Assembly Elections 2021 Live Updates: Polls are to be held for 294 seats in West Bengal, 234 seats in Tamil Nadu, 140 seats in Kerala, 126 seats in Assam and 30 seats in Puducherry.Upping the ante against the Opposition, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan Tuesday alleged that the BJP has put up Indian democracy for sale, while the Congress has reduced itself to goods that are up for sale. Ahead of the state elections, Vijayan said in many states, people had elected the Congress to power, but they “sold themselves to the BJP.”
Swapan Dasgupta, a BJP candidate for the upcoming West Bengal Assembly election, Tuesday resigned from the Rajya Sabha a day after the Trinamool Congress cited constitutional rules to say a nominated member of the upper house could not join a political party.
Meanwhile, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh hit back at Mamata Banerjee, saying that the allegations she made about Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Purulia on Monday do not hold much significance. “We have run the govt from 2014 till now under PM Modi’s leadership. People have supported us. We got more number of seats in second term. Had we not run govt properly then we wouldn’t have achieved such majority in 2019 polls,” he said.
Earlier during the day, the Congress Tuesday released its manifesto for Tamil Nadu Assembly elections at its party office in Chennai. Tamil Nadu Congress President KS Azhagiri said 500 youth in every district will be given training for government jobs. “We will also provide for tax exemption for startups and new entrepreneurs for at least 5 years.” he said.
Statewise seats distribution.
BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday slammed the alliance of Congress and Badruddin Ajmal's AIUDF in Assam calling it "Mahakhot" (great flaw), which he claimed will destroy the social and cultural fabric of the state.
The alliance between the two parties was created to fulfill political ambitions, he said at an election rally at Nalbari.
BJP and its allies are committed to ensuring security and prosperity to the people of the north eastern state and protect their culture, he said.
"The Congress-AIDUF alliance is is not a 'Mahajoth' (grand alliance) but a 'Mahakhot' (great flaw) who have aligned to fulfill their political ambitions with the sole purpose to defeat BJP. But the people of Assam will reject them," the former Maharashtra chief minister said. (PTI)
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday alleged the BJP has put up Indian democracy for sale, while the Congress has reduced itself to goods that are up for sale.
Hitting out at both the parties, Vijayan said in many states, people had elected the Congress to power, but they "sold themselves to the BJP."
"When BJP has put up Indian democracy for sale, Congress has reduced themselves into goods that are up for sale. BJP is willing to shell out as much money as required, after all they have raised plenty of it. Congress is trying to get the highest bid," the chief minister, who reached here for campaigning from his home constituency, Dharmadom, told reporters.
Listing the names of states including Goa, Manipur, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Puducherry, Manipur, Nagaland and Tripura, Vijayan said the Congress party cannot be trusted as the leaders can join BJP anytime.
"What about the stand of those Congress leaders on the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA)? They oppose it when they are with the Congress and later support it when they join the BJP.The Congress has lost its credibility," Vijayan said. (PTI)
Actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan has emerged as the richest candidate in fray for the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections. The founder and chief of Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM), who filed his nomination from Coimbatore (South) constituency, declared moveable assets worth in excess of Rs 45 crores.
Haasan quoted his movable properties at Rs 45,09,01,476 crores. These include two vehicles – BMW 730 LD and Lexus LX 570, the combined valuation of which comes to Rs 3,69,39,642 crores. The veteran actor pegged his immovable properties, including commercial buildings and agricultural land, at a little over Rs 131 crores. He also declared two residential buildings in Chennai, cumulatively priced at Rs 19.5 crores, and a joint property in London worth Rs 2.5 crores. The superstar stated that he has Rs 49,50,11,010 crores in liabilities, adding that he has no spouse or dependents.
Candidates, including heavyweights such as Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, DMK president MK Stalin, Haasan and Deputy Chief Minister O Pannerselvam, have officially entered the fray for the April 6 election.
