Elections 2022 Updates: AAP Releases First List of 134 Candidates for MCD Polls

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) released first list of 134 candidates for MCD polls.

Congress releases a list of seven candidates for the upcoming elections to the Gujarat assembly.

Aam Aadmi Party’s first list of candidates for MCD elections is expected anytime now, sources said.

The BJP has been in power in the MCD — trifurcated in 2012 into north, south and east corporations and then unified this year — for three straight terms. Results of the elections to the 250-ward MCD will be declared on December 7.

From the ‘all guns blazing’ campaign of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led by its star campaigner PM Narendra Modi to the Congress banking on anti-incumbency, interspersed with a virtually mute Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the heat of the Himachal polls has virtually cut through the snow peaks of the hill state.

With almost 56 lakh Himachalis voting on Saturday, the ball is now in their court to decide whether they opt for continuity or go past the “tradition (rivaz)”. READ MORE

Aam Aadmi Party released a list of 30 star campaigners for Delhi Municipal Corporation elections. AAP’s Rajendra Pal Gautam, who resigned as minister over his presence at a religious conversion event, features in the list.

Nearly 700 companies of the Central Armed Police Force (CAPF), comprising 70,000 personnel, will be deployed for the Gujarat Assembly elections. These include over 150 companies each from BSF, CRPF and other CAPFs, news agency ANI reported.

Gujarat’s Saurashtra region, which accounts for 48 out of the total 182 Assembly seats in the state with a sizable Patidar and Other Backward Class (OBC) population, has the potential to tilt the power game in favour of or against the ruling BJP or opposition Congress in the next month’s elections.

In the 2017 Assembly polls, the Congress had bagged 28 seats in this region, improving its previous election’s tally of 15 and helping it restrict the Bharatiya Janata Party’s victory count to 99. Political observers attributed the grand old party’s impressive show in the region to the 2015 Patidar community’s quota agitation that targeted the BJP government. READ MORE

Taking a jibe at the Congress over “many” chief ministerial candidates, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Thursday said the opposition party should make everyone its CM face as only the BJP is going to win the state polls.

Addressing a rally here on the last day of canvassing, Thakur said, “Till date, it is not known that how many leaders are contenders for the chief minister’s post this time. The Congress should make everyone the chief ministerial candidate but the victory will be of the BJP.” READ MORE

The Election Commission on Friday said the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence detected the smuggling of toys and accessories worth Rs 64 crore at Mundra port. With this, the seizures of cash, liquor, drugs, precious metals and other freebies ahead of the Gujarat Assembly polls had reached record levels.

Since the announcement of polls in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat, the Election Commission has made record seizures of cash, liquor, drugs etc in the two states.

Seizures in Gujarat amounted to Rs 71.88 crores while seizures in Himachal Pradesh amounted to Rs 50.28 crores.

Delhi chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party president Arvind Kejriwal on Friday released his party’s 10 guarantees for MCD election. The CM said his first promise is to “make Delhi beautiful” by “removing three mountains of garbage”. He added that no new landfill sites will be built in the national capital. “We will get experts from London, Paris to solve this,” Kejriwal said.

The AAP chief also promised to improve schools, hospitals and parks that come under MCD. A key guarantee that he gave was to make all temporary employees permanent. READ MORE

Aparna Yadav, the younger daughter-in-law of Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav, met state unit president of BJP Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary in Lucknow on Thursday.

Chaudhary also shared a photograph of the meeting on his Twitter handle.

Aparna Yadav had joined BJP on the eve of the latest Assembly election in the state. READ MORE

Leading the BJP’s election campaign in Gujarat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to hold around 25 rallies across his home state as the ruling party aims to reach voters in 150 Assembly constituencies. Sources told News18 that the dates for these rallies will be finalised after approval for the schedule from the Prime Minister’s Office.

