UP, Punjab, Uttarakhand Elections 2022 LIVE Updates: Bhim Army Chief Chandrashekhar, Akhilesh to Meet in Lucknow Today

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.

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

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.

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

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.