UP Elections 2022 Updates: Modi is Aware of Ukraine War but Not Stray Cattle Menace Going on for 5 Yrs, Says Priyanka in Amethi Rally

BJP and Samajwadi Party workers today clashed over parking of a vehicle in Godhna Belbharia village of Payagpur assembly constituency, police said. SP district unit president Ram Harsh Yadav claimed that some of his party supporters were injured in the incident. According to ASP (Nagar) Kunwar Gyananjay Singh, the scuffle started when supporters of one of the groups while campaigning parked their vehicles on a roadside, which was objected to by the other group. Soon both sides began throwing stones at each other, damaging a number of vehicles in the duel, said the ASP. Both the sides have filed FIRs against each other under serious criminal sections, he said. The ASP said action will be taken against both the sides for violation of Model Code of Conduct. Payagpur assembly seat is the only seat in Bahraich where heavyweight star campaigners from across parties, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, chief minister Yogi Adityanath, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, and BSP president Mayawati, have held public meetings. Payagpur will go to polls on February 27. PTI

Campaigning hard ahead of the fifth phase of the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections on February 27, union home minister Amit Shah said the BJP had brought an end to casteism and dynastic politics. He was addressing an election rally in Pratapgarh today. “We’ve brought an end to casteism, dynastic politics. Where are Azam Khan, Atiq Ahmed today? If you want them to remain in jail, you should vote for BJP… Our government will give a gas cylinder free on Holi and Diwali,” Shah said. ANI

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath said Samajwadi Party leaders had started booking flights to go abroad and hide after March 10. The chief minister was addressing a rally in Prayagraj today, as part of his election campaign for the fifth phase of the assembly polls. But, Adityanath said, these leaders were facing a problem as some international flights had been cancelled either due to Covid-19 or the war in Ukraine. “SP leaders have started booking tickets to go abroad after March 10 to hide their faces. But a problem has arisen before them as some flights have been banned because of Covid and some because of the Ukraine-Russia conflict,” the CM added. ANI

Union minister Smriti Irani addressed a rally in Amethi today, and said she wanted to assure the people that the BJP will form the government in Uttar Pradesh. She also promised two-wheelers for all meritorious girls when the saffron party came to power in the state. “I want to assure people that BJP is forming the government and, once our government forms, we’ll provide free scooties to all the meritorious girls,” Irani said while campaigning for the fifth phase of the assembly elections on February 27. ANI

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra held a roadshow in Prayagraj today in support of Anugrah Narayan Singh, party candidate from Allahabad (North). Senior party leader Abhay Awasthi said the Congress general secretary reached Bamhrauli airport following which the roadshow started. Accompanied by Singh, Gandhi greeted people who showered flowers on her during the roadshow in which a large number of Congress leaders and workers took part carrying party flags. Gandhi left for the airport after the roadshow reached Netram Chauraha. Awasthi said as Priyanka Gandhi was scheduled to address gatherings at three different places, including Amethi, she could not complete the roadshow. PTI

(Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi during a roadshow to support to party candidate from Prayagraj North constituency seat Anugrah Narayan Singh during an election campaign for Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, in Prayagraj on Friday. Image: PTI)

The construction of Ram temple seems to have been relegated to one of the poll issues in Ayodhya this time as competing parties are raking up development topics and also relying on caste arithmetic for victory. The BJP, for whom the temple town sharpened its Hindutva plank, is facing a challenge particularly from the Samajwadi Party (SP) in the ongoing state polls. With 10 candidates in fray, the Ayodhya Assembly segment will go to vote in the fifth phase on February 27

Aradhana Mishra is riding on the popularity of her father and old Congress warhorse Pramod Tiwari to retain the Rampur Khas assembly seat in the Uttar Pradesh elections. But this time the battle is tough with the belligerent BJP determined to tumble the Congress fort after 42 years. Mishra had won the Rampur Khas seat in a by-election in 2014 and then again in the 2017 assembly polls, continuing from her father who has been a legislator from the constituency for consecutive nine terms since 1980. The Rampur Khas has always remained loyal to the Congress, but in the last assembly elections, the BJP had zeroed in on and narrowed the victory margin of Mishra.

