Lucknow, Jan 21 (SocialNews.XYZ) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Uttar Pradesh, on Friday, launched its theme song for the Assembly elections.

The song 'UP phir mange BJP sarkar' comes with the tag line 'Soch imandar, kaam damdar'.

Releasing the song, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said it encapsulated the work done by his government in the past five years.

"We have done all that we promised in our Sankalp Patra five years ago. Our promise was based on nationalism, development, good governance with the concept of antyodaya. We ensured development for all and appeasement of none," he said.

The chief minister listed the achievements of the double engine governments and said that houses, toilets, power connections, gas connections, health insurance were given to the needy.

He said that his government reopened sugar mills and cleared cane dues.

"We ensured security for women and girls and bulldozed the ill-gotten wealth of the mafia. The Ram temple, Kashi Vishwanath Corridor, Kumbh Mela and clean Ganga are other things we promised and fulfilled," he added.

Earlier, UP BJP president Swatantra Dev Singh lauded the achievements of the Yogi government and said that the past five years had been marked by unparalleled quality of governance.

Source: IANS

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New Delhi, Jan 21 (SocialNews.XYZ) The Congress on Friday launched 'Bharti Vidhan', the party's youth manifesto for Uttar Pradesh ahead of the Assembly polls, saying that the vision document focusses on providing employment to the youth of the state.

The manifesto, which promises 20 lakh jobs, including 9 lakh jobs for women, was released by party leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi.

"Congress Party believes that progress is founded on a good education. It pledges to significantly increase funding for primary, secondary, and higher education and to make every effort to correct systemic disparities. It will unshackle the immense potential of the state to provide opportunities for employment and entrepreneurship to the youth," says the manifesto which runs into 20 pages.

"New avenues will be created with a focus on manufacturing clusters, the creative industry,
technological innovation, and by providing robust support for local & traditional handicrafts and small businesses. The power of young people, their freedom, self-expression, passion, vitality, creativity, and determination are the driving forces of a nation," the manifesto says, adding that the Congress Party pledges to create an environment that allows these dreams to fly so that the young women and men of Uttar Pradesh move towards a hopeful and promising future.

Besides, the party has promised 20 lakh government jobs, which includes filling up of 1.5 lakh vacant teachers' posts in the primary education sector and 1 lakh vacant principals' posts in the basic education sector. The 38,000 vacant teachers' posts in the secondary education sector shall also be filled along with 8,000 vacant teachers' posts in higher education and colleges.

The party said a mass recruitment drive shall be conducted throughout the state to fulfil the student-teacher ratio as laid out by the Right to Education Act.

Attacking the BJP-led UP government, the Congress said: "The current government's appallingly negligent approach towards this critical aspect of our contemporary economy, its policy of selling off profitable public assets and its leniency towards corruption in the recruitment process and the conduct of recruitment tests has progressively crushed the hopes of lakhs of young people. The young people of Uttar Pradesh have thus lost faith in the very system that is responsible for assuring their futures. "

Source: IANS

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Lucknow, Jan 20 (SocialNews.XYZ) Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav will contest the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls from Karhal in Manipuri district.

According to party sources, a decision was taken at a meeting here on Thursday.

Karhal is a Samajwadi bastion and Mulayam Singh Yadav represents the Mainpuri parliamentary constituency in the Lok Sabha.

Karhal has over 1.44 lakh Yadav voters and is considered 'safe' for the Samajwadi leadership.

This is the first time that Akhilesh will be contesting the Assembly elections.

SP spokesman Anurag Bhadauria said that with Akhilesh contesting the elections, the entire party cadre is excited and the people know that they will be electing not a legislator but a chief minister.

Source: IANS

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Lucknow, Jan 20 (SocialNews.XYZ) Several top opposition leaders will be campaigning in Uttar Pradesh against the ruling BJP in the upcoming seven-phase Assembly elections.

West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar, Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD) leader and former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejaswi Yadav, Shiv Sena minister Aditya Thackeray along with Sanjay Raut and will be seen in action in Uttar Pradesh, leading the opposition attack against the BJP.

According to Samajwadi Party national vice-president Kiranmoy Nanda, Mamata Banerjee will campaign virtually for the SP in Lucknow on February 8 and she may also campaign digitally in Varanasi.

NCP state unit spokesperson Vishal Nath Tiwari said Sharad Pawar will campaign for the Samajwadi Party in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.

SP chief Akhilesh Yadav has already announced that NCP leader K. K. Sharma will contest as the joint candidate of the SP-NCP alliance from the Anupshahr Assembly seat in Bulandshahr district.

Sharad Pawar may be present with TMC chief Mamata Banerjee during the virtual campaign in Lucknow on February 8, Tiwari said.

RJD leader Tejaswi Yadav will campaign in support of the SP in the east UP Assembly constituencies bordering Bihar, as well as in other segments.

RJD state president Ashok Singh will be the SP-RJD joint candidate from Sareni in Rae Bareli district.

Rahul Yadav, son-in-law of RJD leader Lalu Yadav, is in the fray as the SP-RLD joint candidate from Sikandrabad Assembly seat in Bulandshahr district.

Ashok Singh said: "Tejashwi Yadav will campaign in support of the Samajwadi Party across Uttar Pradesh."

Shiv Sena state secretary Vishwajeet Singh said the party central leadership is in talks with the Congress, which is part of the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA), for pre-poll alliance in UP. If the alliance talks fail, the Shiv Sena will field candidates for 80 Assembly seats in UP.

"Shiv Sena leaders Aditya Thackeray and Sanjay Raut will campaign for the party candidates (in UP)," he said.

Sources said that Jharkhand Chief Minister and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader Hemant Soren may also campaign in support of the SP to help the Opposition give a united fight to the BJP.

Hemant Soren had campaigned in support of the TMC in the West Bengal Assembly election.

Source: IANS

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Lucknow, Jan 19 (SocialNews.XYZ) For weeks, Congress leader Imran Masood persuaded the party leadership to forge an alliance with Samajwadi Party 'which was better positioned to fight the BJP in Uttar Pradesh'.

Finally, he quit the Congress and joined the SP. A week later, he is again looking for a party that will give him a ticket because SP has 'ditched' him.

His brother Masood Akhtar, a Congress MLA, quit his party and he has also been ignored by SP.

"We had been told that they will take care of us. Akhilesh had called us twice and assured us of a party ticket. We were waiting at the SP office when we learnt that Behat and Saharanpur Dehat's candidates had been announced," said Masood Akhtar.

The brothers are now frantically looking of a party symbol to contest polls.

Another turncoat who has been left out in the cold is former Bahujan Samaj Party MP, Qadir Rana, who expected a ticket from Muzaffarnagar after joining the SP last year.

His name does not figure in the SP list and Rana has nowhere to go.

This will be the first time in three decades that Qadir Rana will not be contesting elections.

"I don't want to comment on the matter," he said.

Another former MLA Guddu Pandit, a.k.a Bhagwan Sharma, has also not been given a ticket even though he recently joined SP in Delhi. He is a two-term MLA from Dibai.

His brother, Mukesh Sharma, also a former MLA, did not find a slot in the RLD-SP list.

Former BSP MLA Haji Yaqub Qureshi who joined hands with Akhilesh also failed to get a ticket.

Source: IANS

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Lucknow, Jan 19 (SocialNews.XYZ) Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav, on Wednesday, congratulated his sister-in-law Aparna Yadav who had joined the BJP earlier in the day.

"I wish her well," he said when asked to comment on her joining the saffron party.

He said that Mulayam Singh Yadav had tried hard to convince her but she did what she wanted.

Asked whether Aparna joined the BJP because she was denied SP ticket, Akhilesh said: "We have not yet given all tickets. The decision on tickets depends on our internal survey."

To a question about him contesting the Assembly elections, Akhilesh said: "I will take the permission of the people in Azamgarh and then contest the elections from there."

Sources said that Akhilesh was preparing to contest from Gopalpur in Azamgarh, which is also his parliamentary constituency.

Meanwhile, Akhilesh also announced on Wednesday that when he comes to power, he will triple the Samajwadi pension given to poor women from the earlier Rs 6,000 per year to Rs 18,000 per year.

Source: IANS

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Hathras (UP), Jan 19 (SocialNews.XYZ) The family of the 19-year-old Hathras victim has turned down a proposal to contest the UP Assembly elections.