The rallies led star campaigners, including the PM, are expected to begin from next week. “The Prime Minister’s programs are expected to be finalised by November 12. We have tentatively sought time for the PM’s first rally on November 17,” a source said. READ MORE

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann will campaign for Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Gujarat tomorrow, the party announced.

Himachal Pradesh is known for its apple orchards. The fruit crop is very important to the state’s economy, and has decidedly become an important poll issue, with the Opposition party Congress attempting to make use of apple growers’ issues and problems. READ MORE

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA representing the Matar Assembly constituency in Gujarat’s Kheda district has joined the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) after the ruling party denied a ticket to him from his seat for the upcoming Assembly elections.

Kesarisinh Solanki, who had won the election twice from the seat, joined the AAP, said the Arvind Kejriwal-led party’s state unit president Gopal Italia on Twitter.

“Kesarisinh Solanki ji, a popular, hardworking, fearless MLA of Matar Vidhan Sabha, has joined the Aam Aadmi Party today after getting inspired by the honest politics of Arvind Kejriwal. I heartily welcome Shri Kesari Sinh ji to the Aam Aadmi Party. Together we will form an honest government in Gujarat,” Italia said in a tweet late Thursday night. The tweet carried a photograph, which showed Italia welcoming Solanki.

Solanki had won the bye-election to the seat in 2014 after the then MLA Devusinh Chauhan won the Lok Sabha election. Chauhan is currently the Union Minister of State for Communications. Solanki had also won the 2017 Assembly election from the constituency on the BJP ticket.

The AAP has already declared the name of one Mahipatsinh Chauhan as its candidate for the seat. (PTI)

BJP leader and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was at the centre of an unusual bonhomie in poll-bound Himachal Pradesh. While it is usual for political workers to stop to click pictures with political leaders, Sitharaman had some unexpected fans.

Local workers of the Congress’ women’s wing stopped to click selfies with the finance minister sharing some light moments with her on Thursday on the last day of the aggressive campaigning for the Himachal Pradesh polls.

Sitharaman was in the state capital to campaign for BJP candidates. The party is seeking to retain power in the November 12 polls. READ MORE

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Assam and its allies have won the maximum number of seats in Assam’s Deori Autonomous Council election. Of the total 22 seats, BJP and its allies have won 12. The state’s ruling party needs the support of one candidate to retain power in the autonomous council.

Congress has bagged two seats, while eight seats went to the Jimochhaya Peoples Party and independent candidates. According to sources, the BJP may easily get the support of independent candidates.

The voting for the Deori Autonomous Council took place on November 8. The results were announced on Thursday.

A total of 75 candidates contested in the election. The jurisdiction of Deori Autonomous body spreads across 7 districts of the state. (IANS)

Another opinion poll has predicted a BJP victory in Himachal Pradesh, where the saffron party is in power.

According to the Republic TV-P-MARQ poll, the BJP will defy the trend and return to power. In a 68-member Assembly, the BJP is expected to win 37-45 seats (45.2 percent of the vote).

If this poll is correct, Congress will have to be content with 22-28 seats (40.1%), a slight improvement over its 2017 performance. The AAP may receive one seat (5.2%), while others may receive one to four seats. READ MORE

As the incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) gears up to fight its big electoral battle across 68 constituencies of Himachal Pradesh on November 12, it will also seek to claim power over the hot seat of Palampur — that it has won just once in the last three decades.

Flanked by the mighty Dhauladhars, the hill station located in the politically significant district of Kangra has remained a Congress stronghold since 1985 when it fielded senior party leader and famous tea-grower Brij Bihari Lal Butail from the constituency. The five-time MLA from Palampur and former Vidhan Sabha Speaker continued his winning streak from 1993 to 2017 when he eventually retired. The streak was broken only once in 2007 when BJP’s Praveen Kumar emerged victorious. In the previous elections held in 2017, Butail’s son Ashish Butail contested his first election and the family won the people’s mandate yet again. READ MORE