News Analysis India

Tag: Elections

  • Protests erupt in Manipur after BJP announces candidates’ names

    By Express News Service

    GUWAHATI: Protestors torched BJP flags, posters and allegedly forced the closure of its offices in some parts of Manipur on Sunday after their leaders were denied party tickets.

    The incidents were reported from a few constituencies, including Kakching and Sagolband. Protests were also staged in the state capital of Imphal. However, there were no violent incidents. Apprehending trouble, the authorities had tightened security across constituencies in the Imphal valley. 

    The BJP’s Manipur election in-charge Bhupender Yadav claimed members with a long association with the party had been fielded while two sitting MLAs were denied tickets. 

    A large number of police commandos and personnel from central paramilitary forces have remained deployed at the party’s head office for about a week while the security of partys’ state president A Sharda Devi, ministers and MLAs were also tightened.

    As immediate fallout, an aspirant at the Wangkhei seat, Thangjam Arunkumar, resigned from the party. Opposition Congress and National People’s Party said several BJP leaders, who missed the bus, were likely to contest the polls on their tickets.

    After declaring the names of all 60 candidates in Delhi, Yadav exuded confidence that the party would retain power with more than a two-thirds majority. In the 2017 polls, the party had won 21 seats against Congress’ 28 but managed to cobble up the numbers to form the government.

    However, the list has the names of over a dozen who had won the last election contesting from the Congress and other parties and later, defected to the BJP.

    Three retired IAS officers – Dinganglung Gangmei, Yengkhom Surchandra and Raghumani Singh and three women – Soraisam Kebi Devi, SS Olish and Nemcha Kipgen – are among the BJP candidates.

    Chief Minister N Biren Singh will contest from his pet Heingang seat, Assembly Speaker Yumnam Khemchand from Singjamei and senior minister Thongam Biswajit from Thongju. The two-phase polls will be held on February 27 and March 3.

  • AAP, Trinamool, Shiv Sena fared poorly in previous Goa polls: Election data 

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Goa appears set for a multi-cornered contest where a fractured opposition is attempting to overthrow the BJP, which has been in power in the coastal state for the past 10 years.

    Congress has been insisting that it is the key challenger to the BJP and other parties – Trinamool, AAP, NCP-Shiv Sena – in the fray after failed talks for an alliance could only end up muddying its chances.

    A look at the previous election results shows that the BJP had polled the maximum votes – 32.48 per cent – to emerge victorious on 13 seats in the 40-member assembly, while the Congress had garnered 28.35 per cent votes and won 17 seats.

    In percentage terms, Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) had polled 11.27 per cent votes and managed to win three seats, while 58 Independent candidates had together garnered 11.12 per cent votes and three had emerged victorious.

    The AAP, which has unveiled grand plans for Goa and declared Amit Palekar as its chief ministerial face, had polled 6.27 per cent votes in the 2017 elections and failed to open its account, while Sharad Pawar-led NCP had managed to garner 2.28 per cent of the total valid votes and won one seat.

    The Shiv Sena, which plans to contest the Goa elections in alliance with the NCP, had managed to poll just 0.09 per cent of the total valid votes cast in the 2017 elections.

    “Politics in Goa is largely controlled by land mafia, Shiv Sena wants to put the common man at the centrestage of politics in the state,” Sena leader Sanjay Raut had told the media.

    He had said the Shiv Sena and the NCP were keen to form a Maharashtra-like alliance with the Congress in Goa, but the efforts came a cropper.

    For the 2022 elections, the Congress has entered into an alliance with the Goa Forward Party, while the BJP has refrained from entering into any coalition and plans to put up candidates on all the 40 seats.

    The Trinamool Congress has entered into an alliance with the MGP and weaned away leaders from the Congress and the NCP claiming to be the real challenger to the BJP.

    The Trinamool was not in the fray in Goa in 2017 elections, but had put up 20 candidates in the 2012 elections and managed to poll 1.81 per cent of the total valid votes cast.

    “Trinamool Congress is not a headache for the BJP. It is a headache for the Congress and Goa,” former Maharashtra chief minister and BJP in-charge of Goa elections Devendra Fadnavis told reporters here.