"We have not been approached by anyone so far. Our aim is to get justice for my sister. If anyone wants to approach us, they are welcome but, so far, no one has contacted us," said the victim's younger brother.

Asked about the Unnao rape victim's mother contesting the elections, he said: "The verdict in their case has been delivered and the accused has been convicted."

The family's reaction came amid reports that the Congress had offered them a ticket for the elections.

The 19-year-old Hathras girl had been gang-raped by four men in September 2020 and she died ten days later in a Delhi hospital. Her mortal remains were cremated in the dead of the night by the local administration despite protests by the family.

The incident led to national outrage and became a major political issue, focusing on atrocities on Dalits.

UP Congress general secretary Shyam Sundar Upadhyaya meanwhile said: "No decision in this regard has been taken so far, but the party will ticket to people who have been victimised so that they can be empowered and fight for their own rights and help others too."

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who has given the slogan 'Ladki Hoon Lad Sakti Hoon', along with her brother Rahul Gandhi, had gone to meet the family of the rape and murder victim in Hathras in October 2020, a few days after the girl died in a Delhi hospital. Assuring the family of all possible help, the Gandhi siblings had then said no one can stop them from standing for justice and truth.

Source: IANS

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Lucknow, Jan 19 (SocialNews.XYZ) The Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) has released a list of 24 candidates for the UP Assembly elections.

More than 80 per cent of the candidates are from the Nishad community. The list has three women candidates.

The party released the names of candidates for Assembly seats in Shamli, Jaunpur, Gorakhpur, Mirzapur, Pilibhit, Shahjahanpur, Bareilly, Badaun, Mainpuri, Agra, Ghazipur, Moradabad, Baghpat and Saharanpur, which will go to polls in the first and the second phase.

Party's national spokesperson Dev Jyoti said that the candidates were selected from the applications that the party had received online.

"Some of the seats had more than eight applications," he said.

This is for the first time that VIP will contest in UP. The party had asked the candidates to apply online on the party's website. "The candidates with a clean past were selected. There were no cases against them," said the party's spokesperson.

Source: IANS

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Lucknow, Jan 17 (SocialNews.XYZ) Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav, on Monday, said that when his party comes to power, he would ensure minimum support price for all crops for farmers.

He said that he would create a farmers' revolving fund to ensure payment of cane dues besides making adequate arrangements for ensuring free irrigation, loan, pension and insurance for them. He also said that he would withdraw all cases lodged against farmers and the families of those who had died during the agitation would be given Rs 25 lakhs each.

Yadav said that all this would be included in the Samajwadi manifesto which would be released after the BJP released its manifesto.

Farmer leader Tajinder Virk, who was among those injured in the October 3, 2021 Lakhimpur incident, administered a pledge with fistful of wheat and rice to defeat 'those who had heaped atrocities on farmers.'

Comparing the Lakhimpur incident with the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, Akhilesh Yadav said that by mowing down innocent farmers, the BJP had committed an unpardonable crime.

He said that it was the unity of farmers that had forced the BJP to take back the farm laws.

The SP president further said that the BJP and its leaders had been openly violating the model code of conduct. He said that he would soon lodge a formal complaint with the Election Commission and hoped that they would take action accordingly.

Replying to a question on failure of alliance talks with Bhim Army chief Chandra Shekhar, Akhilesh Yadav said that he had offered two seats but does not know why the same was turned down.

"Chandra Shekhar should know that Dr Ambedkar and Dr Lohia worked together and he should also work together in a positive spirit with us and as a brother," he said.

Source: IANS

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New Delhi, Jan 17 (SocialNews.XYZ) The farmers' agitation against the three contentious farm laws, which were later revoked, will not impact BJP's victory in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections as the peasants of western part of the state will vote in favour of the party, a veteran BJP leader said.

Talking to IANS, he said: "The story of BJP's victory in Uttar Pradesh will start from the first phase on February 10, and will continue till the seventh and final phase."

In the first phase on February 10, polling will be held for a total of 58 seats and in the second phase for 55 seats on February 14. The Braj region is said to be the stronghold of farmers. National spokesperson of Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) Rakesh Tikait also hails from this region and it is being believed that the Samajwadi Party (SP) and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) alliance has also weakened the chances of BJP's win.

However, contrary to the claims of SP president Akhilesh Yadav and RLD chief Jayant Choudhary, the BJP veteran claimed that the farmers' agitation will have no effect in the first two phases of elections and the party will win equal or more seats than it did in 2017.

In the first two phases, a total of 113 seats will be up for grabs. Of this, the BJP has announced its candidature in 105 seats and will declare the candidates for the remaining 8 seats soon.

Meanwhile, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, a skilled election strategist of the BJP, will be in Uttar Pradesh again from January 23. It is being said that Shah has plans to tour the entire state, including the west and the Braj region, to woo the farmers back.

As part of the election campaign, Shah is also likely to meet leaders of the Jat community in the western part of the state. Moreover, the party is also expecting a huge public support in Braj on the issue of Mathura.

Source: IANS

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Lucknow, Jan 14 (SocialNews.XYZ) The Samajwadi Party, which has been happily inducting leaders from other parties, is now facing the problem of plenty.

Too many claimants on every seat and the threat of the seat going to a new entrant is bound to create problems for SP president Akhilesh Yadav who will have a tough time handling the dissent in party ranks.

The eleven legislators who have walked in from BJP, and the nine legislators who came in earlier from BSP and others who have been joining the SP over the past months, are all claimants for tickets.

"Till now there are around four dozen leaders from other parties who have joined SP and want tickets. Besides, the party is giving around 60 tickets to the allies, including Rashtriya Lok Dal. This implies that around 100 tickets are not available to those party leaders who have worked relentlessly in their respective constituencies in the past five years," said a senior party functionary.

The entry of top leaders like Swami Prasad Maurya, Dara Singh Chauhan, Dharam Singh Saini of BJP, Imran Masood of the Congress and Ram Achal Rajbhar and Lalji Verma of BSP, has left the SP workers in their constituencies worried.

"Inducting leaders, just weeks or months before the elections, is unethical and unfair for those who have worked on the ground. We toil for five years and then a leader walks in from another party and takes away the ticket. What are we expected to do in such a situation?" asked a SP ticket aspirant from Ambedkar Nagar.

He said that he had met a senior party leader in this regard and was told, "wait for next time".

"The next time is five years away," he said.

Samajwadi Party MLA Manoj Pandey, for instance, is the sitting MLA from the Unchahar seat for the second consecutive term.

He had defeated Swami Prasad Maurya's son Utkasrh Maurya twice-once, when he contested on the BSP ticket and on the BJP ticket.

Pandey has been on tenterhooks ever since Maurya switched to Samajwadi Party this week.

Akhilesh will have a tough time taking a call on this seat.

Sources said that he has offered a seat to Maurya's son from Prayagraj but the decision is still pending.

In Saharanpur, the SP has two new leaders -Dharam Singh Saini and Imran Masood.

Their decision to join the SP has already unsettled few leaders and their supporters in Saharanpur not only from the SP but its alliance partner RLD which wields its influence over west UP.

"The Samajwadi Party has a very committed cadre but if they get upset, it would not augur well for the party. The cadres have faced adverse circumstances in the past five years but have remained loyal to the leadership which will now have to assuage feelings on these 100 seats," said political analyst and senior journalist R K Singh.

Source: IANS

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Lucknow, Jan 14 (SocialNews.XYZ) Maulana Khalil-ur-Rahman Sajjad Nomani, senior member of All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), has written an open letter to All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-e-Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi, urging him to not cause a split in Muslim votes in UP Assembly.

Nomani has urged Owaisi to field candidates only on those seats where his party is certain of its win.

Maulana Nomani is an Islamic scholar and holds several important positions in Islamic seminaries.

He is also a member of the Working Committee of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board.

The AIMIM has declared that it would contest on 100 seats in UP.

In 2017, the party had contested on 35 seats and polled approximately two lakh votes.

In his letter to AIMIM president, the cleric has pointed out that AIMIM candidates could lead to the split of 'secular votes' against sectarian forces in the UP elections.

"In my opinion, you should contest only on those seats where victory is certain, and in the remaining seats you should appeal for the alliance (against the BJP)," he said.

The Maulana, in his letter, further said that "if you do this, your popularity and confidence will increase, which will be the success towards the effort to start immediately after the election for your original mission."

Source: IANS

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New Delhi, Jan 13 (SocialNews.XYZ) The BJP Central Election Committee (CEC) will meet on Thursday to finalise candidates for Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls.

