BJP and allies PLC and SAD (Sanyukt) have made in their manifesto for the February 20 Punjab Assembly polls.
The allies also released an 11-point ‘Sankalp’ (commitments) document, especially for the rural areas of the state and advocated promotion of sports in villages while promised cash rewards to medal winners in international and national games on the lines of Haryana.
On being said the Congress claims that the PM maintains silence on issues like unemployment and India-China border row, PM Modi said that he and his government have made elebaorate statements in both the Houses of the Parliament regarding matter of national interest. Taking a jibe at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Modi asked, “How do I reply to a person who does not listen, skips Parliament?”
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday rejected the Opposition parties' allegation of government misusing probe agencies saying that as elections take place, these agencies will work according to their norms. He further asserted that the government should be lauded as these probe agencies recover national wealth by taking action in corruption cases. He added that the government has no role in the functioning of these agencies.
Refusing to speak on the Ludhiana-Ferozepur highway security breach in January, PM Modi said his remarks might impact the investigation initiated by the Supreme Court into the matter. 'I have maintained silence on the issue. The Supreme Court is looking into the matter seriously. Any statement that I make in this regard will impact the investigation, and it is not right,' he told news agency ANI.
Further, expressing his trust in the judiciary, PM Modi said the apex court will bring out the truth before the nation.
Speaking on the now-repealed farm laws, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the agri laws were brought in for the benefit of farmers, but was withdrawn in the interest of the people. He added that he has always worked for the benefit of the farmers and they too have always supported him.
Launching a scathing attack on "dynastic politics", PM Modi told news agency ANI said it is a "big threat" and the "greatest enemy of democracy". "When a party is run for generations by a family, there is only dynasty, not dynamics. Starting from J&K, where there are two parties run by two separate families. You can see a similar trend in Haryana, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Dynastic politics is the biggest enemy of democracy," PM said.
Amid political upheaval in North India in mid-1960s, socialist stalwart Ram Manohar Lohia had launched a campaign to oust the Congress party from power in Uttar Pradesh. Lohia and other Opposition leaders got this opportunity soon after the 1967 UP Assembly polls, which saw the Congress, for the first time, failing to win a majority while managing to win 199 seats in the 425-member state Assembly. With backing from Lohia and Raj Narain and the Bhartiya Jana Sangh (BJS)’s Nanaji Deshmukh, then senior Congress leader Chaudhary Charan Singh stepped up to engineer a defection in his party with the help of 16 Congress MLAs in order to form UP’s first non-Congress coalition government.
Emerging as a popular leader of the North Indian farmer communities such as Jats, Yadavs, Gujjars, Kurmis and other backward classes as well as Muslims since early fifties, Charan Singh had been the revenue minister in the cabinet of UP’s first chief minister Govind Ballabh Pant. In this capacity, he proved to be instrumental in implementation of historic legislations for zamindari abolition and land ceiling. In the All India Congress Committee (AICC)’s Nagpur session in June 1959, he opposed a resolution on co-operative farming too. Read More
Congress MP Ravneet Singh Bittu appointed as the Chairman of the party's Election Management Committee for Punjab Assembly polls. (ANI)
Union Home Minister Amit Shah holds a door-to-door campaign in support of BJP candidate in Goa's Maem Assembly constituency.
Ahead of assembly elections in western Uttar Pradesh, supporters of BJP MLA Sahendra Ramala were allegedly assaulted and cow dung thrown at them during a poll campaign in Chhaprauli area of Baghpat district, police said on Wednesday. The three persons have been detained in connection with the case, which appears to have taken place on Tuesday, the last day of the poll campaign, Baghpat Superintendent of Police Neeraj Singh Judaun said.
“The police took note of videos that surfaced on social media and showed supporters of sitting MLA Sahendra Ramala. On the basis of the videos, three people were rounded up and taken into custody and proceedings were underway to ascertain their identities,” he said.
Video clips purportedly showed cow dung also being thrown at the car-borne supporters of the MLA. (PTI)
Union Minister Bhupender Yadav has said the BJP is preparing a "unique" election manifesto for the upcoming Manipur polls and will "not make any promise that will not be translated into action".