The CM, who filed his nomination from Edapadi constituency on Monday, declared movable assets worth over Rs 47 lakh while stating that he has no immovable assets to his name. He further stated that his wife’s movable assets were worth Rs 1,04,11,631 and that of the Hindu Undivided Family (HUF) were Rs 50.21 lakh. He declared immovable assets in his wife’s name at Rs 1.78 crores and a further Rs 2.10 crores under the HUF, including ancestral property. His affidavit further states that he owes a “hand loan” of Rs 15 lakh to an individual.
BJP leader R Balashankar Tuesday slammed the Kerala leadership of the party, alleging they were not interested in winning the election as weak candidates have been fielded in seats where the party had a good chance to win in the April 6 assembly polls.
Attacking the leadership of the state party, Balashankar claimed he was denied ticket from his home constituency Chengannur in Alappuzha district after given an understanding that he would be fielded from there.
The 67-year-old leader claimed he had a very good chance for winning the seat currently held by the CPI(M) but the BJP fielded a person who is a political non-entity damaging its chance to win the seat.
"The state leadership is not wanting to win the elections.They are not interested in winning the election. Because in the constituencies where the BJP have a great winning chance, they are putting up weak candidates," Balashankar told PTI.
He alleged that his winnability and positivity had become a negative point for the local leaders. (PTI)
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami on Tuesday took a swipe at the DMK over poll promises, saying a party should give only those assurances that could be implemented.
Recalling then DMK chief, the late M Karunanidhi's 2006 poll promise of providing two acres of land free of cost to all landless farmers in the state, Palaniswami asked if the party fulfilled its assurance.
"Did they give. No. (DMK president MK) Stalin is desperate to get people's votes by fooling and confusing them," he said at an election rally at Aranthangi in this district. He said Stalin's wish would not be fulfilled, implying people won't vote for him.
In an apparent dig at the DMK over the 500 assurances made in its poll manifesto for the April 6 elections, the AIADMK joint coordinator said "it is ok if promises that can be implemented are made."
"If unimplementable assurances are made, they can never be fulfilled," he said. (PTI)
Alleging that the Mamata Banerjee dispensation has not done anything for the welfare of farmers and Adivasis in West Bengal, BJP president J P Nadda on Tuesday claimed that after practising politics of appeasement for years, the TMC supremo has started reciting Sanskrit slokas to assert her Hindu identity.
She left several Hindu OBC castes such as Mahishya and Teli out of the reserved category because of her "politics of appeasement", and the BJP, if voted to power, will take steps to include them, Nadda said while addressing a rally at Kotulpur in Bankura district.
"I am told that Mamata Banerjee is now doing Chandi Path. But in the last 10 years, you have been engaged in minority appeasement. You have stopped Saraswati Puja in the state and immersion of idols of goddess Durga," he said.
Banerjee did Chandi Path (recitation of hymns) at Nandigram, from where she is contesting, at a public meeting on March 9.
"During the stone laying ceremony of Ram Mandir at Ayodhya, you stopped people from offering puja in the state," the BJP president said. (PTI)
Former Congress leader P C Chacko, who quit the party last week, on Tuesday announced that he will formally join the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) headed by Sharad Pawar.
"I am formally joining the NCP today", he told reporters in New Delhi after meeting CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury.
Chacko, who quit the Congress over his differences with the party leaders in Kerala, said NCP is a partner of the CPI (M)-led LDF in the southern state and he would work for the victory of the Left candidates in the April 6 Assembly polls. (PTI)
Ending days of speculation, the Revolutionary Marxist Party (RMP) on Tuesday announced that it would field K K Rema, wife of slain founding leader T P Chandrasekharan, in Vadakara Assembly constituency in Kozhikode district.
Announcing this, the party general secretary K K Venu said the Congress leadership has declared the support of the UDF for Rema.
The RMP, a breakaway group of the CPI(M), has been under pressure to field its candidate in Vadakara to give a tough fight to the LDF.
The Congress as well as the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) had approached the RMP leadership to put up a common candidate to take on the LDF nominee. (PTI)
Former minister and AIADMK candidate from Natham constituency (Dindigul district) R Viswanathan was allegedly caught on camera distributing cash to voters.
In a video of the alleged act, Viswanathan is purportedly seen taking out currency notes from his pocket and distributing them to voters. In the first half of the video, a group of women is seen standing in a row and an alleged AIADMK cadre appears in the frame putting currency notes on each of their plates.