    In the 2012 assembly elections, the BJP had polled 34.68 per cent votes, followed by the Congress (30.78 per cent), the MGP (6.72 per cent), the NCP (4.08 per cent), Independents (16.67 per cent) and the Shiv Sena (0.02 per cent).

  • No internal feud in TMC, incident blown out of proportion by media: General secretary Partha 

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: Trinamool Congress general secretary Partha Chatterjee Tuesday said, there is no internal feud in the party, and the recent war of words among its leaders over comments by its national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on containing COVID-19 in West Bengal was “blown out of proportion by the media”.

    Every single TMC member – leader or worker is working under the leadership of party supremo Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee, he told reporters.

    “TMC will hold organisational polls in Netaji Indoor Stadium in the city on February 2, where office bearers at its different levels will be selected in a democratic manner,” Chatterjee said.

    He was replying to queries about the recent war of words between Srerampore MP Kalyan Bandyopadhyay and some other leaders, including Arambagh MP Aparupa Poddar and Kamarhati MLA Madan Mitra over the recent comments by Abhishek Banerjee suggesting banning of all political and religious activities for two months over the pandemic situation.

    “There is no point in bringing Abhishek Banerjee into the controversy. The entire incident is being blown up by a section of the media,” Chatterjee said.

    ALSO READ: Abhishek Banerjee should not have aired his views in public: TMC MP Kalyan

    TMC, he said, will hold the organisational poll at Netaji Indoor Stadium in the city on February 2 where office bearers at its different levels will be selected in a democratic manner. “We remain a united family. Each one of us will work under the guidance of Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee. The organisational poll will be held under their guidance. I as returning officer cannot comment beyond that,” Chatterjee, also a state cabinet minister, said.

    The details and modalities of the organisational election, to be held after a gap of about five years, will be declared soon, including issuing of notification for the poll. The list of voters and observers will be compiled by January 25 after talking to all concerned.

    ALSO READ: TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee’s ‘Diamond Harbour model’ kicks off inner-party debate

    Asked for his comment on the jibe by saffron party leaders against the alleged war of words within TMC, Chatterjee said “We don’t attach importance to such utterances of BJP, which had built its organisation in the state mostly with individuals who had deserted their original parties before the assembly poll. Those who did so started leaving the sinking ship after the state poll. There is not much left in the BJP organisation in West Bengal now”.

    Mocking at BJP, he said, “What is to be said about a party in which a central minister of the rank of minister of state (Santanu Thakur) speaks against the party leadership in his own state and, a veteran like Tathagata Roy (senior leader and former governor of Tripura and Meghalaya), does the same thing in his tweets frequently”.

    Chatterjee, however, said he would not like to comment on the internal affairs of the BJP.

  • Punjab CM to talk to his brother over denial of party ticket to him 

    By PTI

    CHANDIGARH: Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi on Monday said he would talk to his brother Manohar Singh over the denial of the Congress ticket to him.

    Channi made the remark after his brother said he will contest as an independent from the Bassi Pathana assembly seat against the sitting Congress MLA.

    Channi also indicated that he may try to prevail upon his brother not to jump in the fray against the sitting MLA Gurpreet Singh GP from the constituency.

    Channi’s brother Manohar Singh, who was eyeing a Congress ticket from the Bassi Pathana assembly seat, had on Sunday said he will contest as an independent from the constituency after the ruling party fielded its sitting legislator Gurpreet Singh GP.

    “He sought ticket but party denied it. GP (the sitting MLA) too is our brother. Will make them sit and talk and issue will be resolved,” Channi told reporters here.

    In its first list of 86 candidates, the Congress party on Saturday gave the ticket to party MLA Gurpreet Singh GP from Bassi Pathana (SC) seat.

    Manohar Singh had dubbed the decision of the Congress giving ticket to Gurpreet Singh GP as “injustice” to the people of the constituency and alleged that the sitting legislator was “incapable and ineffective.”

    Singh had said he took the decision to contest as an independent after meeting several councillors, village sarpanch and panch who asked him to fight the polls.

    Singh, an MBBS and MD, had in August last year resigned as a senior medical officer from Kharar Civil Hospital.

