Lucknow: After his party’s performance in Lok Sabha elections in UP, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav says, “Yes, I am going to Delhi. It is all a matter of numbers (govt formation). The public has rejected negative politics. We aimed to stop BJP. I thank the public for this and their cooperation. The votes were cast to save the Constitution, democracy and reservation, and we hope that by walking on the path of social justice we will be able to fulfil the dreams of Netaji and Samajwadis.”
Tag: Reservation
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Phase-3 Campaigning Ends; Fate Of Over 1300 Candidates From 93 Lok Sabha Seats To Be Sealed On May 7; Check Key Candidates |
Lok Sabha Chunav 2024: In the third and another crucial phase for the Lok Sabha elections 2024, a total of 93 seats are going to the polls. While a total of 94 seats was to go to the polls in the phase 3, voting was not needed for Surat as the BJP candidate got elected unopposed. However, the Betul seat of Madhya Pradesh is going to polls in the third phase after polling was earlier postponed due to death of a candidate. Also, the voting for the Anantnag-Rajouri seat was also postponed to May 26, thus, 93 seats are up for grab in this phase. The 93 seats are spread across 10 states and 1 union territory.
Key Poll Planks
In the third phase the BJP-led NDA and the INDIA bloc of Congress fiercely attacked each other making muslim reservations, constitution and sexual harassment charges against JD(S) leader Prajwal Revanna issues to woo the voters. While the Congress accused the BJP of favouring a sexual abuse offender and trying to change the constituion, the saffron party has slammed the Congress for providing religion-based reservation to Muslims from the quota of SC/ST/OBCs.
High-Stakes For BJP
The stakes are significantly high for the BJP in this phase because the party had in 2019 won majority of these seats including clean sweep in Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh. On the other hand, Congress is looking to make a big dent in these seats by promising several freebies and financial aids.
A total of 25 (out of 26) seats in Gujarat, 11 seats in Maharashtra, 10 seats in Uttar Pradesh, remaining 14 of the 28 in Karnataka, seven in Chhattisgarh, eight in Madhya Pradesh, five in Bihar, four each in Assam and West Bengal, and all two in Goa are going to the polls in Phase 3 on May 7. The Union Territories of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (2 seats) will also go to polls in the third phase.
Phase-3 Key Candidates And Constituencies
Of the over 1300 candidates, the bigwigs include Union ministers Amit Shah from Gandhinagar, Jyotiraditya Scindia from Guna, Mansukh Mandaviya from Porbandar, Parshottam Rupala from Rajkot, Pralhad Joshi from Dharwad, SP Singh Baghel from Agra, Shivraj Singh Chouhan from Vidisha, Digvijaya Singh from Rajgarh, Basavaraj Bommai from Haveri, Badruddin Ajmal from Dhubri, Akhilesh Yadav from Kannauj, Dimple Yadav from Mainpuri, Ram Gopal Yadav’s son Akshaya Yadav from Firozabad, Aditya Yadav from Budaun, as well as Supriya Sule and Sunetra Pawar from Baramati.
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Maratha quota: Special session of Maharashtra Assembly to commence today, Maratha quota likely on agenda
The Maharashtra government will hold a special Vidhan Sabha session for one day on Tuesday to hold discussion on the Maratha reservation issue.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde stressed on Friday that reservation to Marathas will be given according to the terms of the law after presenting the report in during the special assembly session called for February 20.
“The survey has been conducted on nearly 2-2.5 crore people… Keeping in mind that the OBC community is not left behind in the process, the government will present the report to the cabinet committee. On February 20, we have called a special session of the assembly, after which the Maratha reservation will be given according to the terms of the law…,” CM Shinde said.The decision to hold the session was taken at the weekly Cabinet meeting presided over by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.
“The cabinet meeting has given its nod to convene a one-day special session of the legislature on Tuesday, February 20, to discuss the various demands of the Maratha community,” a note issued by the Chief Minister’s office stated.
The decision to convene a special session was prompted by Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange Patil, who is on a hunger strike at Antarwali Saarati village in Jalna district.After the Maha Vikas Aghadi meeting, Congress president Nana Patole said that the Maharashtra Assembly session would commence on Monday, adding that the meeting was being held to form a strategy for the session. “The Maharashtra Assembly session commences tomorrow. The system is that they should call the opposition for BAC and discuss the proceedings of the House. However, the BJP government in the state does not want to follow the constitutional process. So, we came together to form a strategy for the session,” Patole told ANI.
Meanwhile, the political scenario of Maharashtra is fluid as Sharad Pawar lost his party name and symbol.
Veteran politician Sharad Pawar said on Saturday the Election Commission’s decision to recognise the group led by his nephew Ajit Pawar as the ‘real’ Nationalist Congress Party was “not in accordance with law.”
Sharad Pawar moved the Supreme Court, challenging the decision of the ECI to officially recognise the Ajit Pawar faction as the real NCP and the use of party symbols.
The Supreme Court on Monday ordered that the interim order by the Election Commission of India (ECI) that allowed veteran leader Sharad Pawar to use ‘Nationalist Congress Party–Sharad Chandra Pawar’ would continue till further orders.
On February 6, the poll panel, while applying the test of majority in the legislative wing, ruled that Ajit Pawar’s faction was the ‘real’ NCP and permitted the faction to use the ‘clock’ symbol for the party.
In its order, the Election Commission noted that the total number of NCP MLAs in the Maharashtra State Assembly stood at 81, and out of this, Ajit Pawar submitted affidavits of 57 MLAs in his support, while Sharad Pawar had only 28 affidavits.
Hence, the poll panel concluded that the Ajit Pawar faction enjoyed the majority support of the legislators and could lay claim to being the NCP. (ANI)
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