The meeting will reportedly be held in hybrid form as few of the CEC members, including party chief J P Nadda, have tested positive for Covid-19.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and other CEC members, who are physically attending the meeting, have reached party headquarters here.

According to sources, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will join the meeting virtually and the CEC is likely to finalise names of candidates for the first two or three phases of polls. "After finalisation of candidates, names will be announced accordingly," they said.

The Assembly polls will be held in seven phases in February-March starting from February 10. Counting of votes will be held on March 10.

In the last two days, a lot of discussion and deliberation has taken place in meetings chaired by union home minister Amit Shah. "In the last two days in marathon meetings lasting over 10 hours, names have been shortlisted for most of the seats. Once the CEC finalises the names, the BJP will announce the candidates," a senior party functionary said.

Apart from Nadda, CEC member Rajnath Singh, Shahnawaz Hussain and Nitin Gadkari were also tested positive for Covid recently.

Last day of nomination for 58 Assembly seats, where polling will be held in the first phase, is January 21, while that for 55 seats in the second phase is January 28.

Voting will be held on February 10 and February 14 in the first and second phase respectively.

Source: IANS

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By Amita Verma

Lucknow, Jan 12 (SocialNews.XYZ) The 2022 assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh are more than just about forming a government.

This is a 'do-or-die' battle for those leaders whose political future depends on the outcome of the elections.

Interestingly, most of these leaders belong to the new generation and this is the first time that they are in full command of the party they are heading.

The leader who faces the biggest challenge of his political career in this election is Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav.

Having positioned himself as the main challenger to the ruling BJP, Akhilesh has single-handedly led the campaign, stitched up alliances and even selected candidates.

In 2017 and 2019, leaders like Mulayam Singh Yadav and Prof Ram Gopal Yadav had helped Akhilesh. Mulayam in 2019, had openly expressed his dissent on the alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party.

This time, Mulayam Singh Yadav has stayed away from election-related activities though he does make an occasional appearance at the party office.

The credit - or the blame - of the SP performance in the 2022 elections will, therefore, fall squarely on the fragile shoulders of Akhilesh Yadav. The outcome could make or mar his career, as most senior party leaders claim.

Another leader in the same league is Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra who is in total charge of the party's state unit.

Priyanka is finalising the poll strategy, selection of candidates and also the mood of the campaign. While she has focussed on the election strategy, she has failed to check the health of the party's state unit which is witnessing an unprecedented exodus of leaders.

Her campaign for women and 40 per cent reservation for them in party tickets may have created a buzz in state politics but whether it will reap benefits for the Congress remains to be seen.

The Congress has also been losing leader after leader to other parties and this has left the cadres rather demoralised.

Since this is Priyanka's first independent political outing, the result will decide her future in the Congress.

What makes her task even more daunting is the fact that this time, Priyanka's mother and Congress president Sonia Gandhi will not be campaigning due to health issues and her brother Rahul Gandhi has also kept himself away for unexplained reasons.

If the Congress fails to achieve the desired results in these elections, it will be Priyanka's second failure after 2019 when she had taken charge of UP and Rahul Gandhi lost his Amethi seat.

Her failure this time could bring out the knives and also create hurdles in her elevation to national politics.

Jayant Chaudhary, president of the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), is also facing a make-or-break battle in the UP elections.

This is the first time that he is independently leading his party into elections after the demise of his father Chaudhary Ajit Singh.

Jayant has the advantage of being the sole political beneficiary of the year-long farmers' agitation and his political handling of the election scenario could revive his party that has been languishing in the sidelines for long.

If the RLD performs as per expectation in these elections, Jayant will be able to establish himself as the undisputed political leader of the Jats.

These elections are extremely crucial for Mayawati, president of the Bahujan Samaj Party. The BSP is at its lowest ebb and Mayawati's unexplained absence from the campaign has demoralised the cadres.

If the BSP fails to get a decent number of seats, it could further isolate the party in Uttar Pradesh and put Mayawati in an uncomfortable position.

Source: IANS

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New Delhi, Dec 8 (SocialNews.XYZ) Several senior military officials were feared dead after an Indian Air Force helicopter crashed in Tamil Nadu's Coonoor on Wednesday afternoon with Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat, his wife and 12 others onboard.

The latest incident brings to our mind several prominent personalities who have perished in air crashes in the past. One of the first instances was freedom fighter Subhas Chandra Bose in 1945 in Taiwan although there has been some controversy over his death.

Another air accident was the crash of a helicopter in which Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy was onboard.

The chopper of YSR, crashed in a forest while flying in a Bell 430 to Chitoor district in Andhra Pradesh. His body was traced 27 hours after the helicopter went missing in 2009.

Sanjay Gandhi, the younger son of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, was killed in 1980 when a glider he was flying crashed after taking off from the Safdarjung airport in Delhi.

Senior Congress leader, Madhavrao Scindia was killed in a Cessna aircraft crash on in 2001 while travelling to Kanpur to address a rally.

Lok Sabha Speaker and Telugu Desam leader G M C Balayogi also died in a chopper crash in 2002 in Andhra Pradesh.

O P Jindal, Haryana's then power minister and a leading industrialist, and state agriculture minister Surendra Singh were killed when the chopper developed a technical snag and went down near Saharanpur in 2005.

Punjab governor Surendra Nath and nine members of his family were killed when the government's Super-King aircraft crashed into high mountains in bad weather in 1994 in Himachal Pradesh. Nath was then acting Himachal governor also.

Five days after the helicopter that he was using went missing, Arunachal Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu was found dead near the China border in 2011.

Source: IANS

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New Delhi, Sep 27 (SocialNews.XYZ) The Delhi Traffic Police have closed both carriageways across the iconic Red fort, an official said here on Monday.

"Chattarel and Subhash Marg have been closed from both sides," the official said.

The move comes in the wake of Bharat Bandh call given by Samyukt Kisan Morcha on Monday.

The police force was seen as more careful this time keeping in view how the January 26 Red Fort events unfolded into a serious violence.

On January 26, thousands of farmers protesting against the agriculture reform laws breached the security cordons at the borders and entered the national capital in a failed attempt to reach the historic Rajpath for their tractor march.

However, hundreds of protesters managed to enter the Red Fort breaching police security, and planted a religious and farm union flag on the pole where Tricolour is hoisted on Independence Day.

Earlier on Monday, the traffic movement was closed from Uttar Pradesh towards the Ghazipur border due to the protest.

Farmers, in large numbers, could be seen sitting on the road and raising slogans against the farm laws.

Meanwhile, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation has shut Pandit Shree Ram metro station that is close to the Tikri border in western Delhi.

At rest of the places, the Delhi metro is functional without any delay.

The SKM has said that bandh will be held from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. during which all government and private offices, educational and other institutions, shops, industries and commercial establishments as well as public events and functions will be closed throughout the country.

Source: IANS

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By Sujit Chakraborty

Guwahati, May 9 (SocialNews.XYZ) Considered as the most powerful politician in the entire northeastern region, 52-year-old Himanta Biswa Sarma, who's target was always set on the top executive post in Assam, will fulfil his long cherished dream when he takes oath as the 15th Chief Minister of the state on Monday.

Since 2015, when he quit the Congress and joined the BJP, Sarma was the most acceptable organiser for both the central and state leaders of the saffron party.

Gradually, Sarma became a more indispensable leader for the BJP after he played a significant role in forming saffron party led governments in three other northeastern states - Tripura, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh.

Political commentator and analyst Barun Talukdar said, "Determination, hard work and constructive and favourable strategies rewards Sarma with the Chief Minister's coveted posts.

In view of the Covid-induced situations and heavy financial burden, Sarma had to prove himself once again to meet the tough challenge," Sarma, after proving his leadership in the influential student body All Assam Students' Union (AASU) joined direct politics in 1996.

An important Minister of Assam since 2001, Sarma's political acumen and the ability by facing all the odds and challenges, was rewarded by his mentors -- former Congress Chief Ministers Hiteswar Saikia and Tarun Gogoi, had given him ample opportunities to rise and he also sincerely performed the responsibility.

After the BJP came to power in Assam for the first time in 2016, Sarma not only given all the important portfolios including Finance, PWD, Health and Education under the Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal led government, the saffron party made him the convenor of the North anti-Congress platform --East Democratic Alliance (NEDA), bringing most non-Congress political parties of all eight northeastern states within its fold.

