News Analysis India

Tag: UP Assembly Elections 2022

  • EC orders re-polling at polling station in Handia Assembly segment in UP’s Prayagraj

    By PTI

    LUCKNOW: The Election Commission (EC) on Tuesday ordered re-polling at the Manikpur primary school polling station of Handia Assembly constituency in Prayagraj district of Uttar Pradesh.

    The re-polling will take place from 7 am to 6 pm on Thursday (March 3), Chief Electoral Officer of the state Ajay Kumar Shukla said in a statement.

    The commission has ordered re-polling at polling station number 311 — Manikpur Handiya primary school — where polling was held on Sunday, the statement said.

    The decision was taken after certain important documents went missing from the polling station after the conclusion of polling, it added.

  • BSP’s list of candidates for UP polls resembles ‘Muslim league’, says Adityanath

    By PTI

    GORAKHPUR/DEORIA: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday accused the opposition of playing politics of “appeasement” and alleged that the Bahujan Samaj Party’s list of candidates for the state polls resembled a “Muslim league”.

    Addressing a series of meetings in the poll-bound state, he said the opposition parties are spreading hatred among communities to increase their votebank.

    “While the Samajwadi Party’s (SP) candidate list gives a clear message that the party is not ready to leave criminals, goons and rioters, the Bahujan Samaj Party’s (BSP) list of candidates resembles a ‘Muslim league’. This proves that they will not give equal representation to all sections and regions,” he said during public meetings at Pathardeva, Salempur and Rudrapur assembly constituencies in Deoria.

    Targeting the alleged appeasement policy of the Samajwadi Party, Adityanath said under the earlier regime, electricity was provided on the occasions of Eid-Bakrid, while there were power cuts during Holi and Deepawali in the state.

    “For the first time, government schemes are reaching every individual in the state under the BJP government,” he said.

    The chief minister further said people have rejected the “hardcore dynasts” and ‘lotus’ (BJP election symbol) is sure to bloom at every booth of Gorakhpur.

    Addressing an election rally in Pipraich assembly constituency, he termed it as “futile” to trust the opportunist leaders who keep changing friends with every election, referring to SP-BSP and SP-Congress alliances in earlier elections in the state.

    “Our government’s sentiments are with every section of the society, but SP’s support base is with terrorists. The previous Samajwadi Party government was the first to withdraw terror cases,” he alleged.

    Claiming that all-around development has been done by his government in the state, the BJP leader said, “If our double engine government comes to power again, all women of over 60 years of age can travel for free in state-run buses.”

    He also emphasised the fact that no riots took place in the state under his governance, nor did women or businessmen suffered harassment.

    “We did what we said. We also promise to provide government jobs or employment to one youth of every family in the next five years,” he added.

    At another election meeting in Deoria, Adityanath accused the opposition parties of “doing politics of appeasement and spreading hatred among communities to increase their votebank”, adding that their candidate lists reflect their “vested interests”.

    Reiterating that SP and BSP’s rule was synonymous with anarchy, terror and hooliganism, he said, “Whenever they (SP, BSP) ruled, riots took place. No riots took place in the last five years, while 700 riots took place during SP government and 364 riots during BSP’s rule.”

    The Uttar Pradesh chief minister added that the BJP has attained an inaccessible lead in the first five phases of the ongoing assembly polls and the party is poised well to hit a ‘sixer’ in the final phases to romp home with 300-plus seats.

  • UP polls: Akhilesh Yadav as CM protected terrorists, alleges Nadda

    By PTI

    MIRZAPUR/JAUNPUR: BJP president J P Nadda on Monday alleged that Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav protected terrorists during his tenure as the CM of Uttar Pradesh, which is witnessing a rule of law today.

    After 2017, the BJP government has taken strict action against such elements, he said.

    “It is the rule of law in the state now and not that of a family or an individual,” Nadda said addressing an election rally in Mirzapur.