The women had gathered to give a traditional welcome (aarti) to Vishwanathan, who campaigned extensively in the constituency on Sunday.
Slamming the Mamata Banerjee government over alleged slide in the law and order situation, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Tuesday the "khela" (game) that will be played in West Bengal after the BJP's victory in the assembly election will be that of development and peace.
He asserted the BJP will form its government in the state winning more than 200 of the 294 seats.
Joining the campaign blitzkrieg that the BJP has launched, with several top party leaders holding meetings and rallies regularly to snatch Bengal from the TMC, Singh, who was once considered a friend of Mamata Banerjee in the saffron camp, asked what the two-time chief minister has done for the people of the state except for bringing disaster to them.
Questioning what the Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee means by "khela hobe" (the game will happen), Singh told a public meeting here in West Midnapore district that "the game of development and peace will be played in Bengal".
He said "asol parivartan" (true change) will usher in on May 2, the day of the counting of votes for the eight-phase assembly elections that commence on March 27. (PTI)
Addressing a rally in West Midnapore area of poll-bound West Bengal, Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said the day the BJP will form government in the state, they will prevent attacks against everyone, be it BJP, TMC or CPM. "There won't be any discrimination. Strict action will be taken against those propagating violence," ANI quoted him as saying.
"Whenever Sourav Ganguly crossed the crease, it was sure that he would hit a six. Likewise, with your support in Lok Sabha, we've crossed the crease and surely we'll hit a 6 in Assembly polls and form BJP govt here," he added.
BJP national president J P Nadda holds roadshow at Bishnupur in poll-bound West Bengal. (ANI)
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Tuesday accused Union Home Minister Amit Shah of hatching a conspiracy to harass TMC leaders ahead of the assembly elections in the state.
Referring to the alleged "attack" on her in Nandigram, Banerjee said no one will stop her from taking forward her battle against the BJP. "Amit Shah is getting frustrated as there is a poor turnout at his rallies. Instead of running the country, he is sitting in Kolkata and hatching a conspiracy to harass TMC leaders. What do they want? Do they want to kill me? Do they think that they will win this election by killing me? They are wrong," she said while addressing a rally here.
Banerjee also wondered whether the Election Commission has lost its independence, and alleged that the poll panel is working as per Shah's instructions. "Is Amit Shah running the EC? He is giving instructions to the EC. What happened to their independence? My director, security (Vivek Sahay) was removed (by EC) as per his instructions," she alleged. (PTI)
Out of the slew of beneficiary schemes the BJP government announced ahead of the Assam Assembly elections, the Orunudoi scheme, with women as its primary target group, is perhaps its most popular. In December 2020, when the scheme was launched, party leaders, including Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, described it as the “largest DBT scheme in the history of Assam which will empower women and serve the needy”.
Through Orunodoi — announced in the 2020-21 Budget — a monthly assistance of Rs 830 is transferred to women members of marginalised families of Assam. On account of being a DBT, or a Direct Benefit Transfer scheme, the money is credited directly to the bank account of the woman head of a family because they are “primary caretakers of the household”. According to a Finance Department handout, the scheme gives “a choice to the poor and needy households on how they want to spend their money”.
Makkal Neethi Maiam (MNM) Chief Kamal Hassan launched his election campaign early on Tuesday by going around the Coimbatore South Constituency, where he is contesting the assembly polls next month, and interacted with voters, PTI reported.
Hassan began the day by meeting citizens along the Race course road and engaged with morning walkers and joggers, party sources said. The 66-year-old actor then visited a gymnasium in Ramanathapuram and demonstrated his prowess in Silambattam, a traditional martial arts of Tamil Nadu with a long cane. He later interacted with the public at a road side tea shop, to understand their problems and garner support.
In a bid to reach out to people of various communities, Haasan also visited a fish market in Ukkadam area and discussed local issues with the people.
West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee Tuesday recited 'Durga Path' during her public rally in Bankura. Watch the video here:
BJP workers Tuesday held a protest at Hastings in Kolkata, demanding that the party's candidate from Canning Paschim Assembly constituency be changed. The party has fielded Arnab Roy from the constituency. Watch the video here:
BJP leader Yogi Adityanath is holding a public meeting in Purulia, West Bengal.