As the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections move towards the Purvanchal region, many prominent faces, including some former MPs, former ministers and Bahubalis, will be trying their luck. There are many assembly seats where these strongmen are contesting this time. One of them is Harishankar Tiwari, among the most influential figures in Purvanchal since the 1980s. Tiwari has been an MLA for 22 years, along with being a minister multiple times. READ MORE

After the first four phases, the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections are now shifting towards Purvanchal, considered the bellwether region of the state. The voting for the next three phases will be held on February 27, March 3 and March 7. READ MORE

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold discussions with booth level workers of the party from eight Assembly segments at Sampurnanand Sanskrit University ground here on February 27. BJP’s state co-in-charge Sunil Ojha said that the Prime Minister will interact with the booth level workers on February 27 and all the arrangements have been intensified. The seating arrangements are being made in a way so that Modi can easily interact with any of the participants, he added. As per the party’s plan, six booth level workers, including booth unit president of each booth, will take part in the proposed event. He also said that apart from them the district, city and divisional unit office-bearers will also participate in it.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is scheduled to campaign in Amethi and Prayagraj on Friday ahead of the fifth phase of the Uttar Pradesh elections on Sunday. This will be his first campaign tour of Uttar Pradesh since December even as he has been part of 30 election-related programmes in Punjab, Goa, Uttarakhand, and Manipur.

BJP MP from Hamirpur, Pushpendra Singh Chandel, has been booked for violating the model code of conduct. The BJP MP was found campaigning in the Chandwara and Badagaon villages of Tindwari Assembly constituency even after the electioneering deadline ended on Monday evening. Pailani SHO Sunil Kumar Singh said an FIR has been lodged for campaigning after the deadline against the BJP candidate in Chandwara and Badagaon villages.

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) is finally pitching in for BJP in Ayodhya. The VHP has started distributing ‘prasad’ from the Ram temple, along with the soil — ‘Ram Raj’ of the temple site, with an appeal to elect a ‘nationalist’ government that has an ‘honest’ leadership. VHP’s regional media in-charge Sharad Sharma, said, “The people are also being told that this is a ‘mahayagya’ (election) before us and at this moment, there is a need to give ‘aahuti’ (offering) and the resolve should be that in this state and in other places, a ‘rashtravadi’ (nationalist) government is in place which is committed to the safety of Ram Lala, ‘Gau, Ganga and Gayatri’ and people who can do this, are elected.”

The Uttar Pradesh Police have registered as many as 1,137 cases of violation of model code of conduct in the first four phases of elections. Senior police officers at the DGP headquarters said that not a single incident of violence or clash has been reported during the elections so far. This has been possible due to advance preparedness of police and heavy deployment of central paramilitary forces. Meerut tops the list among the districts with 51 cases of poll code violation followed by 45 in Jhansi. Among commissionerates, Lucknow topped with 26 cases followed by 20 in Kanpur.

Everyone wants votes but no one wants to campaign in these areas. Candidates are hesitant to be seen here but still send messages through pamphlets to the voters. They even send ‘goodies’, albeit discreetly, and ask for votes. These are the red-light areas of major cities in Uttar Pradesh where campaigning is taboo for obvious reasons. In Prayagraj, Meerganj is one such area that has Madrasi gali, Satya gali, Julaha gali and Pahadi gali which are largely inhabited by sex workers. According to a source, the women in the area are aware and familiar with local politics.

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi took a jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi describing him as “all-knowing” who reaches out to the US and Russian leaders when they are ill but is unaware of the woes of the people of Uttar Pradesh. At an election rally in Gonda, she also targeted Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath over the stray animal menace, accusing him of taking note of the issue when election approaches.

Over 60 per cent of the assembly constituencies going to polls during the fifth phase of elections in Uttar Pradesh have three or more candidates with criminal cases in fray, according to a report. Also, 185 (or 27 per cent) of the 685 candidates in fray have declared criminal cases against themselves, while 141 (or 21 per cent) have admitted serious criminal cases, noted the report by the Uttar Pradesh Election Watch and the Association for Democratic Reforms.