Due to Sarma's successful strategies, the BJP not only formed government in Tripura, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh, but the NDA allies are now leading the governments in the other four northeastern states - Meghalaya, Nagaland, Mizoram and Sikkim.

Born on February 1, 1969 to Kailash Nath Sarma and Mrinalini Devi, Sarma first elected as Member of the Assam Legislative Assembly from the Jalukbari seat in 2001 and won the seat for the fifth time until the recent elections.

Sarma this time defeated his Congress opponent Romen Chandra Borthakur by a margin of 1,01,911 votes against his 2016 winning margin of 85, 935 votes.

Himanta Biswa Sarma and his wife Riniki Sarma have two children - Nandil and Sukanya, who are studying in college and schools respectively.

Writer and columnist Prashanta Kashaap said : "Sarma is one of the most charismatic and dynamic leaders of Assam. He is a great visionary and is at times referred to as the Chanakya of Assam and northeast politics."

"Sarma is seen as the BJP party's mascot or in Assam or points man in the northeast region. First in 2016 Assam Assembly polls then in 2019 Lok Sabha elections and once again in the March-April poll battle, he managed to create an electrifying atmosphere during the campaign attending more than 200 rallies and scores of other meetings.

He is a huge crowd puller. Not only by his speech, he attracts masses by singing Assamese popular songs besides strongly attacking the opposition parties by referring instances and facts."

With the outbreak of Covid-19, Sarma as health Minister took various important decisions and prompt steps to curb the pandemic in the first wave obtaining huge appreciations from the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and other central ministers and leaders.

While on one hand, Sarma gets the love, support, and praises of people for his effective handling of the Covid-19 situation in Assam, he as a Finance Minister taken several bold steps to deal with the economy of Assam.

Sarma did his schooling at Kamrup Academy School in Guwahati in 1985 before he enrolled in the famous Cotton College, where he pursued political science. He also did a Bachelor of Laws (undergraduate law degree) from Government Law College and also obtained a Ph D degree from Gauhati University.

As a lawyer, Sarma practised Law at Guwahati High Court for more than five years from 1996. As a sports administrator, Sarma has been associated with many sports associations and bodies till now and always encouraged the sportsmen of all streams.

(Sujit Chakraborty can be contacted at sujit.c@ians.in)

Source: IANS

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Guwahati, May 9 (SocialNews.XYZ) The BJP's lead strategist in northeastern states and senior leader Himanta Biswa Sarma, who had played significant role in forming saffron party led governments in three other northeastern states - Tripura, Manipur and Arunachal -- will take charge as the 15th Chief Minister of Assam on Monday.

Raj Bhavan officials said that Governor Jagdish Mukhi would administer the oath of office to the Chief Minister designate Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday noon at the famous Srimanta Sankardeva Kalakshetra in Guwahati.

Different official sources said that besides Sarma, nine other ministers are likely to take oath on Monday.

According to the Raj Bhavan officials, Union Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Narendra Singh Tomar, outgoing Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and a host of central and state leaders, dignitaries and top officials would attend the swearing-in-ceremony.

The Opposition Congress and the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) conveyed their greetings to Sarma and hoped that Assam would become one of the most developed states of the country under his tenure.Congress turned BJP leader, Sarma, who fondly called "Mama" in Assam, after being elected as the leader of the BJP legislature party, said : "After India's independence, this is for the second time a BJP government has installed in Assam."

The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance has returned to power in Assam for a second consecutive term after winning the recently held three-phase elections to the 126-member state Assembly.

Sarma, who has already received the support of the two allies of "Mitrajot" -- Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and United People's Party Liberal (UPPL), accompanied by other leaders including Sonowal met Governor Jagdish Mukhi at the Raj Bhavan in the afternoon and staked his claim to form the new government.

Sarma, who quit Congress in September 2015 after holding the ministerial posts in Chief Minister Tarun Gagoi led governments (2001-2016), was instrumental in the BJP's victory both in the recently-held Assembly elections and in the 2016 polls in Assam and played important role in forming BJP led governments in Tripura, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh.

The 52-year-old was elected the leader of the BJP legislature party at a meeting held earlier in the day at the state Assembly complex, where party's four central leaders and outgoing Chief Minister Sonowal were present.Before the BJP legislature party meeting Sonowal, 59, submitted his resignation to the Governor at the Raj Bhavan.

In his announcement after the legislature party meeting, Union Agriculture Minister Narednra Singh Tomar said that Sonowal proposed Sarma's name as the leader of the BJP's legislature party and others supported it.

"Assam BJP president and Patacharkuchi MLA Ranjeet Kumar Dass and newly-elected MLA Nandita Garlosa seconded Sonowal's proposal. As there was no other contender for the post of legislature party leader, Sarma was unanimously elected for the post," Tomar said.

Besides Tomar, the BJP's National General Secretary Arun Singh, General Secretary (Organisation) B.L. Santhosh and party national Vice-President Baijayant Jay Panda also attended the meeting.

Immediately after his election, Sonowal, Tomar and other party leaders welcomed Sarma with the traditional Assamese 'Gamocha' (a white piece of cloth with a red border having a customary pattern).

Sarma, who was elected from the Jalukbari Assembly seat for the fifth time since 2001, was an important minister holding many departments including Finance, Health, PWD, Education, in the Sonowal government.Sarma defeated his Congress opponent Romen Chandra Borthakur by a margin of 1,01,911 votes against his 2016 winning margin of 85, 935 votes.

Sunday's meeting was held after the three rounds of talks at BJP president J.P. Nadda's residence in Delhi, where Sonowal, Sarma, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Santhosh were present.The Delhi meetings lasted for more than four hours.

Sonowal, who belongs to Assam's indigenous Sonowal-Kachari tribes, and Sarma, an Assamese Brahmin who is the convenor of the anti-Congress North East Democratic Alliance, led the BJP in the recent three-phase March-April Assembly polls.

In the 126-member Assembly, the BJP won 60 seats while its alliance partner Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) got nine seats and new ally United People's Party Liberal (UPPL) secured six.

Source: IANS

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Chennai, May 5 (SocialNews.XYZ) The main two left parties of Tamil Nadu -- CPM and CPI which were part of the DMK-led alliance, had to be satisfied with 2 seats each even as both of them contested 6 seats each in the winning electoral alliance.

CPM state secretary K. Balakrishnan while speaking to IANS said, "The party was not able to get seats allocated in regions where we are strong including Kanniyakumari and Chennai. Further in seats like Kovilpatti, Dindugal and Thiruparankundram, we were pitted against leaders like TTV Dhinakaran and also former ministers and we could not match their resources. This took us behind."

With the DMK led front winning the elections, the poor performance of the left parties has been a point of discussion in the political circles of Tamil Nadu.

C.M. Sivakumar, journalist and political analyst while speaking to IANS said, "The left parties are fast losing their cadre strength and even the two seats the CPM won, they piggy rode on the strength of the DMK. If they don't rework their strategies, it will be difficult for the left parties to survive in Tamil Nadu."

The CPI has also cut a sorry figure with the party again winning only 2 seats out of the 6 it contested in the DMK front. The party contested in Kongu region, Valparai, Tiruppur and Bhavanisagar which have high concentration of plantation workers, industrial workers and other labourers and the party has the strength due to trade union activities.

CPI state secretary R. Mutharasan while speaking to IANS said, "The DMK had led the front and its functionaries and our alliance partners were in the forefront of our campaign. Unfortunately in the regions where we contested, the support came for AIADMK front and we had to lose."

The CPI won Thalli and Thiruthuraipoondi seats in the elections while the CPM won from Kilvelur and Gandharvakottai.

CPM Politburo member and former Education minister of Kerala, M.A. Baby while speaking to IANS said, "CPM has not done that bad in the elections but still we will have to study as to what went wrong in Tamil Nadu for the party."

Source: IANS

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By Saibal Gupta

Kolkata, May 5 (SocialNews.XYZ) Mamata Banerjee after taking her oath as West Bengal CM for the third consecutive time in an unembellished function at the 'Throne Room' in Raj Bhavan in Kolkata on Wednesday morning announced that handling the Covid situation in the state and tackling post poll violence and the overall law and order situation in the state will be her priority.

