Assembly Election 2022 Updates: Dara Singh Chauhan will join SP on Jan 16, says Swami Prasad

SP's list of candidates is trailer of pre-2017 days of Western UP with Akhilesh suggesting that they can't leave rioters and that there'll be 'Goondaraj' once again. Many criminals given tickets. Do you want return of Muzaffarnagar riots...?: UP Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya

FIR registered against 2,000 to 2,500 people in the virtually held at Samajwadi Party office.

Samajwadi Party's rally being held without permission. Police team sent to SP office, necessary action to be taken in this regard: Lucknow DM Abhishek Prakash

While shortlisting the names of probable candidates, the Goa BJP has also taken opinions of party cadres. Sources in the party said that the names have been shortlisted based on feedback collected from the party workers and internal surveys conducted by the party to find out popularity of ticket aspirants among masses.

Just a month ahead of the Assembly polls in Punjab, a special task force (STF) of Punjab Police on Friday recovered 5-kg improvised explosive device (IED) and Rs 1 lakh in cash near the India-Pakistan border.

Police registers FIR against violation of Covid protocols during SP's 'virtual rally' in Lucknow 

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) worker Arshad Rana cried profusely on Friday for being denied a party ticket. He claimed that he was promised a ticket for the upcoming assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh but was denied at the last moment. He further claimed that he had even putting up hoardings for the upcoming polls

Samajwadi Party's rally was held without permission. The police team has been sent to SP office and necessary action will be taken in this regard: Lucknow DM Abhishek Prakash

Senior Congress leader Dinesh Gundu Rao alleged that the BJP is giving election tickets to "criminals, rapists and molesters "in Uttar Pradesh, and added that on the other hand the Congress Party is fielding the mother of the Unnao rape victim.

Ahead of joining the Samajwadi Party (SP), the sitting BJP MLA from Shikohabad constituency of Firozabad district Mukesh Verma on Friday alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) wants to destroy the Constitution. Mukesh Verma resigned from the BJP on Thursday, following the resignation of Swami Prasad Maurya who resigned from the Yogi Adityanath cabinet recently.

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Friday took a swipe at Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, saying by the "80 versus 20" assertion, he meant the BJP will get 20 per cent of seats in the Uttar Pradesh elections while the rest 80 per cent will go to his party. But after the arrival of Swami Prasad Maurya and others in the SP, the saffron party would lose even this 20 per cent, Yadav said in his speech after giving party membership to Maurya and others here. "Baba mukhya mantri (Adityanath) should engage a math teacher," the SP president said, referring to the chief minister's "80 vs 20" remarks. Yadav also pooh-poohed the BJP's claim of winning three-fourth seats in the 403-member Uttar Pradesh Assembly, saying, "they meant they will win three or four seats.

Former UP cabinet minister and prominent OBC leader Swami Prasad Maurya on Friday joined the Samajwadi Party along with another rebel minister Dharam Singh Saini. Five BJP MLAs and Apna Dal (Sonelal) legislator Amar Singh Chaudhary also joined the SP in the presence of Akhilesh Yadav. The five BJP MLAs who joined the SP are Bhagwati Sagar (Bilhaur in Kanpur), Roshanlal Verma (Tilhar in Shahjahanpur), Vinay Shakya (Bidhuna in Auraiya), Brijesh Prajapati (Tindwari in Bahraich) and Mukesh Verma (Shikohabad in Firozabad). Chaudhary is MLA from Shohratgarh.

The mandatory COVID-19 protocols went for a toss during the Samajwadi Party's (SP) 'virtual rally' as thousands attended the show of strength by SP without proper masks and social distancing norms. 

With an aim to conduct free, fair and safe Assembly elections in five states, Election Commission of India is holding a meeting with the poll observers here on Friday. According to the officials, this is the first briefing of the commission to the senior officers, who have been deployed in the forthcoming elections. Around 900 officers designated as 'poll observers' in different categories, such as General, Police and Expenditure, are attending the meeting wherein the Commission is discussing the core issues of the electioneering process, the sources said. Sources added that they have been asked to implement the Covid-19 protocol strictly during the election process.

