UP, Punjab, Uttarakhand Elections 2022 LIVE Updates: In what is being seen as his strongest backing yet for a chief ministerial face in Punjab, AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal today said he was in favour of Bhagwant Mann for the post but Mann had asked him to seek the view of the people of Punjab before taking the final call. Kejriwal also ruled himself out of the race for the chief minister’s post and added that the party was open to alliance with like-minded parties that wish to work for the development of Punjab. Read More
Key Events
Key Events8-10 BJP's rebel MLAs reached Janeshwar Trust in Lucknow to meet Akhilesh Yadav. Swami Prasad Maurya also present.@pranshumisraa & @maryashakil with details!
Watch #NationAt5 with @AnchorAnandN pic.twitter.com/gD0CtAGp1B
— News18 (@CNNnews18) January 13, 2022
Uttar Pradesh minister Brajesh Pathak alleged that Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav is trying to run the show with the help of others as he has nothing of his own. He was reacting to the recent defections of BJP ministers and legislators, who are likely to join the Samajwadi Party. Akhilesh Yadav is trying to run the show with the help of others as he has nothing of his own, but his dream will not come true as the election environment in the state is in favour of the BJP, Pathak said at a meeting of ‘Prabudh Varg’ (enlightened class, including Brahmins) here on Wednesday.
OBC leader Dharam Singh Saini became the third minister to quit the Uttar Pradesh cabinet ahead of the upcoming state assembly elections, according to his resignation letter circulating on social media. Saini, who was the Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Ayush, appeared headed to the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party. Yadav posted on Twitter a picture of himself with Saini, as he had done after OBC leaders Swami Prasad Maurya and Dara Singh Chauhan resigned from the Yogi Adityanath cabinet on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively.
Dharam Singh Saini, who resigned from the BJP today, said that he is going with Swamy Prasad Maurya. Saini had earlier rejected the claims of resigning from BJP after Maurya’s resignation. “There is no upliftment of Dalits and OBCs in BJP’s rule. I was not happy with those who were running the govt,” Saini said.
The BJP on Thursday finalised its candidates for 172 assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh and is likely to field both Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya who are currently members of the Legislative Council, party leaders said. Polling in most of these 172 seats will be held in the initial phases beginning February 10 and the party is also considering fielding Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma and state unit president Swatantra Dev Singh.
“A non-bailable warrant has been issued against me in 8-year-old case. It’s just 2nd day of my resignation (as UP min). Even if dozens of cases registered against me, my morale will not be weakened. The more they trouble me, the more strongly I’ll defeat them,” Swami Prasad Maurya said.
A non-bailable warrant has been issued against me in an 8 yr old case. It's just 2nd day of my resignation(as UP min). Even if dozens of cases registered against me, my morale will not be weakened. The more they trouble me, the more strongly I'll defeat them: Swami Prasad Maurya pic.twitter.com/Ra3ilWh2xh
— ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) January 13, 2022
RLD chief Jayant Singh welcomes senior leader and four-time Congress MLA from Hapur Gajraj Singh into his party.
Two more State Ministers in Uttar Pradesh are expected to resign from BJP tomorrow, sources have said. Earlier today, UP minister Dharam Singh Saini had resigned from BJP.
The Congress on Thursday released its party’s first list of 125 candidates, including 50 women, for the upcoming assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, fielding the Unnao rape victim’s mother Asha Singh from the Unnao assembly seat. Anti-CAA activist and party spokesperson in Uttar Pradesh, Sadaf Jafar is the Congress candidate from the Lucknow central seat. Asha worker and activist Poonam Pandey, who fought for the rights of Asha workers has been fielded from Shahjahanpur and Ram Raj Gond, a tribal leader who fought for the rights of Adivasis in Sonbhadra, has been fielded from the Ponga constituency in the state.
We’ve decided to contest elections with Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh. One seat has been announced and talks are on for other seats. We will support the alliance which is forming in UP: NCP leader Nawab Malik
‘सामाजिक न्याय’ के एक और योद्धा डॉ. धर्म सिंह सैनी जी के आने से, सबका मेल-मिलाप-मिलन करानेवाली हमारी ‘सकारात्मक और प्रगतिशील राजनीति’ को और भी उत्साह व बल मिला है। सपा में उनका ससम्मान हार्दिक स्वागत एवं अभिनंदन!
बाइस में समावेशी-सौहार्द की जीत निश्चित है! #मेला_होबे pic.twitter.com/2FDkLLNW93
— Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) January 13, 2022
In what comes as a shot in the arm for the Goa Trinamool Congress, former MLA and General Secretary of Goa Pradesh Congress Committee, Shri Victor Gonsalves joined the party in the presence of Lok Sabha MP and AITC Goa in-charge Smt Mahua Moitra, Rajya Sabha MP and AITC Goa Co-incharge Smt Sushmita Dev and AITC Media in-charge Shri Om Prakash Mishra at the party office in Panaji.