The chief minister's convoy left her residence at Harish Chatterjee Street popularly known as Kalighat at 10.10 a.m. and reached Raj Bhawan at 10.20 a.m. Like any other day she sat by the side of the driver but the usual scene of people standing by the side of the road to have a glimpse of the chief minister was missing because she had requested everybody to stay indoors. Though the curious eyes were absent but the entire road was decorated with blue-white -- the colour combination branded by Trinamool Congress and large footballs -- highlighting the party's theme song -- 'Khela Hobe' (We will play).

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee who was escorted by her nephew Abhishek Banerjee and poll strategist Prashant Kishore reached Raj Bhawan and exchanged pleasantries with the guest that included Trinamool hierarchy Arup Biswas, Subrata Mukherjee, Partha Chatterjee, Subrata Bakshi and Firhad Hakim. Though opposition leaders and personalities like BJP state President Dilip Ghosh, Congress state President Adhir Ranjan Cowdhury, veteran leader Abdul Mannan, Left Front Chairman Biman Basu, former chief minister Buddhadeb Bahttacharjee and BCCI President Sourav Ganguly were invited but they were not present.

The oath taking ceremony started after Governor Jagdeep Dhankar entered the hall at 10.44 a.m. and his entry was followed by the national anthem. The ceremony started at 10.45 a.m. and lasted for seven minutes where Mamata Banerjee took her oath in Bengali.

Speaking to the media after that the chief minister said, "I shall start my work from today only. I shall go to Nanbanna and do a high-level meeting on the Covid situation in the state. We need to review the situation and several measures will be announced in the evening. We hope we will be able to control the situation as we did before".

"I would also like to take this opportunity to appeal to all people and workers of all political parties to maintain peace and harmony. Bengal has a culture and we should not forget that. There are some sporadic incidents. I have got information but the administration was not in my hand for the last three months. I assure everybody to take necessary action and handle the situation strongly but before that I would like to appeal to everybody to stay in a peaceful manner," she added.

Ghosh had told the media that he decided to quit the oath taking ceremony because a lot of the BJP workers are being killed all over the state in post poll violence. State Congress President Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said that he didn't receive any invitation letter from the government.

Source: IANS

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Chennai, May 5 (SocialNews.XYZ) The new DMK government under M.K. Stalin is to rename the Amma canteens founded by former Chief minister J. Jayalalithaa as Anna canteens.

The Amma canteens, started by Jayalalithaa when she was Chief minister in 2013, have grown to 407 in number at present. Totally funded by the Greater Chennai Corporation, the Amma canteens are providing Idlis at Re 1, a plate of rice and dal at Rs 3 and a plate of Chappathi and dal at Rs 3.

On Tuesday, DMK cadres had vandalized a canteen at Mogappiar and sparked tensions between the DMK and AIADMK supporters.

The new government is all set to rename the canteens in the name of the party founder and former Chief minister C.N. Annadurai. The Amma canteens were providing solace to the poor and the needy and were considered as one of the best social initiative of the AIADMK government in Chennai corporation.

The DMK in its election manifesto had promised to open 500 canteens in the name of "Kalaignar" across the state to provide food for the needy and underprivileged at subsidized rates.

DMK leader Duraimurugan while speaking to IANS said, "The DMK has promised to open canteens to provide quality food at low rates across the state and we will be implementing that as a first measure immediately after the government assumes office."

The DMK government is also bent on opening free drinking water kiosks across Chennai and in all metro cities to start with. This will be totally supported by the concerned municipal corporations who in turn can raise funds through the CSR platforms.

Political parties in Tamil Nadu are used to provide several welfare schemes and freebies to the people and the names are changed according to the political party in power at the time.

Source: IANS

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Thiruvananthapuram, May 5 (SocialNews.XYZ) In the aftermath of one of the worst mauling the Congress-led UDF in Kerala suffered in the assembly polls, when it saw its tally came down from 47 in 2016 to 41 in 2021, fireworks in the party have started.

In the 2016 assembly polls, the Congress had 22 seats, but in the results that came out on Sunday, its tally was 21, leaving all and sundry in gloom.

What has hurt the Congressmen most was, all of them expected that never before has a sitting government retained power and hence, it would be natural that they will return, but that did not happen.

And hence after two days of silence, the fireworks have begun with various leaders and feeder organisations baying for the blood of seasoned veterans.

On the chopping block is State party president Mullapally Ramachandran, who many thought would put in his papers, but according to sources, he has left that decision to the party high command.

The first to sound the bell was young Congress MP from Ernakulam- Hibi Eden, who wrote in his Facebook, "Why do we still need a sleeping president?"

The losing candidate at Kanjirapally in Kottayam district, Joseph Vazhakan, also a senior office bearer of the party said the need of the hour is a very strong leadership.

"The party has to have a cadre structure. If one looks back, Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala was very active and took up a lot of issues, but he failed to get any support from the party," said Vazhakan.

Even though Congress party in Kerala has always been divided between the followers of K. Karunakaran and A.K. Antony, after 2000, the Karunakaran faction was led by Chennithala and the Antony faction by two time former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, which continues even today.

However in the past two years a new power Centre surfaced in the form of K.C. Venugopal, now a Rajya Sabha MP from Rajasthan, has the full blessings of Rahul Gandhi.

Taking a broadside at Venugopal, without naming him, Vazhakan said the practice of running to Delhi for everything has to stop. There has to be delegation of authority.

Incidentally, the Congress leadership here was banking on the list of candidates that was announced, when it saw many regulars being left out and saw new faces in more than half of the 91 seats that the party had contested.

A media critic said, no usual tactics adopted by the leadership when it faces a reversal will work again by appointing a committee and getting a report and then keeping it under the carpet. This will not save the grand old party in Kerala.

"It's got nothing to do with old or new faces. If so, with almost 50 per cent new faces being fielded, nothing happened. Just imagine, if the leadership had fielded the same old names and lost, there would be a big encore. The need of the hour is the party has to stop this nomination business to party posts and they should have elected members to all posts at all levels, the sooner it's done the better it is. If not, this party will disappear," said the critic.

Calls have now started with a section of the Youth Congress for appointing Kannur Lok Sabha member K. Sudhakaran as the new president.

"We need a president who is active and not someone who holds the post as a decorative one. Sudhakaran is the one who should be made the president. Also the practice of appointing jumbo committees at the top level of the party has to stop," said Youth Congress leader Regil Makutty.

Anger has also come out against the elder son of A.K. Antony- Anil Antony who was leading the social media campaign from the state party headquarters.

The AICC has asked Tariq Anwar, the general secretary to prepare his report on the debacle and all eyes are on what is going to come from the party high command.

Meanwhile, on Friday the top leadership of the party is sitting down to discuss the issues and it's certain fireworks will continue and is expected to intensify.

Source: IANS

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By Saibal Gupta

Kolkata, May 4 (SocialNews.XYZ) An aggressive presence of Trinamool Congress in the Junglemahal seats took the air out of BJP's sail in the recently concluded Assembly elections in West Bengal in which the ruling party cruised to a landslide victory.

In the last Lok Sabha elections in 2019, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was ahead in all the 40 Assembly segments in the Junglemahal area comprising four districts -- Purulia, Bankura, Paschim Medinipur and Jhargam.

However, this time the Trinamool has snatched 25 seats from the saffron brigade, proclaiming that it has been successful in winning back the confidence of the tribal population of the region.

Junglemahal comprises 40 seats of which 16 are in Paschim Medinipur, 12 in Bankura, 9 in Purulia and 4 in Jhargram. Of these 40 seats, 15 are reserved for SC and ST.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, all the seats in Junglemahal, including Purulia, Medinipur, Bishnupur in Bankura and Jhargram went to the BJP.

However, this time, out of the 40 Assembly seats, the Trinamool bagged 24, while the BJP won 16, which was a major setback for the saffron party, as Junglemahal is considered to be an electoral swing region in Bengal.

A closer analysis of the seats shows that Trinamool bagged all the four seats in Jhargram, 13 out of 15 seats in Paschim Medinipur, 3 out of 9 seats in Purulia and 4 out of 12 seats in Bankura.

Though the BJP's performance has been relatively better in Bankura and Purulia, but in the other two districts it couldn't make a mark at all.

Interestingly enough, of these 40 seats, 15 belonged to the reserved category. The Trinamool has managed to win 9 out of these 15 seats, leaving the impression that the tribal people have started migrating to the ruling party.

The people who deserted Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and believed in Prime Minister Narendra Modi seem to have started flocking back to the ruling Trinamool Congress. This is perhaps Banerjee's greatest success that was evident in the landslide victory of her party in the Assembly polls.