Akhil Gogoi is perhaps Assam’s most vocal agitator, over issues such as land rights, displacements, big dams, and in December 2019, the Citzenship (Amendment) Act. It was following the CAA protests that he was arrested, and later booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, keeping him in jail since. From inside the prison, late last year, Gogoi announced a new political party, Raijor Dol — one of the two new regional parties which owe their origin to CAA protests in the race.
Gogoi filed his nomination via video-conferencing for Sibsagar (Sivasagar district) and Mariani (Jorhat district), both located in Upper Assam, which was at the heart of the anti-CAA protests in the state. Later, the Raijor Dal said Gogoi would contest only from Sibsagar as they didn’t want the anti-BJP vote to get split.
Swapan Dasgupta Tuesday tendered his resignation as a Rajya Sabha MP, news agency ANI reported. His resignation has been sent to the Chairman of the House, it is yet to be accepted.
The BJP has fielded Dasgupta as its candidate for Tarakeshwar seat in the upcoming West Bengal Assembly elections.
Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam has declared total assets valued at Rs 61.19 lakh, up from the Rs 33.20 lakh in 2016, according to his election affidavit submitted as part of the nomination for the April 6 Assembly polls in the state, reported PTI.
AIADMK Coordinator Panneerselvam is seeking a third term from Bodinayakkanur in Theni district. All of the assets were movable and he had no immovable assets in his name, which was the case in 2016 as well,
Panneerselvam said.
The assets of Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) leader TTV Dhinakaran also went up, from the Rs 16.73 lakh in 2017 to Rs 19.18 lakh in 2021.
Dhinakaran had fought and won the December 2017 Radhakrishnan Nagar bypoll as an independent, upsetting the ruling AIADMK which had earlier expelled him along with his aunt and late chief minister J Jayalalithaa's confidante VK Sasikala.
The Trinamool Congress on Monday demanded disqualification of Swapan Dasgupta from Rajya Sabha’s membership after BJP named him as a candidate for the West Bengal Assembly polls. Dasgupta, who is a nominated member of the Rajya Sabha, has been fielded by the BJP from Tarakeshwar Assembly constituency in Hooghly district.
Citing the 10th Schedule of the Constitution which says that a nominated Rajya Sabha member stands to be disqualified if he or she joins any political party, the TMC said it will be writing to Rajya Sabha chairman M Venkaiah Naidu for Dasgupta’s disqualification from the Upper House.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh Tuesday responded to Mamata Banerjee's remarks about Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Purulia on Monday and said her allegations are insignificant.
"We have run the govt from 2014 till now under PM Modi's leadership. People have supported us. We got more number of seats in second term. Had we not run govt properly then we wouldn't have achieved such majority in 2019 polls," he said.
The nominaton papers of 28 of the total 408 candidates for the second phase of the Assembly eletcion in Assam have been rejected during scrutiny, a spokesperson of the office of the Chief Electoral Officer said on Tuesday, reported PTI.
408 candidates had filed their nominations for the 39 constituencies going to polls on April 1 and 28 of these were rejected during scrutiny, the spokesperson said.
The last date of withdrawal for the second phase is March 17.
Senior BJP leader Rajnath Singh will address three election meetings in Daspur, Salboni and Sabang on Tuesday.
DMK Tuesday changed its Aathur constituency candidate for the upcoming Tamil Nadu Assembly elections. Chinnadurai has replaced Jeeva Stalin, news agency ANI reported.
The Congress Tuesday released its manifesto for Tamil Nadu Assembly elections at the party office in Chennai.
The political graph of Congress MP K Muraleedharan is set to go up in Kerala politics as well as the party’s state unit as he takes on the challenge of facing the BJP in Nemom.
The son of the late K Karunakaran, Muraleedharan, 63, has stepped forward at a time when Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala and former chief minister Oommen Chandy were seen to have shied away from the challenge.