    “Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav, during his tenure as the (Uttar Pradesh) chief minister, used to give protection to terrorists, withdraw cases against them and embrace them,” Nadda alleged.

    The BJP president also accused Yadav of instigating people by calling the Covid vaccine as the “BJP vaccine”.

    However, he did not stop from taking the jab when needed, Nadda said.

    In Jaunpur, the BJP president claimed, “The leaders of no party other than the BJP have the courage to go among people with the report card of their work as they have done what they had promised.”

    “If there is any party that cares for the poor, underprivileged, oppressed, exploited, women, youth and farmers, it is the BJP,” he said.

    The BJP president also elaborated on the development work undertaken in the area during the BJP government and spoke about various welfare schemes while seeking support for NDA candidates in Mirzapur and Jaunpur in the ongoing Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls.

  • BJP not against any dynasty but my family: Priyanka Gandhi

    By PTI

    KUSHINAGAR: On a day Prime Minister Narendra Modi targeted political “dynasts” during electioneering in Uttar Pradesh, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Monday said the BJP was only against her family, which has not bowed down to it.

    The Congress general secretary’s sharp rebuttal came during an election programme in the Tamkuhi Raj area of Kushinagar district where she campaigned for her party candidates ahead of the March 3 assembly polls.

    In his speech in Maharajganj, PM Modi had called out “ghor pariwarvadis” (staunch dynasts) in an attack aimed at the Samajwadi Party.

    In the same speech, Modi gave several examples to stress “how dynasts cared only for their family interests” while the BJP worked for the welfare of the poor and deprived sections of the society.

    While addressing an election rally in Kushinagar, Priyanka Gandhi said, “They talk of the dynasty when all the children of politicians have moved to their own party! Which dynasty were they against or abstaining from?” 

    “They were against only my family because my family will never bow down to them. They know this that even if they kill us, we are neither going to compromise with the BJP nor bow down to them,” she added.

    Her remark comes in the wake of several prominent second-generation politicians like Jyotiraditya Scindia, Jitin Prasada, R P N Singh switching over to the BJP from the Congress in recent times.

    During her speech, Priyanka Gandhi also said she was being targeted with allegations of being linked to terrorism despite her father Rajiv Gandhi and grandmother Indira Gandhi, both former prime ministers, sacrificing their lives for the country.

    “Identify the leaders who laid their lives for the country. The leaders whom these people call terrorists. Fingers are raised at my family, they say we are connected with terrorism,” she rued.

    And then she asserted, “I said yes, I am linked with terrorism because my father was shot dead by terrorists, my grandmother was assassinated by terrorists.”

    “My father and grandmother lost their lives for this country and they, who are selling all public properties and running a government for big industrialists, today they are pointing fingers at them,” she added.

    Priyanka Gandhi, who is leading the electoral battle in Uttar Pradesh for the Congress, which is contesting the state polls solo after three decades, said her party was concerned about the UP and the country.

    “This is why when we come to the people, we speak the truth and say it from our hearts. I say from the heart because I care about you, I am worried for this state and the country,” she said.

    “My ancestors and your ancestors, the forefathers of the people of this state got India her freedom. Was the freedom earned, development done, institutions raised so that one day these people could sell the country? So that the youth of the country would be jobless and without any support,” she said.

    Citing examples of freebies doled out by the BJP-led governments in the state and in the Centre, the Congress leader claimed it was a deliberate effort to keep the people disempowered and dependent on the government.

    She said voting is a right granted to people by the Constitution and a means to bring about a change in political discourse.

    Kushinagar goes to the polls on March 3 along with nine more districts of eastern UP.

    The election results will be declared on March 10.

  • UP polls: Smriti Irani rakes up Sidhu’s ‘Pakistan Link’, lashes out at Congress

    By PTI

    KUSHINAGAR: Union minister Smriti Irani accused the Congress on Sunday of colluding with those who had killed innocent people.

    Addressing an election meeting in Kushinagar, Irani hit out at Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, saying she made Navjot Singh Sidhu, who had embraced Pakistan’s army chief and said Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan is his brother, the president of the Punjab Congress.