Yadav, the BJP's in charge of the polls in the northeastern state, said the saffron camp has held discussions with various stakeholders and set up a committee to draft the manifesto. "We will come out with a unique election manifesto soon. A committee has also been formed to draft it. The party will not make any promise that won't be translated into action," Yadav said.
Asked whether the BJP has selected any chief ministerial candidate, he said the N Biren Singh government has been ruling the state "successfully" for the last five years and the party is going to "fight the election under his visionary leadership". "The BJP will win two-third seats of the Manipur Legislative Assembly. The central board of the party will decide who will be the CM," Yadav said at a press conference here on Tuesday. (PTI)
RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav Wednesday said the BJP's frustration shows that it will lose the UP polls. "They've only been talking about riots and temples. Seventy years ago, our ancestors made the British leave this country, but now the British have returned in the form of BJP, " he said, and added that his party will support Samajwadi Party in the upcoming elections in UP. (ANI)
The Congress’s tallest leader in Uttarakhand, Harish Rawat has had to fight his way to the top in the party. Now, five years after a rebellion briefly deposed him as Chief Minister in 2016, the 73-year-old is firmly ensconced as the head of the Congress campaign in the state, with his men around, and detractors like Harak Rawat acknowledging his supremacy. Facing the onerous task of reviving the Congress from the big 2017 defeat, when he himself lost from two seats, Rawat speaks to Avaneesh Mishra at a party worker’s home in Haldwani. Read Full Interview Here
Every election season, we find television channels flooded with opinion polls. Critics have often questioned their authenticity. All political parties too have opposed these polls, demanding a ban — except when they are shown as winning. The media, on the other hand, invariably opposes the idea of a ban as seat forecasts attract primetime viewership.
In most democracies, opinion and exit polls are common during elections. However, restrictions are also imposed in many countries, extending from two to 21 days prior to the poll — Canada, France, Italy, Poland, Turkey, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, to name a few examples. The opposition to the ban in India is mainly on the ground that freedom of speech and expression is granted by the Constitution (Article 19). What is conveniently forgotten is that this freedom is not absolute and allows for “reasonable restrictions” in the same article. The Indian Penal Code and Representation of the People Act, 1951 do contain certain restrictions.
While the Constitution allows for reasonable restrictions on freedom of expression, its mandate to the ECI for free and fair elections is absolute. The Supreme Court (SC), in a series of judgments, has emphasised this requirement: “Democracy cannot survive without free and fair elections” (Union of India vs ADR, 2003); “Free and fair elections is the basic structure of the Constitution” (PUCL vs Union of India, 2003; NOTA judgment, 2013); “The heart of the parliamentary system is free and fair elections” (Mohinder Singh Gill vs CEC of India, 1977). Read Opinion piece by S Y Quraishi
Pitted against Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav in Karhal seat, Union Minister SP Singh Baghel says no area can be termed as a "fortress" or "stronghold" as personalities like Rahul Gandhi and Mamata Banerjee have also tasted defeat in their bastions. He claimed the fight in the high-profile seat is not "one-sided" as a journey across the constituency would show that there is a BJP wave.
Brought in politics by former chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, the BJP leader advised his principal opponent to try his luck from some assembly segment of Azamgarh too.
When asked whether he could demolish the fortress of the Yadav family, Baghel told PTI, "There is nothing like fortress or stronghold in democracy. We have seen demolition of such fortress.You have seen Rahul Gandhi got defeated in Amethi and Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal." Besides Dimple Yadav got defeated twice in Firozabad (2009 bypolls) and Kannauj (2019). In 2019, Akshay Yadav lost from Firozabad while Dharmendra Yadav lost from Budaun, he said. (PTI)
The battle for Uttar Pradesh will begin on Thursday with polling scheduled to take place in 58 assembly seats spread across 11 districts in the western part of the state. Campaigning in the constituencies going to vote in the first round of the seven-phase election in the politically crucial state ended on Tuesday evening.
The polling will start at 7 am in these constituencies according to the guidelines of the Election Commission to ensure Covid-safe polls. The voting will end at 6 pm.