    Replying to a question on his brother saying he will contest as an independent, Channi said, “As far as my brother is concerned, we live in a joint family. My brother became a doctor after doing MD. He was employed as a government doctor and was posted in the Bassi Pathana as SMO. The MLA of the area GP got him transferred.”

    “He (Manohar) also told the MLA that he is the brother of the minister (Channi was a Minister then in the Amarinder Singh-led Cabinet). At this (after the MLA got him transferred), my brother took the decision to quit the job and later people of the area told him that he should contest the election.”

    Asked why had the MLA got his brother transferred, Channi replied, “Maybe he thought at that time that he may fight election.”

    Replying to another question, Channi said senior Punjab Congress leader and former MP Mohinder Singh Kaypee’s displeasure over denial of the ticket from the Adampur assembly seat was justified and added party will definitely think about this.

    “He is our tall leader, he has been our state unit president,” Channi said.

    Kaypee had on Sunday expressed his displeasure over denial of the ticket from the Adampur assembly seat, saying his family is targeted by the party every election.

    Earlier in the day, AAP leader Raghav Chadha had alleged that by denying tickets to the brother and another relative of Punjab Chief Minister Channi, the Congress has proved that it had made him CM merely for “using him as a tool” to get the Scheduled Caste votes.

    Apart from Channi’s brother, the CM’s relative Mohinder Singh Kaypee, who wanted the ticket from the Adampur seat in Jalandhar, was also denied it, said Chadha, alleging that Kaypee was denied the ticket because he was Channi’s relative.

    Chadha, however, had said the ruling party gave tickets to the sons of Fatehgarh Sahib MP Amar Singh and minister Brahm Mohindra.

    Chadha further alleged that the Congress in the past had appointed Sushil Kumar Shinde as the chief minister of Maharashtra for a few months to woo votes of a particular community and later after the elections, Shinde was removed.

  • FIR lodged against Samajwadi Party for model code violation

    By IANS

    LUCKNOW: An FIR has been lodged at the Gautam Palli police station in Lucknow against the Samajwadi Party for violation of model code of conduct as well as Covid protocols.

    The action was taken after a huge crowd gathered at the SP office on Friday afternoon for the joining of former BJP minister Swami Prasad Maurya, Dharam Singh Saini and other legislators in the party.

    Lucknow District Magistrate Abhishek Prakash said that the Samajwadi Party’s virtual rally was held without prior permission.

    “Upon receiving information, a police team was sent to the SP office. Action is being taken on the basis of their report,” he said, adding that Section 144 is in force in the state capital.

    Samajwadi Party’s Uttar Pradesh unit chief Naresh Uttam Patel said, “It was a virtual event inside our party office. We did not call anyone, but people came. People work abiding by Covid protocols.”

    He further said, “Crowds were there even at BJP ministers’ doorsteps and in markets, but they only have a problem with us.”

    The Election Commission of India (ECI) had on January 8 announced a ban on physical rallies in light of the surge in Covid cases in parts of the country.

  • Not three-fourth seats, BJP meant it will get 3 or 4 seats in UP polls: Akhilesh

    After the arrival of Swami Prasad Maurya and others in the SP, the saffron party would lose even this 20 per cent, Yadav said.

  • DMK spent over Rs 218 crore in FY 2020-21, BSP over Rs 17 crore

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party has shown expenditures of over Rs 17 crore in its audited annual report submitted to the Election Commission, while the DMK spent over Rs 218 crore in financial year 2020-21.

    The BSP’s report, filed on December 30 last year, showed receipts worth Rs 52,46,79,235.

    The party has shown expenditure of Rs 17,29,72,729 in its audited annual report for the financial year 2020-21 put in the public domain by the EC on Thursday.

    The BSP has 15 seats in the outgoing Uttar Pradesh Assembly and is making all-out efforts to become a major stakeholder in the 403-member House in this year’s election beginning February 10.

    The seven-phase polls is likely to see a tough fight between the ruling BJP and the opposition Samajwadi Party. The results will be announced on March 10. The Bahujan Samaj Party is a recognised national party.

    In the recognised state parties category, the poll panel has uploaded audited annual reports for 2020-21 of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, Jammu & Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK).

    The JMM, which filed its report on December 31 last year, has shown a total expenditure of Rs 58,43,655 and total receipt of Rs 90,66,500.

