Elections 2022

Amit Shah attacked SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, saying "goonda raj" will return to Uttar Pradesh if his party comes to power in the Assembly polls. Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday attacked SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, saying "goonda raj" will return to Uttar Pradesh if his party comes to power in the Assembly polls. Addressing "influential voters" during a door-to-door campaign, he also accused the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the BSP of promoting dynastic politics and casteism. Shah paid obeisance at the Banke Bihari temple before starting his door-to-door campaign for the state Assembly polls. Attacking the previous SP government, he asked, "Wasn't there a goonda raj? Didn't the bahubalis (strongmen) trouble people? Weren't the sisters and daughters humiliated?" "Azam Khan was arrested and CrPC sections fell short under which cases were lodged against him," he said referring to a Samajwadi Party leader. He mocked Akhilesh Ya...

Punjab will go to the assembly polls on February 20. The counting of votes will take place on March 10. Soon after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's day-long visit to Punjab culminated on Thursday where he addressed a virtual rally 'Navi Soch Nava Punjab', the party claimed that as many as 9 lakh (900,000) people connected within two hours on various platforms to join the rally. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was on a one-day visit to Punjab on Thursday during which he visited religious places along with 117 candidates in an apparent show of strength ahead of Assembly elections that are due next month. With both Punjab CM Charanjit Singh Channi and state Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu eyeing the top job, Rahul Gandhi said that the chief ministerial face would be decided by the party workers soon as he admitted that "two people cannot lead (the state), only one can" With the curtains closing on the virtual rally on Thursday, the Congress party has claimed the com...

Ayodhya goes to polls in the fifth phase on February 27 Apparently inspired by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath , it is now the saints of Ayodhya who want to take the political plunge. Mahant Raju Das, one of the priests of the Hanuman Garhi temple, and Mahant Paramhans Das of Tapasvi Ji Ki Chhawani are among the prominent saints who want to contest the polls from the Ayodhya (Sadar) Assembly seat, which is considered a VIP constituency. The BJP's Ved Prakash Gupta, is the sitting MLA from this seat and also a contender for the 2022 ticket. The Ram Janmabhoomi, where a grand Ram temple is under construction, is in this constituency. Mahant Paramhans Das said: "I have decided to contest the polls from the Ayodhya Assembly seat. I am seeking the ticket from the BJP. If the party denies the ticket, then I will file my nomination as an independent candidate." Talking about his agenda, he said: "If maulvis get salary, then seers must also get salary." Par...

Rajbhar is fighting the polls in alliance with the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party The Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP) president Om Prakash Rajbhar has said that the BJP had no respect for backwards and Dalits and had committed atrocities on students demanding jobs amid growing unemployment. Rajbhar is fighting the polls in alliance with the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party. Rajbhar said, "The BJP has not been able to deliver jobs to the youth, and it has deprived backward students of reservation. When students demand reservation, they are showered with police batons. The question paper of recruitment exams of 16 departments was leaked, today 34 lakh positions are lying vacant in the state. In Prayagraj, when students raised their voice, they were beaten up mercilessly. The youth want a change and to see Akhilesh Yadav as their next chief minister." He further said that 85 per cent people in Uttar Pradesh were with the SP-led alliance as the ...

Last month, the govt passed a bill to amend the law relating to elections. But a change linked electoral rolls with the Aadhaar ecosystem, was in the eye of the storm. This report tells more about it When The Election Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021, was tabled in Rajya Sabha on December 21, members of the opposition parties stormed into the Well of the House. TMC MP Derek O’ Brien was suspended for throwing a rule book at the reporters’ table. It all happened when the opposition’s motion to send the legislation to a select committee was defeated. But just like the Lok Sabha, the bill sailed through the Upper House amid the protests. It awaits the President’s nod to become a law. Through the bill, the government is amending both The Representation of the People Acts of 1950 and 1951. One of its main provisions creates a legal framework to link electoral roll data with Aadhaar. The government said it was meant to strike out bogus voters, foreigners who are wrongfully included as voters and ...