Ministers whose fate will be decided in the first phase include Shrikant Sharma, Suresh Rana, Sandeep Singh, Kapil Dev Agarwal, Atul Garg and Chowdhury Lakshmi Narain. (PTI)
In its Unnati Vidhan manifesto for Uttar Pradesh, the Congress party has said that it will provide smartphones to girls studying in Class 10 and 12 as well as electric scooties to college-going females.
Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday said that Uttar Pradesh's road infrastructure will be at par with the US, within five years. "Airports have come up, irrigation facilities are being set up. UP is swiftly becoming a developed and prosperous state, the credit for which goes to UP's BJP government, Chief Minister and Deputy CMs," Gadkari was quoted as saying by ANI.
He added that under CM Yogi Adityanath, the 'goonda raj' in UP had ended. "The state is seeing development. He has done good work in health services, education sector and provided jobs in MSME sector," Gadkari said.
Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav's Rampur visit was postponed on Wednesday due to bad weather, the party said.
Yadav was scheduled to visit Rampur to campaign for party candidates Azam Khan and his son Abdullah Azam ahead of the assembly polls in the state. 'The programmes of national president Akhilesh Yadav in Rampur have been postponed due to bad weather. The fresh dates for the same will be announced soon,' the party said in a tweet.
Releasing the party's Unnati Vidhan manifesto, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi said that the party will ensure up to 10 lakhs of free treatment for any disease.
The Congress party said that its government if elected will ensure 20 lakh employment in Uttar Pradesh.
"12 lakh government jobs are vacant under the BJP. We will fill these jobs and create 8 lakh more jobs," Gandhi said.
The Congress party said that its government if elected in UP, will buy wheat and paddy at Rs 2,500 and sugarcane at Rs 400.
Party leader Priyanka Gandhi also said that besides halving the electricity bill in the state, the dues accumulated during the Covid-19 pandemic will be cleared.
Releasing the Congress party’s Unnati Vidhan manifesto, Priyanka Gandhi announced that the party will waive off farmers’ debt within 10 days of coming to power in Uttar Pradesh. The party will halve electricity bills in the state and families financially affected by Covid-19 will be given Rs 25,000.
The party has earlier released a ‘Shakti Vidhan’ for women and ‘Bharti Vidhan’ for youth.
Days before Punjab votes to elect a new Assembly, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) supporters are busy running an old video clip of Navjot Singh Sidhu praising Bikram Singh Majithia. The video is from 2009 when Sidhu, on a BJP ticket, had won a close contest against contest against the then Congress candidate Om Prakash Soni from Amritsar seat during the 2009 Lok Sabha election.
The bonhomie between Sidhu and Majithia was mutual. However, the bond became blurry and differences started mushrooming between the Akali Dal leader and Sidhu over various issues during the SAD-BJP government (2007 to 2012) rule in the state. Minor conflicts gradually turned into tussles between Sidhu and Majithia. Read more
On December 15, 2019, a group of Aligarh Muslim University students gathered to express solidarity with students at Delhi’s Jamia Millia Islamia who had faced police action during the anti-CAA protests. The gathering swelled and the protests turned violent, with police officials firing tear gas shells and lathicharging the students.
For many students, the violence at AMU still feels fresh. As Aligarh district heads for polls in the first phase on February 10, that plus the “persecution” of students that followed, the missing jobs and the second wave when Covid ran through the area are uppermost in their minds. Read Amil Bhatnagar's report here
An FIR has been registered against over a thousand people in Uttar Pradesh, including Bairia MLA Surendra Singh, for allegedly violating the model code of conduct and Covid protocols, and hindering traffic, police said on Wednesday.
Singh, who resigned from the BJP's primary membership after being denied a ticket, reached Bairia with his supporters on Tuesday and held a meeting there, they said.
Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Ashok Mishra said six people, including Singh, were named in the FIR registered on Tuesday night, while the rest are unnamed. Singh was charged of violating the model code of conduct in place for the elections, Covid protocols and prohibitory orders, and restricting traffic, the officer said.
A probe is on in the matter, DSP Mishra said. (PTI)
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi on Wednesday will release the party's manifesto ahead of the Uttar Pradesh polls -- the first phase of which will be held on February 10 (Thursday).
