Page 6 - Assembly Elections

Assembly elections: BJP cannot befool people of Himachal, says Kharge

Addressing his first public meeting in the Himachal Pradesh assembly elections, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday trained his gun on the BJP and said it may have been able to befool people across the country with its "jumlas" but cannot do so in the hill state. "People here are educated, understand everything and take a considered decision (in voting).... The BJP may have been able to befool people all over the country with its jumlas (rhetoric) of Rs 15 lakh in bank accounts and jobs, but it cannot do so here," Kharge said. Kharge, who was elected Congress president recently, arrived in Himachal Pradesh Tuesday evening and addressed his first public meeting in Banuti in support of party candidate from the Shimla Rural assembly constituency Vikramaditya Singh. The Congress is seeking to wrest power from the BJP in the hill state, where the Congress and the BJP have governed alternately for the past many decades. Polling in Himachal Pradesh will be held on November

Govt clears 23rd tranche of electoral bonds; open for sale on Wednesday

Ahead of assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, the government on Monday approved issuance of the 23rd tranche of electoral bonds that will open for sale on November 9. The Gujarat assembly elections will be held in two phases on December 1 and 5, while Himachal Pradesh will go to polls on November 12. Electoral bonds have been pitched as an alternative to cash donations made to political parties as part of efforts to bring transparency in political funding. State Bank of India (SBI), in the 23rd phase of sale, has been authorised to issue and encash electoral bonds through 29 authorised branches from November 9-15, the finance ministry said in a statement. Usually, electoral bond tranches are open for sale between 1-10 of a designated month. For instance, the 22nd tranche of bond sales took place from October 1-10, 2022 while 21st tranche was from July 1-10, 2022. Sale of the first batch of electoral bonds happened from March 1-10, 2018. The authorised SBI branches

Gujarat polls: Bharatiya Tribal Party announces candidates for 12 seats

The Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) on Sunday announced its first list of candidates for 12 Assembly constituencies in Gujarat, including nine Scheduled Tribe (ST) reserved seats. BTP's Gujarat president Ramesh Vasava said the party will field its candidates on all the 27 ST-reserved seats across the state for the next month's elections. The party had won two seats in the 2017 polls in the state. Apart from nine ST-reserved seats for which it declared the candidates, the BTP also announced its nominees for Karjan, Jambusar and Olpad, the seats for general category candidates. The remaining nine seats are - Bhiloda, Jhalod, Dahod, Sankheda, Nandod, Vyara, Nizar, Dang and Dharampur. "Apart from 27 tribal-reserved seats, we will also field our candidates on seats having 30 to 40 per cent tribal voters, such as Ankleshwar and Olpad," Vasava said. At present, the BTP has two seats in Gujarat Assembly - Jhagadia in Bharuch and Dediapada in Narmada district. While BTP's founder Chhotu Va

Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections: Small constituencies, but big issues

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to pay one more visit to Himachal Pradesh on November 11 after visiting it over the weekend

Who is Isudan Gadhvi? AAP's newly announced Gujarat CM candidate

Isudan Gadhvi, AAP's choice for chief minister of Gujarat, has become a politician after being a journalist. Aditi Phadnis tracks his career

LIVE: Twitter founder Jack Dorsey apologises to employees amidst layoffs

From election campaigns to current events, catch all the live updates from across the globe here

Congress releases party manifesto for Himachal Pradesh assembly polls

The Congress on Saturday released its manifesto for the November 12 Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections in the presence of Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel. The party has promised to implement the old pension scheme, 30 units of free power and Rs 10 crore 'StartUp fund' in each constituency. Others present at the party's poll manifesto release included AICC in-charge for Himachal Rajeev Shukla, former PCC chief Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu and AICC secretaries Tejinder Pal Bittu and Manish Chatrath. Party's poll manifesto committee chairman Dhani Ram Shandil said the BJP has failed to live up to the expectations of people and not fulfilled the promises made five years ago. "This is not just a poll manifesto but a document prepared for the development and welfare of the people of Himachal Pradesh," Shandil said. The Congress is banking on anti-incumbency factor and urging voters not to reelect the BJP in the state.

Gujarat Assembly polls: Congress announces first list of 43 candidates

The Congress on Friday released its first list of 43 candidates for the Gujarat Assembly elections scheduled to be held in two phases on December 1 and 5. According to the list released here, former Gujarat Congress chief Arjun Modhwadiya has been fielded from Porbandar, Himanshu Patel from Gandhinagar South and Hiteshbhai Vora from Rajkot South. The list was declared after candidates' names were finalised during a meeting of the party's central election committee (CEC) chaired by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge here. Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi joined the meeting online, while the rest of the participants attended it physically at the AICC headquarters here. The Congress is seeking to oust the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from government in the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, where the saffron party has been in power for more than two decades. Elections to the 182-member Gujarat Assembly will be held in two phases -- December 1 and 5 -- and the votes

BJP's bid to loot votes in 2023 polls will be resisted: Manik Sarkar

Calling all "secular and democratic forces" to unite against the "assault on people's liberty" by the BJP, Manik Sarkar, the leader of opposition in Tripura, said that the saffron camp's "bid to loot votes" during the upcoming assembly polls would be resisted by all means. Addressing a press conference here on Thursday night, Sarkar said that the Left parties are expecting a positive response from all "secular" outfits. "The CPI (M) seeks to corner the BJP and the RSS, intensify political struggle and defeat the divisive forces. All secular and democratic forces are welcome to join the battle," he insisted. Sarkar also said that his party, during a high-level meeting, has decided that the local leadership will be allowed to take a call on formation of electoral alliances in respective states. Coming down heavily on the ruling BJP, he said that the saffron camp, "scared of defeat" in 2023 elections, is trying to scuttle political programmes organized by opposition parties in the ...

