Gujarat Assembly elections 2017: BJP's Muslim outreach worries Congress

GUJARAT ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS 2017 - As the Congress embraces “soft” Hindutva in Gujarat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday reached out to the Muslim community of the state.

In Bharuch, Modi accused the Congress of stoking a Hindu-Muslim divide. He said Bharuch and Kutch, two districts with significant Muslim populations, are economically the fastest growing districts of Gujarat. The PM went on to say how during the Congress rule, celebrating festivals comes with the apprehension of violence.

The PM’s comments come on the heels of a finely-tuned Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) outreach campaign among the minority as well as the majority communities in Gujarat, which has the Congress worried.

According to Congress workers as well as activists, the feedback is increasingly that several in the Muslim community, even if they do not vote for the BJP, might not turn up in adequate numbers to vote for Congress candidates.

Of the 43.3 million people eligible to cast their votes in the state in the forthcoming Assembly polls, Muslims make a bit over nine per cent of the electorate. The state will see elections on December 9 and 14.

According to internal estimates of political parties, Muslims comprise more than 10 per cent of the electorate in 65 of the 182 Assembly seats in Gujarat. Of the 65, Muslims comprise almost a fifth of the electorate on 20 seats.

UP polls: Brisk voting in Varanasi, women turn up in large numbers

UP Assembly Polls 2017 - Brisk voting is reported on Wednesday in Varanasi, the parliamentary constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in the first two hours in the seventh and final phase of polling in Uttar Pradesh.

A large number of women and senior citizens queued up outside the polling stations to cast their votes.

Aware that it was International Women's Day on the day of polling, most women told the waiting media outside the polling booths that they were voting to ensure safety and security for women and girls.

Professors and members from the teaching fraternity turned up in large numbers to cast their votes in the early hours in the Benaras Hindu University (BHU).

Ajay Rai, the Congress candidate from Pindra, also cast his vote along with his wife. He first performed puja at a temple before heading for the polling station.

Rai had unsuccessfully challenged Narendra Modi in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

Varanasi has eight seats and there is a close contest on all the seats.(READ MORE)

150 seats in UP, AIADMK support crucial for Modi govt to win prez polls

UP POLLS 2017 - Currently, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has nearly 3.80 lakh votes in the presidential electoral college. To reach the halfway mark of 5.49 lakh votes, the party needs another 1.7 lakh votes. The over 1 lakh votes of its alliance partners, both at the Centre and in states, reduces this gap to around 70,000 votes. This is where the Uttar Pradesh assembly, with its 403 seats and a total value 83,824 votes to the presidential electoral college, is important.

The President of India is elected by the members of an electoral college that comprises the elected members of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha and elected members of all legislative assemblies, including Delhi and Puducherry. Nominated members, whether of Parliament or legislative assemblies, are not included.

Value of vote for each of the members of the electoral college is decided based on the population census of 1971. Therefore, value of votes differs from state to state. The value of the vote of a legislator from Uttar Pradesh, the state with the largest population, is the highest at 208, while Sikkim’s is the lowest at 7.

The Modi government would hope to meet this shortfall of 70,000 votes by winning as many seats as possible in Uttar Pradesh. It would also need to compensate from UP the likely losses that the BJP and ally Shiromani Akali Dal could suffer in Punjab. A good showing in Uttar Pradesh would also deflate the Opposition and help Modi government strategists persuade fence sitters among the regional parties to vote for the ruling coalition's candidate.(READ MORE)

Assembly Elections 2017: Why BSP's prospects in Uttar Pradesh look dim

UP ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS 2017 - The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), led by Mayawati, has been put across largely as a “poacher” and a “vote cutter” in the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, dimming the party’s standing as an alternative to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Samajwadi Party (SP)-Congress combine sought after by politically significant and big social groupings. Mayawati, known by the moniker “Behenji”, continues to inspire respect among sections of the Dalits and instills  a degree of confidence among those Muslims who recognised her potential to be a more effective challenger to the BJP than the SP-Congress in places.

However, BSP—the first party to get a majority of its own in 2007 after a long spell of messy coalitions—is unlikely to repeat that feat because the magic figure of 207 Mayawati had attained then was catalysed by a rainbow social alliance that had space for almost every major social grouping. In the ongoing polls, Mayawati has forfeited the backward caste votes, especially those of the most backward castes, and the upper caste votes to the BJP.

The BSP is not the first choice of most Muslims because they were skeptical of Mayawati’s past tendency to do business with the BJP and install herself as the chief minister if an electoral verdict was unclear. Tanveer Akhtar, a small farmer of Isauli in the Sultanpur district who supplemented his earnings by driving a hired car, said, “Mayawati remains suspect for us although she recently clarified she would rather sit out in the Opposition than go with the BJP. We can’t take her words on face value because she craves for power above everything else.”(READ MORE)

Congress ruined Manipur, BJP will bring development in 15 months: Modi

Manipur Polls 2017 - amming the Congress party for "ruining" Manipur, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said if the BJP comes to power in the state it will "do in 15 months what the Congress did not in the last 15 years".