    “If the Gandhi family has the courage, it should refute my allegations,” she added.

    In an apparent reference to Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik, who has been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with a money-laundering case, Irani alleged that the Congress is shielding a person who has links with underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, who was involved in the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts.

    Taking a jibe at the “ladki hoon, lad sakti hoon” (I am a girl and I can fight) slogan of the Congress for the ongoing Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, the Union minister for women and child development said the boat of the grand old party is sinking and it has handed over the charge of the sinking boat to women.

    “They emerge as chunavjeevi at the time of elections and come up with a new formula, some times in the name of caste, some times in the name of religion,” she said.

    Irani alleged that during the COVID-19 crisis, the Congress, the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) were nowhere to be seen.

    “It was the BJP that went from house to house distributing masks and ration. Priyanka is sad over the fact that ration was distributed among poor people. Had there been an SP-BSP government, would the poor have got the ration?” she asked the gathering.

    Taking a jibe at the SP, the Union minister said, “Those who had once fired bullets on the devotees of Lord Ram are telling people that Lord Krishna comes in their dreams. I would like to tell them that in kalyug, Lord Krishna will never come to save criminals. God never sides with those who give shelter to people insulting women.”

    Referring to the Gandhis, she said a member of a family that had once said there was no Ram is moving from one temple to another wearing the sacred thread.

    Kushinagar is scheduled to go to polls in the sixth round of the seven-phase Uttar Pradesh election on March 3.

  • UP polls: BSP’s appeal resonates among loyalists; some look at alternatives

    By PTI

    HANDIA/SAIDPUR: ‘Behen ji’ is the head of the family and the family is all of us, a group of Jatav men at Sandaha village say, asserting that their vote to Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party is not tied to its fortunes in any election but to keep the party strong.

    “If we don’t vote it, then who will,” Vishal Kumar, who studies in an NIT in Karnataka, asks in a pointer to the largest Dalit community, who are estimated to number nearly 11-12 per cent in Uttar Pradesh, being the most loyal supporters of the party.

    From the state’s western edges neighbouring Delhi to its eastern part, the BSP appears to be holding a big chunk of its core votes but yet there are signs that some of them are considering other options, with the Samajwadi Party being seen as a main challenger to the BJP in most of the seats in the elections to the 403-member assembly.

    At several places, young members of the community criticise the BJP for a lack of employment opportunities, showing an inclination towards Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav.

    In Hathauda village, Suraj Kumar, 22, and his young friends lament the lack of recruitment in the Army or other central police forces for quite a few years, expressing apprehension that they will soon be overage.

    He says it is thanks to the support from his elder brother working in the CRPF that his households manage to get by.

    “It is a hard life,” he says.

    However, there are counter-views as well.

    With many community members depending on daily menial work, which was hit hard during the Covid-19 pandemic, some express their happiness at the free ration scheme of the BJP governments at the Centre and the state.

    They are also wary of an SP government.

    “It is difficult for us to live in peace when they are in power,” Manoj Kumar, a fruit-seller, says, in a reference to the Samajwadi Party.

    The BJP has constantly linked the party’s previous stint in Lucknow with law and order problems, a charge which appears to resonate with a big section of voters.

    But it is also clear that the BSP remains the party they consider their own.

    “Mayawati’s rule was known for tough administration and its control over law and order. There is no casteism under her. She has worked to give us samman (respect) and made us equal with others,” he says.

    Some BJP and Samajwadi Party leaders acknowledged that the BSP’s grip over Jatav voters is so firm that their workers consider it a waste of time to campaign in their villages.

    The BSP’s problem is, though, visible when it comes to attracting votes from members of other communities, which is necessary for it to become a serious contender for power.

    The party has fielded more Muslims than Samajwadi Party but even in seats like Prayagraj West, where the BSP candidate is a Muslim while the SP’s is not, members of the minority community have put their faith in Akhilesh Yadav’s nominee.