The manifesto has been termed 'Unnati Vidhan'. Earlier, the party had released a 'Shakti Vidhan' for women and a 'Bharti Vidhan' for youth.
“Hallelujah!”, “Bole So Nihal”. Both slogans have often been raised together at gatherings during the ongoing election campaign in Gurdaspur, the district with the largest Christian population in the state.
However, acknowledgment at campaigns aside, the Christian community in Punjab, which has a significant presence in pockets and among party rank and file, has again failed to get tickets from any mainstream political party in the state.
As per the 2011 Census, Christians number 1.26% of the state’s population, and there has been no MLA from the community in the Punjab Assembly in recent times. Read Kamaldeep Singh Brar's report here
BJP national president JP Nadda is scheduled to hold three public meetings in Uttarakhand on Wednesday. Union Minsiters Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh will campaign in Goa. Whereas, Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath will hold public meetings at Bareilly, Rampur and Moradabad.
The family issues within Apna Dal(S) and Apna Dal(K) have led to a piquant situation in Pratapgarh Assembly seat with the former on Tuesday deciding to hand over the seat to ally BJP after Apna Dal(K) national president Krishna Patel filed her nomination as joint candidate of Samajwadi Party (SP) alliance.
Krishna Patel is the mother of Apna Dal(S) president and Union minister Anupriya Patel. In 2015, the mother and daughter parted ways as they split Apna Dal that was founded by Krishna’s husband Sonelal.
By the time Apna Dal(S) asked the BJP to field its candidate, its national general secretary Rajendra Prasad had already filed his nomination papers. With the time running out, the BJP asked district treasurer Rajendra Kumar to file the nomination. Read more
The 2017 Assembly election was a watershed in Manipur politics, when the BJP ended the Congress’s dominance in the state by forming its coalition government. After an uninterrupted 15-year rule, the Congress had then failed to clinch a simple majority in the northeastern state, although it still emerged as a single largest party. But the grand old party was outsmarted by the BJP, which cobbled up the majority number by forming alliances with smaller parties. Manipur is now heading for fresh polls, with the election to its 60-member Assembly scheduled on February 27 and March 3. The electoral history of Manipur has been defined by turmoil, instability and defections.
Read Tora Agarwala's report here
BJP candidate and MLA Sahendra Ramala's convoy was allegedly attacked in Baghpat's Chhaprauli on Tuesday. Cow dung was thrown on the convoy, which was also pelted with stones, BJP workers alleged.
BJP leaders said a procession was being taken out in support of the BJP candidate when cow dung and cow dung cakes were thrown at the vehicles. It was alleged that the convoy was pelted with stones and when it reached near the RLD office, party workers protested against them by waving flags, leading to an argument between the two sides.
The matter was brought under control by police who rushed to the spot. SHO Vinod Kumar confirmed the incident but said he has not yet received a detailed report of it. (PTI)
“People want a positive change, they want to change the system, but the alternative they are looking for will not bring it about.” Fresh after taking part in one of the longest agrarian agitations of independent India, that’s how Joginder Singh Ugrahan, chief of the largest union of Punjab, sums up the political scene in the state.
These elections, he says, are different not just because of the multiplicity of parties in the fray but also because of the “awareness” created by the agitation. “Now you have a questioning voter. Earlier people didn’t know anything about corporates, the WTO or the World Bank. Now they know, and that is why they are looking for a positive change.’’ Read more
Good morning and welcome to our live blog! Here's what happened on Tuesday:
The BJP released its manifesto for Goa, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh. In Goa, the party will provide three free gas cylinders in a year for every household and has promised to make the state a premier destination for co-working spaces and remote working post pandemic. In UP, the party introduced minimum imprisonment of 10 years and Rs 1 lakh fine in 'love jihad' cases, besides giving free electricity to farmers for irrigation. In Punjab, its promises include: Complete debt waiver for farmers with less than five acres of landholding and guaranteed minimum support price for fruits, vegetables, pulses, and oilseeds.
Meanwhile, the Samajwadi Party has promised an Urban Employment Guarantee Act on the lines of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) to boost employment, 33 per cent reservation for women in government jobs, and to make farmers “loan-free” by 2025.
Stay tuned for all election-related updates.