If Mamata Banerjee is known for her hard and long road to power in West Bengal, nephew Abhishek Banerjee is accused of exactly the opposite. Having first emerged on the scene after Mamata became Chief Minister in 2011, the 33-year-old is now the undeclared No. 2 in the Trinamool and the cause of heartburn for senior leaders, many of whom have since left the party.
The sitting MP from Diamond Harbour, Abhishek is also Mamata’s soft spot — as the BJP has realised. The party has made the “bhaipo (nephew)” one of the central targets of its campaign. Former Trinamool stalwarts such as Suvendu Adhikari, Saumitra Khan and others say he is actually the “tolabaaj bhaipo (extortionist nephew)”, accusing Abhishek of corruption.
If Mamata Banerjee is known for her hard and long road to power in West Bengal, nephew Abhishek Banerjee is accused of exactly the opposite. Having first emerged on the scene after Mamata became Chief Minister in 2011, the 33-year-old is now the undeclared No. 2 in the Trinamool and the cause of heartburn for senior leaders, many of whom have since left the party.
The sitting MP from Diamond Harbour, Abhishek is also Mamata’s soft spot — as the BJP has realised. The party has made the “bhaipo (nephew)” one of the central targets of its campaign. Former Trinamool stalwarts such as Suvendu Adhikari, Saumitra Khan and others say he is actually the “tolabaaj bhaipo (extortionist nephew)”, accusing Abhishek of corruption.
For the second consecutive day, hundreds of BJP workers protested outside the party headquarters in Kolkata’s Hastings area, expressing displeasure over the selection of candidates.
Senior party leaders Shiv Prakash, Mukul Roy and Arjun Singh were heckled by a section of irate party workers who were demanding change in party candidates of several Assembly seats. Angry party workers even tried to break into the party office but were stopped by police. Read More
Manoj Tiwary refers to himself in third person these days, he also calls Mamata Banerjee “Banglar agni kanya” – Bengal’s firebrand lady. The former India cricketer, the son of a Class IV Eastern Railways employee who grew up in a single-room, tinned roof hut in Howrah, is learning the ropes of politics – his second big leap in life.
Named Trinamool Congress (TMC) candidate from Shibpur in Howrah for the forthcoming Bengal assembly polls, the cricketer-turned-politician says he had received an offer to contest the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, but things didn’t work out. “This time after I got the call from Didi, there were no two thoughts about it. After all, agni kanya Mamata Banerjee amake call korechilen (had called me),” he tells The Indian Express. Read more
The Asaduddin Owaisi-led AIMIM on Monday announced candidates for the three seats it is contesting in the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections. The party named T S Vakeel Ahmed (Vaniyambadi), B M Aminullah Ahmed (Krishnagiri) and M Mujib ur Rahman (Sankarapuram) as its candidates, AIMIM said on twitter. The AIMIM has tied up with TTV Dhinakaran's AMMK for the Tamil Nadu elections. --PTI
A day after she resigned as Mahila Congress chief and tonsured her head in protest following denial of ticket, Lathika Subhash on Monday quit the party and decided to contest as an independent for the April 6 assembly election from Ettumanoor in Kottayam. Fiftysix-year-old Subhash, an AICC member, said she had sent in her resignation letter to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and KPCC president Mullappally Ramachandran. In the letter to Gandhi, Subhash said: "Congress had miserably failed to understand the feeling of Mahila Congress and its workers. As a woman, I feel this is a planned neglect against us." --PTI
BSP president Mayawati announced on Monday that the party would contest the assembly elections in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry on its own, saying it had a "bitter experience" of aligning with other parties in the past. Mayawati also stated that her party would go alone in the Uttar Pradesh assembly election next year. "We are working internally on the elections. We do not reveal our strategy," Mayawati told reporters at an event to pay tributes to BSP founder Kanshi Ram on his 87th birth anniversary. "The BSP will contest on all the 403 assembly seats in UP and will perform well. The performance of the party will be good in the panchayat elections in Uttar Pradesh," she said. --PTI
BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari, who is pitted against his mentor turned adversary, Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee, in the Nandigram assembly seat, on Sunday locked horns with his former party seeking to appropriate the legacy of Nandigram movement just days ahead of the assembly polls. The TMC observes March 14 as 'Nandigram Divas' to pay respect to the 14 people killed in police firing on this day during an anti-land acquisition stir in 2007. The TMC, after coming to power, has also been observing the day as Krishak Divas. --PTI
"There should be a nationalist govt in Assam that works not for just Assam but for entire North East. Our aim is to establish prosperous Assam and a culture that connects North-East India's regional communities," said Home Minister Amit Shah in Guwahati, Assam. "Under whose govt were gunshots fired at Assam youth?" he asked, adding "'Andolan-Mukt' Assam is what we aim for. In five years, BJP worked to free Assam from movements and those who were part of movement, today stand with Congress to eat into our vote base."