It has become evident that unlike in some other constituencies in the Bengal polls, the BJP's Hindutva push did not prove effective among the tribal community mainly dominated by the Santhals and the Kurmis in the Junglemahal region.

The results declared on May 2 revealed a poll debacle for the BJP in Junglemahal, while the party's internal assessment revealed that a majority of the Santhal vote share, which was its biggest base in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, shifted to the Trinamool this time.

On the other hand, Banerjee tried to reach to the doorsteps of the tribal people who are hungry for love and respect. Her social welfare schemes like Swasthya Sathi, Duare Sarkar and Khadya Sathi providing rice at Rs 2 per kg throughout the year seem to have satisfied the basic needs of these underprivileged people. Also, the party workers were told to reach out to these people so that they could speak about their grievances, a ploy which worked wonders for the party.

"If you respect them, they will shower everything on you. This is exactly what we did in Junglemahal. We listened to their grievances and fulfilled their demands with full dignity. We tried to understand the problems they faced over the past decade.

"Most of them demanded that they want to become self-reliant and alleged that they were finding it difficult to avail the government schemes as there was no one to guide them. We formed a body comprising representatives of 13 tribal communities, including Kurmi, Santhal, Lodha, Sabar, Mahali, Munda and others, so that their problems could be addressed," said a senior Trinamool leader.

Source: IANS

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Chennai, May 4 (SocialNews.XYZ) Udayanidhi Stalin, the son of DMK chief M.K. Stalin and newly-elected first-time Tamil Nadu legislator, on Tuesday called on DMDK leader Vijayakanth at his residence.

The DMK scion, who crushed PMK leader A.V.A. Kassali by a margin of 69,355 votes from Chepauk-Thiruvallikeni constituency in his electoral debut, also called on leaders of the alliance partners of the DMK including MDMK chief Vaiko, and VCK leader Thol Thirumavalavan. He would be meeting CPI-M and CPI state Secretaries, G. Balakrishnan and K. Ramakrishnan, to seek their blessings after the glittering electoral victory.

Talking to IANS, Vaiko said: "Udayanidhi Stalin is a nice young man, his oratory skills are exemplary and he will develop into a good leader in the future... he is an asset to the secular and revolutionary leadership of Tamil Nadu."

Udayanidhi, an actor-turned-politician, is now on a thanksgiving spree to the party cadres and the people of his constituency. He is expected to get a berth in his father's cabinet, likely to be sworn-in on Friday.

"Udayanidhi Stalin is a good leader and he is meeting all our alliance partners as a courtesy call and to cement personal relationships with senior leaders of our alliance partners," DMK General Secretary Duraimurugan told IANS.

Source: IANS

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Chennai, May 4 (SocialNews.XYZ) The DMK on Tuesday elected its President M.K. Stalin as the leader of its Legislature Party in the Tamil Nadu Assembly, paving the way for his taking over as Chief Minister.

In a resolution passed unanimously, the newly-elected DMK lawmakers elected Stalin as their Legislature Party Leader.

The resolution was proposed by party's General Secretary Duraimurugan who won from Katpadi seat and was seconded by others.

Stalin will meet Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit at the Raj Bhavan and stake his claim to form the next government.

On Monday, Stalin told the media that the date of the swearing-in will be announced after consulting with government officials.

Taking into account the severe Covid-19 pandemic situation in the state, the function will be simple and may be held in the Raj Bhavan, he had said.

Source: IANS

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New Delhi, May 4 (SocialNews.XYZ) Following Trinamool Congress' demand for recounting of votes in the Nandigram Assembly constituency in West Bengal where Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee suffered a close defeat against her one-time aide Suvendu Adhikari of the BJP, the Election Commission on Tuesday clarified that the "only legal remedy is to file an EP (Execution Petition) before the High Court".

After the declaration of Assembly election results on Sunday, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had approached state Chief Electoral Officer Aariz Aftab demanding recounting of votes in Nandigram, following the Returning Officer's decision to not allow the same.

The EC on Tuesday made it clear that the Returning Officer (RO) of an Assembly constituency performs statutory functions under the RP Act, 1951 in "quasi-judicial" capacity independently.

The commission said that the RO takes a decision which can only be challenged through an election petition under Section 80 of the RP Act, 1951.

The poll panel said that after the counting in Nandigram, the polling agent of a particular candidate (Mamata Banerjee) had requested for recounting, which was rejected by the RO.

"...In such a case, the only legal remedy is to file an EP before the High Court," the EC said.

The poll panel said that in this regard, the Chief Electoral Officer in West Bengal has made available a copy of the order of the RO and other relevant materials related to counting, while the General Observer for the Assembly constituency has also furnished a report in the matter.

The EC further said that the election related officials on the ground perform in extremely competitive political environment with full transparency and fairness, and therefore attribution of any motive in such cases is not desirable.

Source: IANS

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Kolkata, May 4 (SocialNews.XYZ) Making it clear that the Returning Officer's (RO) decision regarding recounting of votes is final, the Election Commission of India has asked the West Bengal government to provide adequate security to the RO of Nandigarm, where BJPs Suvendu Adhikari pulled off a thrilling win over Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee by a slim margin of 1,956 votes.

The state government, on its part, has informed the poll panel that it has complied with the latter's direction.

The Nandigram controversy came to the fore after Banerjee claimed on Monday that the RO of the Assembly constituency in East Medinipur district had turned down Trinamool's demand for recounting of votes after Adhikari was declared the winner because his life was 'under threat'.

Nandigram witnessed a cliff-hanger between Banerjee and her one-time aide Adhikari before the latter was declared winner by a slender margin of 1,956 votes following several twists and turns.

The Commission in its note said, "The Returning Officer (RO) of an Assembly constituency performs statutory functions under the RP Act, 1951, in quasi-judicial capacity independently. As far as the media reports on 'recount' concerning Nandigram is concerned, on such an application being made, the RO shall decide the matter and may allow the application in whole or in part or may reject it in toto if it appears to him to be frivolous or unreasonable."

The poll panel also made it clear that there no anomaly has been found in the counting process.

"Each counting table had one micro-observer. Their reports never indicated any impurity of the counting process on their respective tables. The RO caused the entries of votes polled by each candidate after each round to be written on the display board which could be easily seen by the counting agents.

"No doubts were raised on the results of round-wise counting. This enabled the RO to proceed uninterruptedly with the counting of votes."

The Commission added that the only remedy is to move the High Court.

On the basis of media reports on undue pressure on the RO of Nandigram, the Commission directed the Chief Secretary West Bengal to provide adequate security to him, which the state government has now provided.

The sources said the RO was provided security in person and at his home on the directions of the Election Commission amid reports that he was under pressure while performing his duty.

The state's Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) has already been directed to ensure the safe custody of all election records, including polled EVMs and VVPAT machines, video recordings, and counting records strictly in accordance with the laid down guidelines.

The CEO will also coordinate with the state government for additional security measures at such locations, if needed.l/arm

Source: IANS

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New Delhi, May 4 (SocialNews.XYZ) After Mamata Banerjee decimated the BJP in West Bengal it was Congress which was overwhelmed to congratulate the TMC for spectacular performance, while many Congress leaders wondered till when the Congress is happy in BJP's loss.

Former Union Minster Manish Tewari even termed Mamata as Rani of Jhansi (queen who fought the Britishers). Some are happy but cautioned the party. Salman Khurshid said, "Mamata didi's victory is relief and comfort despite the sacrifice we as Congress must endure. But for both as indeed many others there is need to return to drawing board for sustainable challenge to BJP."

The reason for happiness is the defeat of the BJP but some said that the TMC leader was with the youth Congress and have worked with many party leaders during her political career and also the party saw hope in her defeat that BJP could be defeated if one works hard.

But some wondered like Ragini Nayak, "till when the party leaders will be happy in BJP's defeat." The Congress was the largest opposition party in outgoing assembly and in 2016 it had 44 seats.

But the Congress State President Adheer Ranjan Chowdhury was more direct and said that Congress should come out from Twitter and FB and hit the roads, perhaps this is the opportunity.

The Congress scored zero in the West Bengal election and even lost its strongholds, while the party has said that it is committed to course correction. After losing in the state polls the Congress said that the party will "study" the results, correct mistakes and do a course correction.

Congress Chief Spokesperson Randeep Surjewala addressing a press conference on Sunday read out a statement and said, "The Congress Party will definitely study the results and all the reasons diligently and we are committed to correct our mistakes and do appropriate course correction."