Swami Prasad Maurya joined Samajwadi Party on Friday in presence of Akhilesh Yadav ahead of the assembly polls. 

BSP's Ramveer Upadhyay resigns from party

Bahujan Samaj Party's (BSP) Ramveer Upadhyay has resigned from the party. He is likely to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJ)P. 

Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha MP and senior party leader Sanjay Raut on Friday slammed the Yogi Adityanath government and said that in the coming days, at least 10 ministers may resign from the Uttar Pradesh government. The pre-poll churning in Uttar Pradesh has seen the BJP getting a jolt with six MLAs resigning from the party and three ministers quitting amid signals that they will join Samajwadi Party. Read more here 

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had a meal at a Dalit household here on Friday and said during the Samajwadi Party rule it was "social exploitation" and not "social justice", whereas the BJP government was working for the development of every section of society without any discrimination.

Read more here 

OBCs & Dalits are being misguided in the state. Let them (MLAs who left BJP) list 10 welfare schemes by SP for OBCs & Dalits. SP only works for Muslims & Yadavs. I want to tell them that other OBC communities will never join the M&Y: UP Minister Sidharth Nath Singh

BJP's Amit Malviya has shared the video of SP candidate from Kairana  Nahid Hassan where he is seen in the video asking people to stop purchasing items from the shopkeepers who support BJP. The date of the video is not verified. 

The Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) has chosen educated candidates hailing from the constituency and with no criminal background, while partner the Samajwadi Party picked them on their 'winnability' factor as the alliance announced the first list of nominees for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls. The alliance of Akhilesh Yadav's and Jayant Chaudhary's parties, which was stitched last year, on Thursday announced candidates on 29 seats – 10 from the SP and 19 from the RLD - in western Uttar Pradesh which will go to polls on February 10. These seats across districts like Muzaffarnagar, Shamli, Aligarh, Agra, Ghaziabad, Meerut, Hapur, Ghaziabad were largely won by the BJP candidates in the 2017 elections but have now seen a considerable influence of the recent farmers' agitation and changing caste equations.

Resignations are not a big deal in Uttar Pradesh. BJP is getting support from everywhere in the state. People will bless us and BJP will be successful in forming govt in UP, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur: Union Minister Narendra Singh Tomar 

Supporters gather outside Swami Prasad Maurya's residence in Lucknow

Maurya, who resigned as a Minister on January 11 has announced to join Samajwadi Party today

According to sources, Srikant Sharma is likely to be fielded from Mathura, Pankaj Singh from Noida, Tejpal Nagar from Dadri. Here are other BJP probables likely to contest in the upcoming UP polls. 

1. Atrauli - Sandeep Singh 
2. Agra Cantt - Dr. GS Dharmesh 
3. Chhata - Chaudhary Laxminarayan 
4. Sahibabad - Sunil Verma 
5. Ghaziabad - Atul Garg
6. Jewar - Dhirendra Singh 
7. Meerut City - Sunil Barala
8. Meerut Cantt - Son of current MLA Satyaprakash Agarwal
9. Meerut South - Somendra Tomar
10. Sardhana - Sangeet Som 
11. Muzaffarnagar - Suresh Rana 
12. Agra - Yogendra Upadhyay

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which currently rules Goa, has decided to contest 38 out of the total 40 Assembly seats in the state, where elections will be held next month, a senior party functionary said on Friday. In two constituencies - Benaulim and Nuvem - the party will not field any candidate on its symbol. Traditionally, people in Benaulim and Nuvem constituencies vote for non-BJP candidates. These two are Christian-dominated seats. Currently, Benaulim is represented by Churchill Alemao, who after getting elected on the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) ticket, shifted to the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) last month, while Nuvem constituency is represented by Wilfred D'Sa, who had won the last election as a Congress candidate, but later joined the ruling BJP.