With Assembly polls set to be held in Assam, West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry soon, Twitter has launched an information search prompt, a custom emoji and a youth discussion series. The microblogging platform stated in a press release that it has launched these initiatives for “encouraging informed and healthy conversations between candidates, political parties, citizens, media, and society”.
The information search prompt launched with the Election Commission of India (@ECISVEEP) and State Election Commission handles will make it easier to find credible and authoritative information about candidate lists, voting dates, polling booths, and EVM voter registration, among other election-related topics. Read more
The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) has promised that they will urge the Centre to withdraw the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) if they are elected back to power in the upcoming assembly elections.
The announcement was made by Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami while releasing his party’s election manifesto comprising 160 promises which included providing free washing machine and solar gas stoves to ration card holds, conferring citizenship to Sri Lankan Tamils living in camps, providing government jobs to one in each family with no one already in it, reducing the petrol and diesel price, etc. Read more
BJP president J P Nadda on Monday said the Congress can provide only “corruption guarantee” wherever it comes to power though it has promised five-guarantees in the poll-bound state of Assam.
Many Congress leaders are now coming to Assam and talking about the five guarantees, Nadda said at an election rally in Dhakuakhana. Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra during her recent Assam poll campaign had launched its five- guarantee campaign. Read more
Dealing yet another blow to the ruling Trinamool Congress ahead of the Assembly elections in West Bengal, noted actor and two-time TMC MLA Debashree Roy on Monday resigned from the party after being denied a ticket. Roy is an MLA from Raidighi constituency in the South 24 Parganas district.
In a letter addressed to General Secretary of All India Trinamool Congress and state party president Subrata Bakshi, Roy said she is severing all her ties with the Trinamool Congress from today. Although the MLA stated that there was no reason behind her exit, she said that since she was the legislator of Raidighi for 10 years, she had developed a deep relation with the party and that she wants to be freed of that relation now. Read more
West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee on Monday said no conspiracy can stop her from campaigning ahead of the assembly polls in the state and will continue to fight against the BJP. Addressing her first rally in a district after being injured at the hustings in Nandigram, Banerjee said as long as she has her voice and her heart functions, she will continue to fight. 'Wait for a few days, my legs will be better. I will see whether your legs move freely on Bengal's soil,' Banerjee said without naming anyone. 'Only conspiracy,' she said, addressing the election rally here in Purulia district. --PTI
Makkal Needhi Maiam chief Kamal Haasan files his nomination from Coimbatore South assembly constituency in Tamil Nadu.
"Mamata Banerjee has a leg injury, it's not known how she got it. TMC calls it a conspiracy, but EC says it was an accident. Didi, you're roaming around in a wheelchair, concerned about your leg, but not the pain of mothers of my 130 workers who were killed," said Home Minister Amit Shah in Ranibandh, West Bengal.
Trinamool Congress MLA Debasree Roy resigns from party
Addressing a public meeting in Purulia on Monday, Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said that the TMC government will remain in power and will continue to give free ration to Bengal residents. “You will continue to get free ration. We will deliver ration at your doorstep. You don't have to come to shop after May,” Banerjee said in her second public address after she suffered an injury in Nandigram.