Himachal Pradesh Assembly polls: PM Modi to address two rallies on Nov 12

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address two rallies in Sindar Nagar and Solan on Saturday in his campaign for the BJP in the Himachal Pradesh assembly polls scheduled for November 12. Official sources said he will also visit Radha Soami Satsang in Beas in Punjab. The sect has a large following in the hill state as well. The BJP will release its 'vision document' (manifesto) for Himachal Pradesh a day later in Shimla on Sunday. It was earlier expected to be released on Friday. The BJP is in power in the state and is pulling out all stops to remain in the saddle by breaking the precedent of the incumbent being voted out.

Gujarat Assembly elections to be held in 2 phases, results on Dec 8

EC rubbishes Opposition parties' charge that it delayed announcing dates

Himachal's high debt-GSDP ratio makes poll freebies promises a tough task

Though comparatively prosperous than other Indian states, Himachal has a huge debt-GSDP ratio

Himachal Assembly polls: A total of 5,093 cast vote through postal ballot

The number of postal ballot cast were 366 in Kangra, 297 in Kullu, 1,991 in Mandi, 528 in Una, 838 in Bilaspur, 315 in Solan, 669 in Shimla, and 89 in Kinnaur

Assembly byelections 2022: Polls for 7 vacant seats over 6 states tomorrow

Voting will be held on Thursday in bypolls to seven assembly seats in six states - a contest symbolic of the fierce turf war between the BJP and regional parties. While in Haryana former chief minister Bhajan Lal's family is trying to hold on to its bastion of five decades, Bihar will see the first electoral test for the Nitish Kumar-led 'Mahagathbandhan' government, formed less than three months ago after the JD(U) parted ways with the BJP. The saffron party is seeking to retain Gola Gorakhnath seat in Uttar Pradesh and Dhamnagar in BJD-ruled Odisha, banking on sympathy votes as it has fielded the sons of sitting MLAs whose death necessitated the bypolls. The BJP and the ruling TRS had been campaigning aggressively in Manugoda in Telangana, where the Congress MLA had resigned and is fighting on the saffron party's ticket. The Election Commission has made elaborate arrangements for polling, including the deployment of 3,366 state police and 15 companies of central security personne

Gujarat elections 2022: EC likely to announce poll schedule this week

The Election Commission is likely to announce schedule for the Gujarat Assembly polls this week. Citing convention followed in 2017, the poll panel had not announced the Gujarat poll schedule when it came out with Himachal Pradesh election dates earlier this month. While election in HP will be held in a single phase on November 12, the counting will take place on December 8. By keeping the counting date for Himachal Pradesh nearly a month after polling, the Commission had given a clear hint that votes for Gujarat would also be counted on December 8. In 2017, the polls in the two state were announced on different dates but the counting took place together on December 18. Floods in Gujarat had led the EC to hold polls in the state after Himachal poll schedule was announced. According to the EC website, assembly polls in Gujarat and HP were held together at least in 1998, 2007 and 2012. The term of the 182-member Gujarat legislative assembly ends on February 18, 2023.

BJP govt in Haryana not undertaken any projects in Adampur: Former CM Hooda

Former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Friday alleged that the BJP-led government in the state had not undertaken a single development work in Adampur, where Assembly bypolls are scheduled for November 3. The veteran Congress leader also alleged that the state's BJP government was working on a five-point agenda "to increase inflation, unemployment, corruption, crime and drugs". "That is why the people want to get rid of this government, which will start from Adampur," he said. Hooda, the Leader of Opposition in Haryana Assembly, told reporters here, "The people of Adampur say that the BJP government has not undertaken a single development work in Adampur in eight years. People want a Congress government to be formed in Haryana so that the wheel of development can spin again. "That is why the Congress is getting the love and support of all sections of society. The victory of the party's candidate in these bypolls is certain. Leaders and workers from different parties

Kharge chairs Congress Central Election Committee meeting for Gujarat polls

Mallikarjun Kharge, who on Wednesday took over as Congress president, chaired a meeting of the party's Central Election Committee (CEC) to finalise candidates for the Gujarat assembly polls

BJP plays the freebies game to match AAP's goodies for the Gujarati voters

The prelude to the polls also saw mega projects unveiled by the Centre and the handing out of a few sops to match the breathless pace at which AAP has promised an array of goodies to voters

Congress announces list of 46 candidates for Himachal assembly elections

The Congress on Tuesday released its first list of 46 candidates for the Himachal Pradesh assembly elections scheduled for November 12. In the list released here, Congress Legislature Party leader Mukesh Agnihotri has been fielded from the Haroli assembly seat and former minister Asha Kumari from her Dalhousie seat. The party has nominated former state Congress chiefs Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu and Kuldeep Singh Rathore from Nadaun and Theog, respectively. The party has fielded all its sitting MLAs, including former chief minister Virbhadra Singh's son Vikramaditya Singh from the Shimla Rural constituency. However, the first list of candidates did not include the name of state Congress chief Pratibha Singh. She is the sitting MP from Mandi and the wife of former chief minister Virbhadra Singh. Former BJP leader Dyal Pyari, who switched over to the Congress a few days ago, has been fielded from the Pachhad (SC) seat. Col Dhani Ram Shandil will contest from his Solan seat and Harshward

Himachal goes to polls on November 12; announcement for Gujarat later

A new actor in Himachal Pradesh is the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)