Surjewala said the people's mandate is the final word in a democracy. People of West Bengal, Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry have given their democratic mandate for the next five years. We accept the verdict with humility and a sense of responsibility.

The statement said the party had lost the elections in Assam, Kerala, Puducherry and West Bengal but we have neither lost our morale nor our resolve or determination to continuously become the people's voice in these times of unprecedented calamity.

Source: IANS

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Thiruvananthapuram, May 4 (SocialNews.XYZ) Hours after Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan alleged that there was large scale trading of votes between the Congress and the BJP, Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala on Tuesday hit back, saying the deal was between the CPI-M and the BJP in 69 seats.

Chennithala said that Vijayan's statement, soon after returning from his home town in Kannur, to the media in the state capital that the deal was between the Congress and the BJP was "meant to fool people and was taking anticipatory bail to suppress the real truth".

"If one looks into the figures, it was the Congress which prevented the BJP from surging forward and because of that, they could not win the lone seat that they won for the first time in the state at Nemom in 2016. In seats like Manjeswaram and Palakkad, it was the Congress which prevented the BJP from winning," he contended.

The BJP vote percentage saw a fall from 15.01 per cent in the 2016 Assembly polls to 12.47 per cent after votes were counted on Sunday to the 140-member Kerala Assembly.

The Left secured 99 seats, while the Congress-led UDF could manage only 41 seats and the BJP drew a blank.

Vijayan had alleged that the Congress-led UDF would have lost 10 more seats if the secret deal was not there with the BJP and also that the BJP lost their votes in 90 seats as compared to the 2016 polls.

Chennithala, however, said: "In the three seats at Nemom, Palakkad and Manjeswaram, it was because of the performance of the Congress that the victory of BJP was prevented and the votes of the CPI-M in these constituencies, compared to the 2016 polls, had come down and the votes of the Congress had gone up."

Had the Congress won lesser votes, the BJP would have won at Nemom, but since the vote share of the Congress grew, the CPI-M won, he added.

At Palakkad and Manjeswaram, it was the Congress which won.

"This time, the BJP got 4,35,606 votes and it was 3.71 per cent less than what they got in 2016. This decreased vote share was the deal and as a result in 69 constituencies, the Left benefitted. At the Kalamassery seat, the BJP candidate got 13,065 votes less votes than in 2016 and hence the CPI-M candidate P. Rajeev won. At Kuttanadu, the ally of the BJP got 18,098 votes less than in 2016 and the direct beneficiary was the Left candidate," said Chennithala.

He listed out many other constituencies where the "BJP-CPI-M deal was in place".

"With this, it has now come out true what Balasankar, the former editor of RSS mouthpiece, before the elections said that there was a secret deal between the BJP and the CPI-M .Moreover just look into the fate of the various scams like gold smuggling and dollar smuggling and see those cases all have gone into the freezer, as this was part of the deal as the BJP's sole agenda is 'Congress Mukt-Bharat'," Chennithala added.

State BJP President K. Surendran, however, dismissed all the theories of deal and trade as humbug.

"The truth is the BJP has lost the one seat it had and the vote share also has come down. I am fully responsible for the set back and am prepared to take whatever the party says. The real reason for this verdict is there was a consolidation of minority votes to the Left. Our party will sit down and find out what went wrong and corrective measures would be taken. Even though we do not have a representation inside the assembly, we will be there outside," he asserted.

Source: IANS

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New Delhi, May 4 (SocialNews.XYZ) Former Governor of Meghalaya and Tripura and senior West Bengal Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Tathagata Roy on Tuesday trained guns at party National General Secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya and state unit Chief Dilip Ghosh for giving tickets to film and TV actors who never had anything to do with politics.

In a series of tweets, Roy questioned Vijayvargiya and Ghosh what great qualities these women possessed for which they were given tickets. "Film and TV actors who never had anything to do with politics, let alone BJP, were handed tickets by BJP's election management team -- Parno Mitra (Baranagar), Srabanti Chatterjee (Behala West), Payel Sarkar (Behala East)," Roy tweeted.

Roy stated that these women were so politically stupid that they had gone on a steamer trip with TMC's playboy-politician Madan Mitra less than a month before elections and shot selfies with him.

"All were roundly defeated. What great qualities were these women possessed of? Kailash Vijayvargiya, Dilip Ghosh and Co must answer," he said.

He mentioned, "It must not be forgotten that a BJP electoral ticket carries with it substantial money for running the election. Or for other purposes."

In another tweet he said, "Correction: Tanusree Chakraborty, NOT Parno Mitra, shot selfies with Madan Mitra. The error is regretted."

Mitra, Chatterjee and Sarkar lost from Baranagar, Behala West and Behala East constituencies respectively.

Referring to post polls violence against BJP workers by TMC workers, Roy said, "BJP Karyakartas from Canning complain that Shaukat Mollah of TMC has been on rampage, destroying, setting on fire their houses and looting their possessions. Calling Kailash Vijayvargiya, Shiv Prakash, Arvind Menon. Your duty does not finish as soon as you've lost the elections."

"Strangely the Karyakartas are asking ME to come to their rescue. Not Dilip Ghosh, not any of the General Secretaries. I have no official responsibility in the party and as such am helpless," he added.

Source: IANS

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By Saibal Gupta

Kolkata, May 4 (SocialNews.XYZ) Though BJP gained 74 seats compared to the last assembly election in 2016 but it was nowhere near its performance in the Lok Sabha polls where it not only got 18 seats but was ahead in 122 of the 294 assembly seats in the state.

Despite the saffron brigade's all-powerful national election machinery making a huge pitch in the state, the BJP failed to make an inroad into the heart of the people of West Bengal who gave them an opportunity to look into the eyes of Trinamool Congress in the last Lok Sabha polls.

A detailed analysis of the district wise result shows that though BJP has done reasonably better in the 56 seats of 7 North Bengal districts but has failed miserably in 146 seats in 7 districts in and around Kolkata and in 36 seats in the 3 districts in Central Bengal.

It though managed to retain some of its ground in Purulia, Bankura and East Midnapore but failed in the tribal districts like Jhargram and West Midnapore.

So far as North Bengal is concerned, BJP managed to get 30 out of the 54 seats allowing TMC the rest of the 24 seats.

The saffron brigade held back its ground in the four districts -- Coochbehar, Alipurduar, Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling getting 21 out of the total 26 seats but in the rest of the three districts, namely North Dinajpur, South Dinajpur and Malda they managed to get only 9 seats out of the total 28 seats.

Trinamool that failed miserably in the last Lok Sabha elections managed to regain some of its grounds and got 24 seats out of the total 54.

The seven districts in and around Kolkata -- Kolkata, South and North 24 Parganas, Howrah, Hooghly, Nadia and Murshidabad -- is an area where the Modi-Amit Shah combination failed to make a mark.

There are altogether 146 seats in this region of which Trinamool Congress got 125, leaving the all-powerful with only 20 seats and another seat has been bagged by the newly formed ISF -- an alliance of Sanjukta Morcha.

Nadia is the only district where BJP was ahead of TMC getting 9 out of the total 17 seats. In the rest of the districts including Murshidabad (20), North 24 Parganas (33), South 24 Parganas (31) Howrah (16), Hooghly (18) and Kolkata (11), TMC got 117 seats out of the total 129 seats leaving BJP with a meagre 11 seats.

In central Bengal out of the 36 seats spread across West Burdwan (9) East Burdwan (16) and Birbum (11), TMC got 32 seats leaving BJP with 4 -- one in Birbhum and three in West Burdwan.

Similarly, in Junglemahal that has 40 seats spread across four districts -- Jhargram (4), Purulia (9), Bankura (12) and West Midnapore (16), BJP managed to get 16 seats and TMC got the rest of the 24 seats.

Among the Junglemahal districts BJP is ahead of TMC in Bankura where they managed to get 8 of the total 12 seats.

Interestingly enough in the last Lok Sabha election BJP got all these 40 seats. However, BJP did comparatively better in East Burdwan where 7 of the 16 seats and TMC got the rest of the 9 seats.

Source: IANS

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By Sanu George

Thiruvananthapuram, May 4 (SocialNews.XYZ) After leading the CPI-M led Left Front to a resounding second successive term, Pinarayi Vijayan is now all set to bring back Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, who last year was given an 'honourable' exit by asking him to go on leave for his medical treatment, though the real reason was otherwise.