    The PDP, which filed its report on December 27, has shown total expenditure of Rs 9,95,450 and total receipt of Rs 33,289.

    The principal opposition party in Tamil Nadu, AIADMK, has shown total expenditure of Rs 42,36,73,610 and total receipt of Rs 34,07,60,964 in its audited annual report filed on December 22, 2021.

    Tamil Nadu’s ruling DMK has shown total expenditure of Rs 218,49,22,072 (Rs 218.49 crore) and total receipt of Rs 149,95,12,635 (Rs 149.95 crore) in its annual report filed on January 3 this year.

  • BJP finalises candidates for 172 seats in UP; CM Adityanath and his deputies likely to contest

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: 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.

    Addressing the media at the BJP headquarters, Maurya said the party held wider deliberations on the 172 assembly seats and will register a bigger victory than the 2017 assembly polls.

    BJP president J P Nadda and Union ministers Rajnath Singh and Nitin Gadkari, all three of whom have contracted the coronavirus, joined the meeting via video conferencing, while Home Minister Amit Shah and several other leaders besides those from Uttar Pradesh, including Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, met physically.

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi was also scheduled to join the meeting virtually.

    According to party sources, Adityanath is likely to be fielded from Ayodhya and Maurya from Sirathu constituency.

    Sharma may contest from one of the assembly constituencies in state capital Luknow. A five-term former Lok Sabha member from Gorakhpur, Adityanath is currently a member of the state’s Legislative Council.

    The party is likely to announce its first list of candidates in the next few days, the sources said.

    As many as 58 and 55 seats of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly will face the polls on February 10 and February 14 respectively. The state is scheduled to have seven-phase polls.

    Uttarakhand, Goa and Punjab assembly polls will also be held on February 14. The BJP is likely to drop a number of sitting MLAs to neutralise anti-incumbency at the local level.

  • Punjab polls: BJP, Punjab Lok Congress, SAD (Sanyukt) to issue joint manifesto

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The BJP will contest the assembly polls in Punjab in alliance with Amarinder Singh’s Punjab Lok Congress and Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa’s SAD (Sanyukt), and the parties will issue a joint manifesto, Union minister Gajendra Shekhawat said on Monday.

    Both Singh and Dhindsa, a Rajya Sabha MP, met with the BJP top brass, including president J P Nadda and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, at Shah’s residence here to chalk out a strategy for the polls.

    “A meeting attended by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP president J P Nadda, Amarinder Singh and Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa was held here.

    And it was decided that the BJP, Singh’s party and Dhindsa’s party will jointly contest upcoming assembly polls in Punjab,” Shekhawat told the media after the meeting.

    Shekhawat, the BJP’s poll in-charge for Punjab, said a joint committee will be formed comprising two leaders from each party to finalise a seat-sharing agreement.

    Sources in the BJP said they see the elections in Punjab becoming a five-cornered fight as various farmer outfits may enter the fray, besides the Congress, SAD and the AAP.

    Singh formed his own party, the Punjab Lok Congress, days after he resigned as the chief minister and quit the Congress.

    Earlier, one of the BJP’s oldest allies, the SAD, moved out of the NDA over the issue of farm sector laws.

    The alliance with Amarinder Singh and Dhindsa would associate the BJP with prominent Sikh faces in the state.

  • BJP in damage control mode over farm laws

    Express News Service

    NEW DELHI:  With the government set to bring repeal the contentious farm laws, the BJP is bracing to control the damage amid apprehension that the Opposition would further mount pressure for poll dividends. 

    While the government isn’t likely to engage with the farmers’ unions on additional demands, the BJP-ruled states will carry forward the agrarian reform on the lines of the land acquisition policies adopted after an ordinance was allowed to be lapsed by the Centre in 2015.

    “The decision to repeal must have been taken at the level of PM and a few senior ministers even as there was unanimity of views within the party of the likely damage in the upcoming elections,” said a BJP functionary. 

    It has also been learnt that the government will now adopt hands off approach with the farmer leaders, with the BJP admitting that it was a mistake to have engaged with them thereby giving legitimacy by holding several rounds of negotiations despite knowing that they just had a one-point agenda to nullify the farm laws.