News Analysis India

Tag: UP elections

  • Om Prakash Rajbhar in talks with AAP, TMC to form front to counter BJP

    By PTI
    BALLIA: President of the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party, Om Prakash Rajbhar, on Sunday said that he is trying to bring TMC chief Mamata Banerjee, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal and Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray on a common platform, and form an effective front to counter the BJP.

    The SBSP had contested the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections in alliance with the BJP but later parted ways.

    Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh are slated for early next year.

    “Yesterday, I met Aam Aadmi Party leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh, and his approach was positive. He has given in-principle approval to be a part of the Bhagidari Sankalp Morcha. The final decision about joining the morcha will be taken by Kejriwal. In this regard, there will be a meeting with Kejriwal in Delhi next week,” Rajbhar told PTI.

    When asked whether Kejriwal is ready to join the morcha despite the presence of Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM, the SBSP chief said, “The need of the hour is to stop the BJP. If the BJP can join hands with Mehbooba Mufti, then Kejriwal and Owaisi too can come on the same platform to stop the BJP.”

    Rajbhar said his “effort will be to bring TMC chief Banerjee, and Shiv Sena president Thackeray on a platform, and form an effective front to counter the BJP.”

    The SBSP chief said he has already held talks with Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut and a general secretary of the Trinamool Congress.

    “Raut is likely to visit Lucknow soon, and decisive talks in this regard will be held with him,” Rajbhar said.

    In the 2017 Assembly elections, the SBSP contested eight seats and won four.

    Rajbhar was made a Cabinet minister but he resigned later.

  • Concerned UP BJP begins to mollify smaller parties

    By Express News Service
    LUCKNOW: Shaken by a none-too-impressive show in the recent panchayat polls and internal party surveys suggesting the tough road ahead in the next year’s assembly polls, the ruling BJP is now busy re-cementing its ties with small parties as well as wooing back estranged allies.

    Anand Swarup Shukla, a junior minister in the Yogi Adityanath government, said on Friday that an estranged ally, the Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP), will be welcomed back. His argument was that the party had won four of the eight seats it had contested in 2017 assembly polls only after it joined the BJP-led alliance.

    “SBSP chief Om Prakash Rajbhar has been in politics for 30 years. He came into prominence only after he joined forces with BJP. If he returns to the BJP-led alliance, he would be welcomed,” said Shukla, an MLA from Ballia.

    His remarks came a day after Surendra Singh, another party MLA from Ballia, ridiculed the SBSP chief, saying “he was an ungrateful politician, who could even disown his own father if it came to reaping political dividends.” Rajbhar, a former UP minister, has dubbed BJP a sinking ship and ruled out his return to the ruling alliance, claiming he didn’t even talk to BJP chief JP Nadda over the phone recently. Rajbhar’s party is a significant force in east UP districts where the most backward Rajbhar caste population is in significant numbers.

    The BJP has also started working to streamline its ties with existing allies, the Apna Dal (S) and Nishad Party. Top BJP leaders recently met Apna Dal (S) MP Anupriya Patel as well as Nishad Party chief Sanjay Nishad in Delhi following reports that the two parties were in touch with opposition Samajwadi Party leaders.

    Sources said Apna Dal (S) MP Anupriya Patel can be re-inducted into the Union council of ministers. Anupriya, an MP from Mirzapur in east UP, was a minister in the previous Modi government at the Centre between 2016 and 2019. Her party represents the Kurmi/Patel caste, which has a significant population in east and Central MP as well as Bundelkhand region. On the other hand, the Nishad Party represents the Nishad caste, which is a dominant group in the Gorakhpur region, the home turf of CM Yogi Adityanath.

  • Supreme Court refuses to stay counting of votes for Uttar Pradesh​ panchayat polls

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Saturday refused to stay the counting of votes for panchayat polls in Uttar Pradesh and said no victory rallies will be permitted during the counting or after the process is over.

    At a special urgent hearing, which took place on a court holiday ahead of the counting beginning on Sunday, a bench comprising Justices A M Khanwilkar and Hrishikesh Roy also asked the State Election Commission to fasten responsibility on gazetted officers for observing COVID-19 protocols at counting centres across the state.

    The top court’s directions came on a plea seeking directions for the observance of COVID-19 protocols during the counting of votes in view of the second wave of the pandemic sweeping through the country.

    The bench said government officials, candidates and their agents will have to produce RT-PCR tests to show they are COVID-19 negative before entering the counting centres.

    ALSO READ | ‘Crime against humanity’: Priyanka slams UP govt, SEC for conducting panchayat polls amid COVID crisis

    The top court also directed the state government to ensure there will be strict curfew in and around the counting centres till the process goes on and that no victory rallies are carried out after the announcement of results.

    The court passed the order after taking note of several notifications and assurances from the UP SEC that COVID-19 protocols would be followed at the 829 counting centres.

    It said the poll panel should preserve CCTV footage of counting centres in the state till the Allahabad High Court concludes its hearing on related petitions before it.

    During the hearing, advocate Shoeb Alam, appearing for the petitioner Sachin Yadav, said there are lakhs of candidates in the fray.

    The congregation of a huge number of poll officials and counting agents at the counting centres should be avoided in view of the surge of Covid infections, he said.

    Yadav had challenged an Allahabad High Court order allowing panchayat elections to continue in the state.

    His lawyer Alam said there should be adequate safeguards as the counting process will go on for a couple of days.

    Over 60 crore ballot papers were printed and have to be counted, he pointed out.

    He also referred to a note from the UP primary teachers association saying more than 700 people had lost their lives during the polls.

    Appearing for the UP SEC, Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati said directions have been issued from time to time and senior officials have been given the responsibility for maintaining Covid appropriate behaviour.

    She gave an assurance that there would be strict compliance of Covid appropriate behaviour at the counting centres and the counting would be done in shifts so there are no congregations at any particular time.

    She said they had to make a choice between the “devil and the deep sea”, and added that panchayat bodies have also been effective in containing the surge of COVID-19 during the first wave last year.

    On Friday, the top court had sought a response from the Uttar Pradesh government and the SEC on Yadav’s plea.

    Uttar Pradesh has been reporting a massive surge in fresh COVID-19 cases.

    Polling for the four-phased panchayat elections in Uttar Pradesh ended on April 29.

    The first phase on April 15 and the second round on April 19 recorded a turnout of 71 per cent.

    In the third phase on April 26, 73.5 per cent of registered voters turned out to exercise their franchise, officials said.