Balakrishnan has been facing the wrath of a section in his party and from other quarters, because of his two sons. His younger son Bineesh Kodiyeri was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate-Bengaluru unit, soon after his friend was picked up by the Narcotics Control Bureau.

On October 29, Bineesh was arrested and even now he is in a jail in Bengaluru. Balakrishnan's elder son Binoy Kodiyeri is also caught in a case and the final verdict from a court in Mumbai is yet to come after a woman from Bihar went to the court stating that her son's father is Binoy.

On account of these two serious issues, the CPI-M in November last year gave Balakrishnan leave as he was undergoing treatment for cancer, and brought in Left Democratic Front convenor A.Vijayaraghavan as acting Secretary of the party.

Incidentally, Vijayan and Balakrishnan both come from Kannur -- the cradle of the Communist movement and hence they have a very healthy relation.

In the CPI-M, all know that there exists a Kannur lobby and the rest are known as the non-Kannur lobby. All along it has been the Kannur lobby which has had the upper edge in the party when it comes to party posts and also when cabinet portfolios are distributed.

However, a dent has appeared in the Kannur lobby after the party decision that two-time MLAs cannot get a third term. Another Kannur strongman E.P.Jayarajan (State Industries Minister), who was the number two in the first Vijayan cabinet, has been sulking on account of this decision which came as a shocker to him.

A media critic said there has been an aberration in the Kannur lobby which took place after E.P.Jayarajan was denied the seat on the grounds of the new norm and another Kannur powerhouse P.Jayarajan, despite not falling under the norm was also denied.

"This caused heartburns in the rank and file also. But Vijayan played his game by holding the cards close to his chest and brought in M.V. Govindan, another top Kannur leader and he contested and won and is all set to get a key portfolio. It's here that Vijayan, who has stamped his authority will in all likelihood bring back Balakrishnan and it's expected to happen very soon," said the critic.

Incidentally, Balakrishnan became the CPI-M state secretary for the first time at the 21st state party conference held at Alappuzha in 2015, when he replaced Vijayan who was at the helm for a record 17 years.

In 2018, he was given a second term and on account of the Covid pandemic and the Assembly polls, the 23rd state party conference was postponed. And, now it's going to be held soon and according to sources, Balakrishnan, before the dates of the conference are announced, will return and take over as the Secretary. Sources say that it will be under him that the event will take place and in all likelihood, he will get a final term, as according to the rules of the party, none can stay beyond three terms.

So all these moves show that both the government and the party are firmly under the control of Vijayan and he will be the last word after the successful election.

Source: IANS

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Chennai, May 4 (SocialNews.XYZ) The newly elected members of the AIADMK will meet at the party headquarters on May 7 to elect the leader of opposition in the Tamil Nadu assembly.

In the 2021 assembly elections, AIADMK won 66 seats while its alliance partners got another 9 seats taking the total tally of the party led alliance to 75. On the other hand, DMK led alliance won 159 seats with the DMK alone accounting for 133 seats.

Hectic parleys and backdoor meetings are being held among party leaders and legislators to select the leader of opposition with both the former Chief minister Edappady K. Palaniswami and his Deputy O. Panneerselvam staking claims for the top post.

While Palaniswami is emerging as the popular leader among the party cadres and legislators after his emphatic win at Edappadi seat in Salem district with close to 94,000 vote margin, the highest by a sitting Chief minister in any elections of Tamil Nadu.

Edappady K. Palaniswami was instrumental in the thumping victory of party candidates in Western belt of Tamil Nadu with the AIADMK winning 38 of the 54 seats and in his home district of Salem, the party won 10 of the 11 seats.

Party sources said that EPS was the main reason behind the party winning 15 of the 84 seats in Northern Tamil Nadu owing to his decision to support the PMK's demand of 10.5 per cent reservation for Vanniyar community in Most Backward Class quota.

On the other hand, O. Panneerselvam won with a majority of only 11,000 votes from his Bodinayikanar constituency in South Tamil Nadu and only a handful of his supporters were able to muster victories. This can be a stumbling block for OPS to become the next opposition leader.

Senior leaders of the party Sengottayian, K.C. Karuppannan, Sevoor Ramachandran, Dindigul C. Sreenivasan met the former Chief minister Palaniswami at his residence in Salem indicating support to him.

With DMK president M.K. Stalin swearing in as Chief minister on May 7, Friday, the same day itself, AIADMK is conducting the meeting of its legislators to elect party legislative party leader who will act as the Opposition leader.

Source: IANS

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Thiruvananthapuram, May 4 (SocialNews.XYZ) At a time when the Kerala unit of the BJP decided to sit down to discuss the rather poor performance in the just held assembly polls when it not only saw the one seat that they had in 2016 disappear, but also saw a dip in the total votes, a top BJP state leader made no bones of the dismal performance who said that strategies adopted in North India won't work in Kerala.

What has hurt the party and has come as a shocker is their vote percentage which saw a fall from 15.01 per cent in the 2016 Assembly polls to a 12.47 per cent after votes were counted on Sunday for the 140-member Kerala Assembly.

If there is any solace for them is they managed to come second in nine constituencies.

This setback has come after an array of its biggest leaders which include Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, UP Chief Minister Yogi Aditiyanath who came to the state more than once and others who came once included Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Smriti Irani, to name a few.

Former State BJP president C.K. Padmanabhan who was the party candidate against Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan at Dharamadom constituency in Kannur came a distant third with over 14,000 votes.

He spoke to the media on Tuesday and said this is a victory for the work of Vijayan.

"The people of Kerala wished a second term for Vijayan and we all should welcome the verdict of the people," said Padmanabhan.

"If anyone thinks that the strategy adopted in North India will work in Kerala, then it will not work out and all should first understand that," added Padmanabhan.

He was also critical in the manner in which the present State BJP president K. Surendran who contested in two constituencies and opined that it was not needed.

"Correctional steps will have to be taken, if things do not go the way the party wishes," said Padmanabhan.

The state leadership which had a first round meeting to find out what had happened, after raising huge hopes that the BJP will form the new state government and it required only 35 seats in the 140 member Kerala assembly and it even had declared Metroman as the Chief Minister.

At its meeting the only decision that was taken was to constitute a committee which will look into the reasons for this debacle.

On Monday, Vijayan rubbed further salt into the wounds of the 'wounded' BJP leadership here when he alleged that in 90 of the 140 constituencies the BJP has lost its vote as compared to the 2016 assembly polls and added that in 10 seats this was the reason for the Congress led Opposition getting to the present tally of theirs to 41 seats.

Source: IANS

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Guwahati, May 4 (SocialNews.XYZ) The Congress on Monday claimed that two new local parties -- the Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) and the Raijor Dal (RD) - dented its vote in the Assam Assembly elections.

General Secretary in-charge of Assam, Jitendra Singh said that AJP and RD factor also helped the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party to consolidate its position in eastern Assam, where polling was held in the first phase in 47 seats on March 27.

"The AJP and Raijor Dal need to do some soul searching on how they ended up helping the very forces that they were seeking to oppose," he told the media.

The RD and the AJP came up as a consequence of the anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act agitations that started in Assam and few other northeastern states and West Bengal in November 2019.

The Congress leader said that in terms of seats, the tally of the Congress went up by three seats (from 26 in 2016 to 29 now this time). "We lost seven seats by a margin of less than 5,000 votes. AIUDF, BPF and the Left parties remain our valued allies and we would continue to fight for the welfare of the people," he added.

"We are given the role of a responsible and strong opposition with about 50 seats in the house of 126. We shall strive to do our duty in the best interest of the people of Assam. We will continue to voice the challenges being faced by the people of Assam and will always fight for their rights."

Assam state Congress President Ripun Bora, Lok Sabha Members Pradyut Bordoloi and Gaurav Gogoi and other leaders of "Mahajot" sought to explain how the BJP "misled" the voters during the poll campaign.

Bora, who is a Rajya Sabha member, himself also lost the election in the Gohpur Assembly seat to the BJP's Utpal Borah by a margin of 29,294 votes, and submitted his resignation on Sunday night taking moral responsibility for the party's defeat.

The Congress and its ally All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) won 29 and 16, seats respectively improving upon their 2016 performance by three seats each. Of other partners of the "Mahajot", the Bodoland Peoples Front (BPF) got four seats and the Communist Party of India-Marxist won one seat.

Source: IANS

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