Assembly Elections 2022 Updates: SP Releases 1st List for UP, Akhilesh to Contest from Karhal

The Election Commission of India has sought AAP’s explanation over its chief ministerial candidate Bhagwant Mann allegedly holding a roadshow in Sangrur on Sunday in violation of the model code of conduct. The poll panel has imposed some restrictions on holding rallies and other electioneering activities in a bid to check the spread of Covid during the assembly elections in the five states.

The Congress on Monday released its list of 30 star campaigners for the first-phase assembly election in Utar Pradesh, naming party president Sonia Gandhi, former prime minister Manmohan Singh, former party chief Rahul Gandhi, new entrant Kanhaiya Kumar and some of the G-23 leaders. Former Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and former Rajya Sabha member Raj Babbar are among the G-23 leaders named as star campaigners. The group of 23 Congress leaders had earlier raised questions on the functioning of the party and sought an organisational overhaul.

The Samajwadi Party released its first list of 159 candidates for the upcoming Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh. Party President Akhilesh Yadav will be contesting from Karhal in Mainpuri. Jailed SP leader Azam Khan has moved the Supreme Court, seeking an interim bail to campaign in the election. His son Abdullah Azam Khan is also in fray.

The Congress on Monday accused ruling BJP leaders of violating the poll code ahead of the UP Assembly elections and asked if the Election Commission is under pressure. Naseemuddin Siddiqui, chief of the UP Congress media cell, claimed while his party’s event in Bahraich was not allowed allegedly due to poll code violation, Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s door-to-door campaign in Kairana took place despite the presence of a large number of people.

AAP candidate Joginder Singh for Miranpur assembly seat allegedly poured kerosene oil over his clothes to immolate himself before the district collectorate office here on Monday over the rejection of his poll nomination paper by the returning officer, police said. The police, however, managed to foil his alleged suicide bid by overpowering him and stopping him from lighting the matchstick, they said. After his failed suicide bid, Singh sat on a dharna before the district magistrate’s office, alleging that he was not given an opportunity to rectify his mistake in filling his nomination paper. v

Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu on Monday launched a fresh attack on Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and accused him of running “a fake propaganda” through the ‘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. READ MORE

The BJP on Monday announced a seat-sharing pact with the Punjab Lok Congress (PLC) of Captain Amarinder Singh and SAD (Sanyukt) of Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa for the Assembly election in Punjab. While the BJP will contest on 65 seats and the PLC will contest on 37 seats. The SAD will field 15 candidates. The Punjab Legislative Assembly has 117 chairs.

Haider Ali Khan, BJP ally Apna Dal’s candidate from Swar Assembly seat, is the National Democratic Alliance’s first Muslim nominee for Uttar Pradesh elections 2022. Hailing from the royal family of Rampur, Khan was earlier named in the Congress’ list of candidates, but jumped ship recently and will now be contesting on an Apna Dal ticket. The switch has set political circles abuzz since his father Nawaz Kazim Ali Khan is still with the Congress and is the grand old party’s candidate from Rampur Assembly seat. Haider’s grandmother Noor Bano has also been a Congress MP.

Swati Singh, a minister in the Yogi Adityanath government, is in news again. This time it is because of an audio recording that has gone viral on social media. In this, Swati is purportedly talking to a person, who is heard complaining that her husband Daya Shankar Singh has misbehaved with him and there is a case of land grabbing too.

Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh on Sunday said the people of his state, including himself, want the withdrawal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act but only after mutual understanding with the Centre as national security is their top priority. “I believe AFSPA can be lifted gradually with the consent of the central government. But, we must remember there is no political stability in Myanmar and we share the border with that nation,” the chief minister told

Haider Ali Khan, BJP ally Apna Dal’s candidate from Swar Assembly seat, is the National Democratic Alliance’s first Muslim nominee for Uttar Pradesh elections 2022. Hailing from the royal family of Rampur, Khan was earlier named in the Congress’ list of candidates, but jumped ship recently and will now be contesting on an Apna Dal ticket. The switch has set political circles abuzz since his father Nawaz Kazim Ali Khan is still with the Congress and is the grand old party’s candidate from Rampur Assembly seat. Haider’s grandmother Noor Bano has also been a Congress MP. READ MORE

<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>&quot;Ek Mauka Kejriwal Ko&quot;- We are starting this campaign from today…Delhi people can make videos telling people of other states about work done by AAP and appeal to them to give Kejriwal/AAP a chance, ahead of polls. Upload these videos on social media: Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal <a href=”https://t.co/3UC9mc1eZO”>pic.twitter.com/3UC9mc1eZO</a></p>&mdash; ANI (@ANI) <a href=”https://twitter.com/ANI/status/1485501413006651394?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>January 24, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>

The BJP’s Miranpur candidate for the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls has been booked for allegedly giving an inflammatory speech at an election meeting and violating EC guidelines on physical campaigning, police said on Monday. Pershant Gujjar and his 40 supporters have also been booked for holding the meeting without permission on Sunday, Kakroli Station House Officer (SHO) Sunil Sharma said. He said that the meeting took place despite the Election Commission (EC) banning all kinds of physical poll public meetings and rallies in view of the Covid situation. Gujjar, in a video clip, is heard appealing to people in Chorawala village to support him in the elections as the BJP is of Hindus and the opposition Samajwadi Party (SP) is a Muslims’ party. Sharma said Gujjar and his supporters were booked after investigation of the video, which has gone viral on social media.

Uttar Pradesh elections 2022 approach, one of the seats in the spotlight is Azamgarh. The seat, for long, has been considered a Samajwadi Party bastion, but that is no longer the case. A look at the result trends since the 2009 Lok Sabha elections shows BJP and BSP having made significant gains in Azamgarh. In fact, the BJP had won the Azamgarh seat in 2009 by fielding a Yadav face who was earlier a winning candidate for both the SP and BSP. When Ramakant Yadav won the seat in 1996 and 1999, he was a Samajwadi Party candidate. He contested and won the seat for the BSP in 2004. Yadav switched to the BJP in 2009 and again won the seat, bagging 35.13% votes, while the BSP and SP won 28.18% and 17.17%, respectively. READ MORE

On the National Girl Child Day, former Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Monday resolved to empower the girls by giving them education, freedom and equal space. Singh’s fledgling the Punjab Lok Congress (PLC) is contesting the Punjab Assembly polls in alliance with the BJP and SAD (Sanyukt), “On #NationalGirlChildDay, I salute our girls and their accomplishments in various fields,” Amarinder Singh tweeted.