It was a day of political blitzkrieg in the election states even as the nation braised for the Union Budget 2022-23 to be presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Parliament on Tuesday.
In Punjab, former as well as current chief ministers filed their nomination papers. In Uttar Pradesh, the Bharatiya Janata Party pitted Union minister SP Singh Bagel against Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav in his bastion. Meanwhile, Congress’ UP in-charge Priyanka Gandhi kick-started her door-to-door campaign from Noida. In Manipur, a BJP MLA and two other senior party leaders joined Congress.
Here are the top 5 news from election-bound states:
NOMINATION DAY IN PUNJAB
Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, his predecessors Amarinder Singh and Parkash Singh Badal, and SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal filed their nomination papers on Monday for the February 20 assembly polls.
Channi, who is contesting from two seats, submitted his nomination papers from the Bhadaur (SC) seat in Barnala district. Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) patriarch Parkash Singh Badal (94) became the country’s oldest candidate to fight elections as he filed his nomination papers from Lambi.
Former chief minister Amarinder Singh, who has floated Punjab Lok Congress filed his nomination papers from Patiala Urban Assembly constituency. SAD’s Sukhbir Singh Badal filed his nomination papers from the Jalalabad Assembly constituency in Punjab’s Fazilka district.
So read: Why is CM Channi contesting Punjab election from two seats?
AKHILESH VS BAGHEL
Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav will face Union Minister SP Singh Baghel on Karhal seat of Mainpuri where both of them filed nominations on Monday.
Karhal, SP’s traditional stronghold, will go to the polls on February 20 in the third of the seven-phase elections in the state.
The Karhal assembly constituency has been with the SP since 1993, except for 2002. In the 2002 Assembly polls, sitting MLA Sobaran Singh had contested on the BJP ticket. Thereafter, he joined the SP and won three times consecutively.
Karhal has about 3.7 lakh electorate, including 1.4 lakh (37 percent) Yadavs, 34,000 Shakhyas (OBCs) and around 14,000 Muslims.
Baghel who is the Lok Sabha MP from Agra (SC) constituency, is the Union minister of state for Law and Justice. Sixty-one-year-old Baghel is also an associate professor in military science.
A fourth-term MP, he was earlier a Cabinet minister in the UP government, handling the departments of Animal Husbandry and Fisheries, and Minor Irrigation and Underground Water.
Mayawati has fielded Kuldeep Narayan, a schedule caste member, from the Karhal assembly constituency.
So read: Polarization, social welfare, caste arithmetic: The BJP poll plan in UP in order of preference
PRIYANKA GANDHI’S DOOR-TO-DOOR CAMPAIGN
Priyanka Gandhi kick-started Congress’s door-to-door campaign in UP from Delhi’s neighboring Noida. During the course of the day, she held meetings with small business owners, farmers, aanganwadi workers, homeowners, women entrepreneurs etc.
Speaking to India Today, Priyanka Gadhi targeted CM Yogi Adityanath and said that he was missing from action during the Covid crisis.
Priyanka Gandhi claimed that the state government had dealt with people with aggression. “PM Modi and CM Yogi may claim whatever they want but truth is people were dealt with aggression during the crisis. The state government had tortured them,” she said.
“People will always remember that the Yogi government was responsible for floating bodies in the Ganges river,” Priyanka Gandhi said.
EC EXTENDS BAN ON PUBLIC RALLIES
the Election Commission on Monday extended the Covid-induced ban on roadshows, ‘padyatras’, vehicle rallies and processions in the five poll-bound states till February 11but relaxed norms for door-to-door campaigning and physical public meetings for all phases.
Among the new set of relaxations, the number of people allowed for door-to-door campaigning has been raised from 10 to 20, while a maximum of 1,000 people can attend physical public meetings.
The poll panel also allowed a maximum of 500 persons to attend indoor meetings from the present 300.
It said that during a virtual review meeting, all state chief secretaries informed the Commission about reports of Covid infection either plateauing out or tapering as on date.
BJP MLA JOINS CONGRESS IN MANIPUR
BJP MLA P Saratchandra on Monday joined the Congress, a day after he quit the saffron camp, having failed to secure a ticket for Manipur assembly polls.
Senior BJP leaders N Biren and N Joykumar also followed suit.
Saratchandra, who represents Moirang seat, accused the BJP of favoring newcomers to old-timers.
He was apparently referring to M Prithivraj, who switched over from the Congress to the BJP last year, and has been given the saffron camp’s ticket from Moirang.
Prithviraj had lost to Saratchandra by less than 400 votes in the last elections.
Biren, a former minister, and Joykumar also quit the saffron party after he was denied candidature.
Congress election in charge Bhakta Charan Das welcomed all three of them, and asserted that the party would be bagging 40 of the 60 seats in the upcoming elections.
Two other BJP leaders Thangjam Arunkumar and Th Brinda joined the JD(U) during the day. The JD(U) had recently got a shot in the arm as legislator K Joykishan and ex-minister Abdul Nasir joined the party.
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