Assembly Elections 2022 Highlights: RPN Singh was an intruder who looted Jharkhand, says Congress MLA

A day after Congress listed him as a star campaigner for UP polls, RPN Singh quit the party. He is likely to join the BJP. Amit Shah, K P Maurya, other BJP leaders have arrived at BJP headquarters for the CEC meeting. In an interview with DH, Bhagwant Singh Mann said that the contest in Punjab was between AAP and the rest. He was confident that the party would win 80 seats and form a majority. Meanwhile, parties across states continued to announce candidates for the elections set to begin on February 10. Stay tuned to DH for more updates...

What forced SP to field jailed Azam Khan, asks BJP

The BJP on Tuesday sought to know what compelled the Samajwadi Party (SP) to field its jailed leader Azam Khan for the upcoming polls and labelled it a party of “jail and bail”.

Khan, the incumbent Lok Sabha MP from Rampur, has been in jail since February 2020 in various cases filed against him during the Yogi Adityanath regime in Uttar Pradesh.

Gaurav Bhatia, BJP’s spokesperson, sought an answer from SP chief Akhilesh Yadav on Khan’s candidature "even when the court had denied him bail".

He said the SP was deemed to be wiped off in the upcoming Assembly elections because the party stood for “lawlessness”.

RPN Singh was an intruder who looted Jharkhand, says Congress MLA

Punjab polls: BSP declares remaining six candidates

The Bahujan Samaj Party on Tuesday released names of six remaining candidates for the February 20 Punjab Assembly polls.

The Mayawati-led party has tied up with the Shiromani Akali Dal for the elections and contesting on 20 of 117 Assembly seats.

According to the list of candidates released by the party, Dalbir Kaur will contest from Amritsar Central, Balwinder Kumar from Kartarpur, Anil Minia from Jalandhar West and Mahinder Singh from Sham Chaurasi.

UP polls: Bulandshahr riot accused's nomination rejected

Goa CM says his former colleague Lobo follows `wife first' principle

Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Tuesday took a swipe at his former cabinet colleague Michael Lobo for `giving priority to wife over country'.

Lobo, who was a minister in the BJP government, recently quit the party along with his wife Deliah to join Congress ahead of assembly elections. He was reportedly seeking BJP ticket for his wife from Siolim constituency but was spurned.

“We work with the philosophy of `nation first, state first', while former MLA Michael Lobo, who has left the party, has his priority as 'patni pratham' (wife first),” Sawant said.

The CM was talking to reporters after Joseph Sequeira, a local leader from Calangute constituency, was inducted in the BJP.

Following RPN Singh's resignation, Congress appoints Avinash Pandey as General Secretary In-charge of Jharkhand

ANI

Uttarakhand polls: Party supreme for me, says BJP MLA Khanduri over denial of ticket

At a time when the BJP is busy pacifying leaders denied ticket for the Uttarakhand Assembly polls, Yamkeshwar MLA Ritu Khanduri said for her the party is paramount and the decision of not fielding her must have a good reason.

The party has gambled on Renu Bisht in place of Khanduri from Yamkeshwar this time.

Party sources said the decision was based on a pre-poll internal survey, which showed grim chances of her winning the seat.

Ritu Khanduri is the daughter of former CM Maj Gen Bhuvan Chandra Khanduri.

Polarisation suits both BJP, SP as it consolidates their vote bases, says Priyanka

RPN Singh meets Shah, Yogi at Delhi BJP headquarters

Bhagwant Mann ridicules Sidhu for questioning AAP's survey

AAP leader Bhagwant Mann on Tuesday ridiculed Navjot Singh Sidhu for questioning the survey for selecting the CM face and asked him not to interfere in the internal affairs of the Aam Aadmi Party.

Mann, who is the AAP's chief ministerial face for the next month's Punjab assembly polls, asked Sidhu to get a survey done from his own party for choosing the CM candidate.

The Sangrur MP also targeted former Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh for his statement in which he had claimed that he had got a message from Pakistan to reinstate Sidhu in his government because he was an old friend of their prime minister.

Uttarakhand polls: Parties battle it out on social media amid ban on rallies

With Covid curbs in place and less than a month to go for the February 14 Assembly polls, both the BJP and the Congress in Uttarakhand are making the optimum use of social media to reach out to voters.

Amid the ban on poll rallies, the BJP has already held 18 virtual meetings through its two studios set up in Dehradun and Haldwani, party's IT head Himanshu Sangtani toldPTI.

The meetings have been addressed by a host of party leaders, including Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, state BJP president Madan Kaushik, Union Minister of State Ajay Bhatt, former Union minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and Vijay Bahuguna, he said.

Politics of hate intruding Punjab: Sidhu on sacrilege bid at Patiala temple

Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu on Tuesday condemned the alleged sacrilege bid at the historic Kali Devi temple in Patiala district as deplorable, and said politics of hate was intruding Punjab.

Former Union minister and Congress leader RPN Singh joins BJP

ANI

Aaditya Thackeray to campaign in Goa

Maharashtra Chief Minister and Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray’s son and minister Aaditya Thackeray would campaign in the Goa Assembly elections.