समाजवादी पार्टी व्हाट्सएप ग्रुप में जुड़ने के लिए अपने जनपद, विधानसभा क्षेत्र एवं मोबाइल नंबर दर्ज कर नीचे दिए गए लिंक पर क्लिक करें।https://t.co/0EylQmCuXt pic.twitter.com/DUNSkwz1Qk
— Samajwadi Party (@samajwadiparty) January 13, 2022
Uttar Pradesh deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya is likely to contest from his traditional seat Sirathu in the upcoming assembly elections. The contest of the OBC face in the BJP is crucial at a time when several leaders from the community have deserted the party over the past several days. READ MORE
आज मुजफ्फरनगर में किसान नेता श्री राकेश टिकैत से मुलाकात कर उत्तर प्रदेश के किसानों की गंभीर समस्याओं व मुद्दों और देश की राजनीति पर प्रदीर्घ चर्चा हुई। खासकर, वेस्टर्न यूपी के ज्वलंत मुद्दों पर मंथन हुआ। शिवसेना किसानों को उनका न्याय दिलाने के लिए समर्पित है। pic.twitter.com/tNRD8T1CbV
— Sanjay Raut (@rautsanjay61) January 13, 2022
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati on Thursday announced two candidates, including former Congressman Imran Masood’s brother, for western Uttar Pradesh in the upcoming polls. In a tweet, the BSP chief announced Salman Sayeed as the party’s candidate from Charthawal and Noman Masood from Gangoh Assembly constituencies.
Asserting that the Congress and the BJP are the two main contestants in Goa, senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Thursday said that if the AAP and TMC fielded candidates and secured some votes in the upcoming assembly polls, in effect they will be splitting the non-BJP vote. Chidambaram, who is the Congress’ senior election observer for the Goa Assembly polls, also said that some days ago, the TMC hinted that it would like to form an alliance with the Congress and other parties and the AICC leadership was aware of the TMC’s desire and may have responded to it, but he has “no official word or instruction” from the AICC on the matter.
The slew of resignations in the Uttar Pradesh BJP spilled over to Thursday with Shikohahabad MLA and Backward Caste leader Mukesh Verma resigning from the party’s primary membership weeks before Assembly elections. READ MORE
In the first list of 125 candidates for UP polls, 50 candidates are women, including Asha Singh, mother of the Unnao rape victim. From Shahjahanpur, we have fielded Asha worker Poonam Pandey who led an agitation for a raise in honorarium, said Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra releases party's first list of 125 candidates for Uttar Pradesh polls
"Out of the total 125 candidates, 40% are women & 40% are the youth. With this historic initiative, we hope to bring in a new kind of politics in the sate," she says pic.twitter.com/qg8pJQrlri
— ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) January 13, 2022
Congress leader P Chidambaram on Thursday said that if the AAP and TMC fielded candidates and secured some votes in the upcoming assembly polls, in effect they will be splitting the non-BJP vote. Chidambaram, who is the Congress’ senior election observer for the Goa Assembly polls, also said that some days ago, the TMC hinted that it would like to form an alliance with the Congress and other parties and the AICC leadership was aware of the TMC’s desire and may have responded to it, but he has “no official word or instruction” from the AICC on the matter.
The Uttar Pradesh BJP faced several blows on Wednesday with a bunch of leaders announcing their exit from their party, and some joining the Samajwadi Party (SP). OBC leader Dara Singh Chauhan resigned on Wednesday from the Yogi Adityanath cabinet and appeared to be headed towards the SP. A day earlier as BJP leaders brainstormed in Delhi on the UP assembly polls state Labour Minister Swami Prasad Maurya quit. Though Maurya, a prominent Other Backward Class (OBC) leader, has not made it clear that he is joining the Samajwadi Party, the SP has tweeted a welcome message. The recent developments appear to strengthen the SP’s influence among the non-Yadav OBCs in the state, less than a month before the crucial elections that will also have an impact on the 2024 parliamentary polls.
OP Rajbhar, who was a former ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and now the SP, told in an interview with Hindustan Times that BJP is the enemy of OBCs and that more leaders will quit the party. A key OBC leader himself, Rajbhar said that keeping its OBC base intact will be a challenge for the BJP. “If you were to speak to BJP leaders on a spy cam, they would reveal the same — that no one listens to them, that they are helpless. Mark my words, on March 10 (counting day) no BJP leader will step out of their home and they will switch off their TVs,” he said. Three other BJP MLAs also announced their resignation from the party on Tuesday.
Uttar Pradesh minister Kapil Dev Aggarwal was on Wednesday booked for violating the model code of conduct and the Covid protocol for allegedly holding a rally in a public ground here without permission. The UP minister for Vocational Education and Skill Development was booked along with 40 BJP workers after they held the public rally at Ramlila Tila locality under the Kotwali police station area of the district on Tuesday, police said.
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