    Political watchers believe that the BSP will have a decent chance in seats where it has strong candidates from other communities that will combine with Jatav votes to put it in contention.

    A BJP leader, who did not wish to be named, said that it is these committed BSP voters who have ensured that a ticket from the party remains in demand among local politicians with a following of their own.

    Union Home Minister Amit Shah had recently acknowledged the BSP’s strength among Dalits, saying it will draw their votes and also a section of Muslims, a remark seen by some to be tactical as the BJP may believe that a complete marginalisation of the party may not suit it.

    The bond that the BSP enjoys with its loyal supporters is so deep that some can’t even countenance any suggestion of the party being not so strong this time.

    “Behen ji has kept a low profile due to strategic reasons. She is fighting in a silent mode to keep rivals clueless. Wait for the results,” Karmraj Gautam, who works with Bahujan Volunteer Force, an organisation that works to maintain order at BSP’s programmes, said at a rally site of Mayawati.

    He, then, added, “For us, Bahujan Samaj Party is part of our identity.”

  • Bulldozer Baba zindabad: BJP workers greet Yogi during his roadshow in Prayagraj

    By PTI

    PRAYAGRAJ: BJP supporters greeted Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath with the slogan of “Bulldozer Baba zindabad” as he held his roadshow here on Friday in support of his Cabinet colleague Sidharth Nath Singh’s candidature from City (West) assembly seat.

    Nearly two-km-long roadshow of the chief minister starting from Karbala Chauraha and ending at Nakhash Kona Chauraha of the city was attended by “lakhs” of people, eyewitnesses said.

    During the entire roadshow, which started at 5 pm and ended at 6 pm, people carrying the BJP’s saffron flags rent the air with slogans of “Jai Shri Ram” and Bulldozer Baba Zindabad”.

    The new term for the chief minister was first heard from Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav, who, in a YouTube video, has claimed that a prestigious English daily has changed Yogi Adityanath’s name to Baba Bulldozer.

    The term purportedly owes its origin to the extensive use of bulldozers by the Uttar Pradesh government for demolishing illegal properties of criminals in the state.

    The roadshow interestingly began near a place where Adityanath had done the ‘bhumi pujan’ for a residential complex for common people on a piece of land acquired by the state government from the possession of former MP Atique Ahmed.

    The roadshow was led by over half a dozen horse-mounted BJP workers carrying the party’s saffron flags, followed by other party workers beating drums and blowing trumpets.

    A tableau of Lord Ram, his wife Sita and Lord Hanuman too formed part of the roadshow with a large number of women marching along and the people showering flower petals from their rooftops on Chief Minister Adityanath and party’s candidate Siddharth Nath Singh.

    The event also had some tense moments as a convoy of Samajwadi Party candidate Richa Singh and her supporters sought to crossed its path with the roadshow route, resulting in some angry exchanges between supporters of the two parties.

    The police, however, managed to control the situation by diverting the SP candidate’s convoy to an alternative route.

    After the completion of the roadshow, the chief minister urged people to vote for the BJP to ensure that the state continued to be ruled by a “double-engine” government and continue progressing at a fast pace.

    The assembly segments of the Prayagraj district go to the polls on February 27 during the fifth phase of the state assembly elections, the electioneering for which ended Friday.

  • Assembly Polls 2022 updates: All eyes on Lakhimpur as phase four of UP election gets underway

    By Online Desk

    Voting for 59 Assembly constituencies spread over nine districts in Uttar Pradesh began on Wednesday morning.

    The polling started at 7 am and will continue till 6 pm.

    This is the fourth phase of the Assembly polls in the state, where elections are to be held in seven rounds.

    As many as 624 candidates are in the fray in the fourth phase.

    According to the Election Commission, 2.3 crore people, including 1.14 crore men and 99.3 lakh women, are eligible to vote, for which 24,643 polling booths and 13,817 poling centres have been set up in this phase.