Union Minister Amit Shah on Monday addressed a public rally in Jhargram virtually as his helicopter developed a technical snag. In his speech, for the upcoming Bengal polls, Shah highlighted designated schemes for the tribal community of the state. If elected, Rs 100 crores will be allocated to make the tribal community atmanirbhar, Shah said. For tribal students scoring above 70 per cent, 50% financial assistance will be provided, Shah added.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Monday filed his nomination in the Edappadi (Salem District) constituency for the upcoming elections in the state. Palaniswami has contested in six assembly elections and managed to win four of them.
Against Edappadi, DMK has fielded party’s Salem (West) deputy secretary T Sampath Kumar. This will be the debut election for the 37-year-old Kumar.
After filing his nomination to the Kolathur constituency, DMK president MK Stalin held a roadshow in Kolathur on Monday. Local crowds carrying the party flags expressed support to Stalin as he made his way on a jeep.
DMK president MK Stalin on Monday filed his nominations for Kolathur constituency for the upcoming assembly polls in Tamil Nadu. Stalin will be contesting from this constituency for the third time. DMK released the list of its 173 candidates on Friday.
Bahujan Samaj Party will contest assembly polls in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Puducherry on its own, party chief Mayawati announced on Monday.
Assembly elections are set to take place in many states of the country. Our party is contesting elections in Kerala, West Bengal, Puducherry, and Tamil Nadu on its own. We will not form an alliance with any party in these four states," she said while addressing a press conference on the birth anniversary of BSP founder Kanshi Ram.
The Supreme Court on Monday sought response from the Centre and the Election Commission on a plea seeking to direct the poll panel to nullify an election result and conducting a fresh poll if the maximum votes are for NOTA in a particular constituency.
A bench comprising Chief Justice S A Bobde and Justices A S Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian issued notices to the Ministry of Law and Justice and the Election Commission of India while seeking their replies on the plea. Senior advocate Maneka Guruswamy appeared for the petitioner. (PTI)
Launching his campaign, BJP candidate in Palakkad 'Metro Man' E Sreedharan on Monday said the party is fighting the elections on the plank of development and will form the government in the upcoming polls in Kerala. Sreedharan who joined BJP in February, attacked ruling LDF for its corruption, scandals and nepotism and slammed Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan for being a "good chief minister for his party but not for the state." (With PTI)
BJP Tamil Nadu unit president L Murugan on Monday said there was no question of any resentment among party workers over the selection of candidates for the ensuing assembly elections as it had disciplined cadres. Replying to a question regarding the reported dissent over the selection of P Saravanan in Madurai North constituency, he told reporters at the airport here that the BJP cadre, following strict ideology and discipline and always supported the decision taken by the party leadership.
"There is no resentment among the cadres as they are disciplined. Sometimes, the candidate is selected considering the background, strength and political work," Murugan said. (PTI)
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday filed his nomination from Dharmadam constituency for the upcoming Assembly elections in Kerala on April 6.
DAYS after facing criticism that it was a party of old men, the West Bengal CPM has unveiled a list of poll candidates of whom more than half are less than 40 years of age — as the party pointed out. They include Aishe Ghosh, who came to national limelight after she was injured in the violence seen on the JNU campus in January 2020. She becomes the first sitting JNU Students’ Union president to fight elections, having got the CPM ticket from Jamuria.
The party has also given a ticket to Dipshita Dhar, another JNUSU leader, and fielded student and youth wing leaders Srijan Bhattacharya and Minakshi Chatterjee from the two most-watched seats of this poll contest, Singur and Nandigram, respectively.(Read Atri Mitra's explainer here)
Former BJP leader and Union minister Yashwant Sinha, who joined the Trinamool Congress recently has been appointed as the party’s vice president on Tuesday, ANI reported. Sinha would also become a national working committee member.
The BJP on Sunday released its list of candidates for the third and fourth phases of the Assembly elections in West Bengal, giving tickets to several of its sitting MPs and recent entrants from the Trinamool Congress. It released 63 names, for 27 seats out of 31 voting in the third phase on April 6 and 36 out of 44 voting in the fourth phase on April 10.
Among the BJP candidates in Bengal are Rajya Sabha MP Swapan Dasgupta and former Chief Economic Advisor to the Government of India Ashok Lahiri, who will contest the Tarakeswar and Alipurduars seats respectively. (With Santanu Chowdhury, Liz Mathew)