The Shiv Sena is contesting the elections in Goa in alliance with the Sharad Pawar-led NCP and they would be fielding candidates in two dozen seats of the 40 seats of the state. Read more

‘Not opinion, opium polls’: Akhilesh slams surveys predicting BJP’s win in UP

Days after the Samajwadi Party demanded a ban on opinion polls in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh, party chief Akhilesh Yadav called surveys predicting BJP’s return to power “opium polls” and termed CM Yogi Adityanath the “biggest liar”. Read more

Battle for UP: From backroom boys to aspiring MLAs

They are children of political leaders, who have served as quintessential backroom boys when their parents contested the elections. Now these backroom boys are yearning to take to the centre stage of UP politics by contesting elections and their parents are lobbying for their tickets. Read more

Congress leader and former Union Minister RPN Singh quits party

JUST IN | Congress leader and former Union Minister RPN Singh has resignedfrom the party. He hastenderedhis resignation to the Party president Sonia Gandhi.

Supreme Court seeks Centre, EC response on plea against freebies by political parties before polls

The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued notice to Centre and the Election Commission on a PIL against the promise or distribution of irrational freebies from public funds before polls, as it shakes the roots of a free and fair election, and vitiates the purity of the election process. Read more

'Not 'Samajwadi' but 'Tamanchawadi'', Yogi Adityanath targets Akhilesh over gun culture

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday lashed out at the Samajwadi Party leaders and said that they were not 'Samajwadi' but 'tamanchawadi' and followed the gun culture.

In a tweet, he slammed Akhilesh Yadav's 'Jinnah' comment and said: "Those who do not think Pakistan is an enemy, Jinnah seems to be a friend. What can be said about his education and vision? They call themselves socialists, but the truth is that 'gun culture' runs in their veins." (IANS)

ECI to send EPIC to newly enrolled voters by post

The Election Commission of India has decided to send illustrated Elector Photo Identity Cards (EPIC) to newly enrolled voters via post, a senior official said on Tuesday.

The service will be launched on January 25 which is celebrated as National Voters' Day, the official said. Read more

Amit Shah, K P Maurya, other BJP leaders arrive at BJP headquarters for CEC meeting

The Supreme Court on Tuesday issuednotice to the Centre and Election Commission of India seeking direction to seize election symbols and deregister political parties that promised to distribute irrational freebies from public funds.

In battleground UP, fight for Muslim votes intensifies as AIMIM fields Umair Madani

With the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), led by Asaduddin Owaisi, having fielded Maulana Umair Madani from the Deoband Assembly seat in Saharanpur district, the fight for Muslim votes in western Uttar Pradesh is bound to intensify. Read more

'Nari skahti' comes to the fore in UP, BJP organises 'mahila chaupal', 'kirtan' to woo women voters

Knowing the importance of women voters for winning the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls for the second consecutive terms, the BJP is holding a 'Mahila chaupal' and 'kirtan' across the state.

The saffron party believes that women voters will play a crucial and decisive role in next year's poll as they constitute nearly half (46 per cent) of the total electorate of state and their participation has increased over a period of time. In the last 2017 Assembly polls, over 60 per cent women cast their vote, more than the men. (IANS)

Chief priest advised Yogi not to contest from Ayodhya

At a time when all saints in Ayodhya wanted Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to contest the upcoming Assembly elections from Ayodhya, the chief priest of the Ram Temple, Acharya Satyendra Das, has said it is good that Adityanath is not contesting from this Assembly constituency as he would have faced a lot of opposition. Read more

A saint should not be CM, says seer in a veiled dig at Yogi Adityanath

Swami Avimukteshwaranand, a prominent saint, has kicked up a storm by stating that a saint cannot and should not be a chief minister as after taking the oath of secularism as a constitutional dignitary, he cannot remain 'religious'.

In an apparent reference to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, the seer said, "No man can abide by two pledges. A saint can be a 'mahant' but not a chief minister or prime minister. This is possible in the 'khilafat' system of Islam in which the religious head also happens to be the king." (IANS)

UP Polls: Two SP leaders quit after being denied ticket

Subhash Rai, SP legislator from Jalalpur in Ambedkar Nagar district, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party after the ticket from his seat was given to Rakesh Pandey, a former Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) legislator. Read more

Manipur polls: NPP to contest alone, releases list of 20 candidates

Making it clear that it would contest the Assembly elections without any pre-poll alliance, National People's Party (NPP), a partner in the BJP-led government in Manipur, on Monday released a list of 20 candidates that included the name of Deputy Chief Minister Y Joykumar Singh.

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Harish Rawat to contest from Ramnagar, Congress finalises 11 more candidates for Uttarakhand elections

Congress on Monday cleared 11 more candidates for the Uttarakhand Assembly elections and the list includes finalising the seat for its campaign face,Harish Rawat.

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In Punjab, it’s AAP vs the rest, says CM face Bhagwant Mann

Aam Admi Party’s (AAP) announcement to name comedian-turned-politicianBhagwant Mann(48) as its chief ministerial candidate has arguably added momentum to the party’s claimed prospects of winning Punjab. Mann has come of age, has gained strides as a mass leader and is lauded for his prolific oratory.

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