    The districts where the poling is being held are Pilibhit, Lakhimpur Kheri, Sitapur, Hardoi, Unnao, Lucknow, Rae Bareli, Banda and Fatehpur.

  • Amid row over ‘Khalistani connections’, Kejriwal begins UP tour, will also visit Gorakhpur

    By PTI

    LUCKNOW: Aam Aadmi Party national convenor Arvind Kejriwal begins his four-day Uttar Pradesh tour from Monday to drum up support for party candidates in the ongoing assembly polls, AAP office-bearers said.

    Kejriwal, the Delhi chief minister, will begin the tour with an address at a public meeting in the state capital’s Qaisarbagh area, party spokesperson Vaibhav Maheshwari said.

    “Kejriwal will also be visiting Barabanki and Prayagraj and Gorakhpur during the four-day visit and join various election-related programmes of the AAP,” Maheshwari said.

    Kejriwal will be joined by the party’s Uttar Pradesh in-charge Sanjay Singh, and three-four MLAs from Delhi, where the party is in power, he added.

    Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will be contesting the assembly polls from Gorakhpur (Sadar) seat.

    Meanwhile, the Delhi BJP on Sunday attacked Chief Minister and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal, saying he has an “anti-nation mindset”, and accused him of “buying votes” by taking money from Khalistanis.

    Kejriwal has been under attack from both the Congress and the BJP who have questioned him over former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and poet Kumar Vishwas’s accusations of he supporting separatists in Punjab, where voting for assembly polls was held on Sunday.

    In a video, Vishwas also claimed that Kejriwal had spoken about becoming prime minister of a separate state.

    Kejriwal has, however, termed the allegations as “laughable” and said he must be the “world’s sweetest terrorist” who builds schools and hospitals.

    Addressing a gathering during a protest here, Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta said Kejriwal’s “low and anti-nation mindset” had come to the fore when he had staged a sit-in “opposing” the Republic Day parade.

    In 2014, Kejriwal, while demonstrating against the Delhi Police and demanding safety for women, had staged a protest near Parliament and outside the Rail Bhawan.

    He had also issued a threat of disrupting the Republic Day celebrations that year.

    Gupta also said that the protest by the BJP against Kejriwal has entered its third day.

    “The harsh truth is that he is buying votes by taking money from Khalistanis and agreeing with whatever they say. He now calls himself the sweetest terrorist and it is right as well because he included those in his AAP who were involved in the Delhi riots,” he said.

    “Also, it was him who first supported the issue of referendum 2020 by Khalistani supporters in Punjab,” he said.

    At the protest, BJP leader Vijay Goel claimed that Kejriwal is now even prepared to sell the country for his lust of power.

    Leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly Ramvir Singh Bidhuri alleged that the education and health models that Kejriwal has been talking about for the past seven years are hollow.

    “There is a shortage of 24,000 teachers in Delhi schools now and not a new school or college has been built during this period. Besides, he has thrown out 5,000 guest teachers from their jobs,” he claimed.

  • UP polls: EC notice to BJP candidate Sharan Singh over inflammatory remark

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The Election Commission on Sunday issued a notice to a BJP candidate in Uttar Pradesh for allegedly making an inflammatory statement, and said he prima facie violated the model code and the electoral law.

    The poll watchdog gave Mayankeshwar Sharan Singh, the BJP candidate from the Tiloi assembly constituency in Amethi, 24 hours to respond.

    According to the transcript of a purported video clip made part of the notice, Singh broadly said in Hindi that “If you have to live in India, (you will have) to chant ‘Radhey-Radhey’, else like all those who went to Pakistan during Partition, you can go too, you are not needed here.”

    The video is being circulated on social media, the EC said.

    The commission noted that an FIR was lodged against Singh on February 18 under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Representation of the People Act.

    “Take notice that in the event of no response from your side within the stipulated time, it will be presumed that you have nothing to say in the matter and the Election Commission will take appropriate action or decision in the matter without making any further reference to you,” the poll panel asserted.