He also assured there will be no economic blockade in the state.

"What Congress did not do in the last 15 years, I assure we will do it in 15 months. Wherever, Congress is in power there is no development, there is only corruption," said Modi at a public rally here.

"There will never be an economic blockade when BJP comes to power in Manipur, I assure you this," he added.

The Manipur assembly elections will be held in two phases - March 4 and 8 - to elect 60 members of the state legislative assembly.

"Unity of Manipur, welfare of its people and development of the state is our only goal. You gave them (Congress) 15 years, give us five years. I assure you we'll complete the pending work in 15 months," said Modi.

"Manipur has been ruined in 15 years. Who is responsible? Congress did no development, do they deserve to be here now?" Modi asked.

He added: "The corruption that took place in Manipur in last the 15 years will be exposed by our government."(Read More)

War rooms and UP polls 2017: Akhilesh Yadav takes on Modi at his own game

UP Polls 2017 - Prime Minister Narendra Modi out-campaigned all-comers in the 2014 general election but, as he faces his biggest mid-term test, he is up against a rival determined to beat him at his own game.

In Uttar Pradesh his opponent, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, has been repackaged as a youthful and media-savvy go-getter who seeks to steal a unique selling point of Modi's - development.

"I am taking it a bit beyond Modi: I work," Yadav told Reuters in an interview in Lucknow, capital of the state of 220 million that is holding the biggest democratic election anywhere in the world this year.

"My work speaks for itself. Modi's empty promises do not," said the 43-year-old leader of the Samajwadi, or Socialist, Party.

Yadav entered the vast election, being held over the course of a month, as a narrow favourite: He had just emerged from a power struggle with his domineering father and struck a pre-poll alliance with the Indian National Congress.(Read More)

BMC polls: BJP puts up best ever show with 81 seats, Sena bags 84

BMC Elections 2017 Results - The BJP is set to make decisive gains in civic polls in Maharashtra even as it is locked in a neck- and-neck fight with its bickering ally Shiv Sena in Mumbai, the latest counting trends suggest.

BJP put up its best ever show in BMC elections by bagging 81 seats, just 3 seats short of Shiv Sena.


The Congress and the NCP were headed for a rout across the state including some of their strongholds like Pune.

While the Shiv Sena slightly improved showing in Mumbai and Thane, the BJP is set to retain Nagpur, Akola and wrest Pune and Ulhasnagar from NCP and Nashik from the MNS.

But, as the counting progressed into final rounds, it appears that the Sena is unlikely to touch the half-way mark of 114 seats in Mumbai, where the BJP is poised for a big leap after fighting the polls on its own.

The BJP is likely to come to power in at least six civic bodies -- Pune, Nashik, Ulhasnagar, Akola, Nagpur and Amravati -- out of the 10 corporations for which the elections were held on Tuesday.(Read More)

UP elections 2017: Over 40% turnout till 2 PM in phase-IV

UP Polls 2017 - Over 40 per cent of 1.84 crore voters exercised their franchise till midday today in the fourth phase of polling in eastern Uttar Pradesh.

"Polling is underway at a brisk pace in 53 assembly constituencies spread over 12 districts, including the backward Bundelkhand region," the CEO office said here.

The pace of voting was slow in the first few hours but picked up as the day advanced.

The exercise was by and large peaceful in view of tight security arrangements.

Inter district and inter state borders have been sealed and patrolling by security forces has been intensified in poll-bound areas. Most of the sensitive polling centres are being manned by the personnel of Central Paramilitary Forces.

680 candidates are in the fray in this phase which covers Rae Bareli, Pratapgarh, Kaushambi, Allahabad, Jalaun, Jhansi, Lalitpur, Mahoba, Banda, Hamirpur, Chitrakoot and Fatehpur districts.

The BSP has fielded its nominees in all seats, while BJP's nominees are in 48 constituencies. The BJP has left 6 seats for its ally Apna Dal. The SP nominees are in contest in 30 segments and its ally, the Congress, is in contest from 25 constituencies.(Read More)

Manipur elections: TMC to raise economic blockade issue in Parliament

Manipur Elections 2017 - The Trinamool Congress on Saturday said it would raise in Parliament the issue of the ongoing economic blockade in Manipur and already urged the Election Commission to take action to lift the blockade.

"We would raise the issue of economic blockade in Parliament. We are against any kind of blockade or shutdown. Recently I had met Election Commission and told them that they were required to act in order to lift the blockade as the model code of conduct is in force in the state," Roy told PTI.

Roy, who is presently in Imphal to campaign for TMC candidates contesting in Manipur elections, said that TMC would play a decisive role after the polls as "no party will be able to get a majority on its own."

"We are in a position to win at least seven to eight seats. We won seven seats in 2012 Manipur Elections. And in the post-poll scenario we'll play a decisive factor as no party will be able to get a majority on its own," Roy said.