Former BJP leader Swami Prasad Maurya is likely to join the Samajwadi Party today in Lucknow. Maurya held a meeting Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav yesterday and introduced his associates to him. "The official announcement will be made tomorrow (Friday). We will make BJP shrink to 45 seats like it was before 2017," he told reporters on Thursday.

The filing of nominations for the first phase of Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections for 58 seats in 11 districts will begin on Friday under strict Covid guidelines, said Ajay Kumar Shukla, UP chief electoral officer. At the time of filing of papers, only two persons will be permitted to accompany the candidate to the returning officer's room. Candidates can submit their nominations online through the Suvidha App and submit the copy of the application regarding online submission to the returning officer.

Probable BJP candidates

The Congress on Thursday released the party's first list of 125 candidates, including 50 women. The party has fielded Unnao rape victim's mother Asha Singh from the Unnao Assembly constituency. 

The BJP is likely to release the first list of candidates for UP polls today.

BJP likely to release first list of candidates today 

Prominent Muslim body Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind on Thursday said it has written to the Election Commission and the district magistrate, seeking a ban on the proposed 'dharma sansad' in Aligarh. The Jamiat, in its letter, said that the 'dharam sansad' to be organized in Aligarh on January 22 and 23 or on any other dates at other places when the election process is on, be prohibited. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE

Two more legislators, belonging to the Apna Dal, an ally of the BJP, have resigned just ahead of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections scheduled to take place next month. Following his resignation, Chaudhary Amar Singh said: "This government is a liar and no development has been done. I met Akhilesh Yadav and will join him. Soon more people will join us." He is likely to contest his Shohratgarh seat in Siddhartha Nagar on an SP ticket. The other Apna Dal MLA R.K. Verma, who represents the Vishwanath Ganj seat of Pratapgarh, also announced that he is leaving the party. Both the legislators blamed the Yogi Adityanath government for their leaving the alliance. With the two new resignations, a total of 12 MLAs from the ruling alliance in Uttar Pradesh have quit, blaming the state government of being anti-backward. Ten BJP MLAs, including three ministers, have quit the BJP since Tuesday. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE

Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi can contest elections from two seats. Adampur and Chamkor Sahib could be the two seats from where Channi is likely to contest. Party leaders said that Channi contesting from two seats will impact surrounding areas as well. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE

Congress' Punjab Central Election Committee (CEC) on Thursday finalised names of almost 73 candidates for the upcoming assembly elections to be held next month. The discussion was held on 78 seats but decision could not reach on 5 seats. CEC will meet again on Friday to finalise the list. According to reports, only 2 out of 78 names discussed are female candidates. The leaders agreed on having more participation of women representatives.

The BJP faces an uphill task of repeating its performance of the last assembly election of winning 53 out of 58 constituencies in western Uttar Pradesh where polling will be held in the first phase on February 10. Western Uttar Pradesh which has seen widespread protests over the Centre's now-repealed farm laws will be very crucial for the BJP for achieving the target of winning more than 300 seats out of a total of 403 again, political analysts say. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE

The Samajwadi Party (SP) and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) alliance released the first list of candidates for the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly Election 2022. While Samajwadi Party candidate Nahid Ahmed will contest from Kairana, RLD's Prasann Chaudhary has been fielded from Shamli. From Meerut, Ahmed Hamid will contest on RLD ticket. Amarpal Sharma will be SP's candidate from Sahibabad and Zafar Alam will contest from Aligarh constituency. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE

The party's seat-sharing talks with Apna Dal (S) and Nishad party are also in final stages. Former BJP president and Union Home Minister Amit Shah held meetings with leaders of both parties late Wednesday night at the saffron party headquarters here.

The BJP is likely to field both Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya who are currently members of the Legislative Council. 

The Bharatiya Janata Party has finalised its candidates for 172 assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh. The list is likely to be released today. Polling in most of these 172 seats will be held in the initial phases beginning February 10 .