TMC this time is fighting for 24 seats. Last time with seven seats TMC was the main opposition party in the state. Later, however, all the seven MLAs switched their loyalty to either Congress or BJP.(Read More)

UP elections 2017: Poll promises have not changed in 15 years; here's why

UP Elections 2017 - Pihani, Uttar Pradesh: For 16 years, Kailash Rai (not his real name), 49, has been commuting six hours every working day between his home in the state capital Lucknow and the government degree college where he teaches in Pihani, 135 km to the northwest.

A political-science lecturer, Rai cannot move with his family to Pihani, a cluster of over 100 villages (called a kasba) in Hardoi district, with less than 40,000 families as per Census 2011. When he started working there in 2000, it lacked the basic public facilities–regular power supply, good roads, public transport and good medical services.

Pihani remains an economic backwater. In the ongoing assembly elections, UP’s incumbent and contesting politicians are still promising the basic facilities they did 16 years ago: Electricity, buses and jobs, along with laptops and free data for poor youth.

A UP kasba: 100% rural, 83% farm workers
A community development block in Hardoi district, north-west of Lucknow, Pihani is an agglomeration of over 100 small villages. This rural administrative division is called a taluk or tehsil in other states. UP has 901 such blocks administered by a block development officer.

A third of Pihani’s population consists of people belonging to scheduled castes and tribes. Its literacy rate is 51%, and less than half its women (41%) are literate. Women in Pihani form about 14% of the workforce, nine percentage points less than the national average of 27% as IndiaSpend reported in April 2016.(Read More)

Amid defection, blockades, Congress hopes to retain power in Manipur

 Manipur Assembly elections 2017 - The recurring economic blockades by tribal groups is a major issue in Manipur where the upcoming assembly polls are witnessing a close battle between the ruling Congress and the opposition BJP.

Intriguingly, none of the parties has so far stressed on the important issue of employment generation, despite the state having over 800,000 educated unemployed youths out of its less than 2.8 million population.

With the 60-seat assembly slated to hold two-phase polls on March 4 and March 8, campaigning is slowly picking up. The Congress is eyeing a consecutive fourth term in office while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) — which had only one legislator in the outgoing House — is throwing a determined challenge to wrest power.

The path ahead looks far from rosy for the Congress due to resignations, anti-incumbency factor and the warning from an outfit to tribal politicians not to contest on tickets of Congress.

Phungzathang Tonsing, the number two in the state cabinet for many years, resigned from the Congress despite being given a ticket. "Manipur is a small place and people know what the Congress is doing," Tonsing said cryptically, while declining to elaborate.(Read More)

UP polls 2017: SP-Cong alliance pins hope on note ban anger to fight BJP

Campaigning comes to an end for the third phase of Uttar Pradesh assembly elections 2017 today evening. As many as 69 seats across central UP’s Lucknow, Kanpur, Sitapur, Mainpuri, Etawah and adjoining districts will vote on Sunday. Samajwadi Party and Congress workers in the region are nervous. They fear a Hindu consolidation for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The BJP believes the third phase will mark a revival of the party after a tepid response in the first two phases.

In the cities and towns of central UP, there is a positive buzz for Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav but the alliance’s hopes rest more on the mistakes of its rival. The alliance has tried to tap into the anger on the street for Narendra Modi government’s note ban decision, the perceived non-performance of BJP’s Lok Sabha members of Parliament and the infighting in that party’s ranks because of faulty ticket distribution.

But the cadres are also discovering a groundswell of support from the upper castes who wish deliverance from the “Ahir-Muslim” rule of the last five years. The BJP is sure that the patchwork of caste coalition of upper castes and non-Yadav OBCs would help it win majority of the seats in the region.

1. Hindu consolidation

2. Note ban

3. Non-performance of BJP MPs, poor candidate selection

4. Chinks in SP-Congress alliance

5. Anti-incumbency and law and order

6. Split in Muslim votes

Read More

BJP offered Rs 36 cr to contest Manipur polls, alleges Irom; Cong moves EC

Manipur Elections 2017 - The Congress on Wednesday moved the Election Commission of India (ECI) over the allegation made by Irom Sharmila that she was offered Rs 36 crore to contest elections in Manipur. The party has demanded an independent investigation by the EC and has asked for a quick response.

Social activist Irom Sharmila on Monday revealed that she was offered a hefty amount of money by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to contest elections on the saffron party's ticket.

Later in the day, BJP leader Ram Madhav rubbished Sharmila's claims calling it an 'absolute lie' on Twitter.

Sharmila, who ended her 16-year-long fast demanding repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) on August 9, 2016, formed the People's Resurgence and Justice Alliance (PRJA). She may contest from two constituencies - Thoubal and Khurai, out of which she has a better hold in her home constituency Khurai. Thoubal is the constituency of Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh.(Read More)

Uttarakhand Elections: The odds of a new chief minister

Uttarakhand Elections 2017 - Amid tight security, the polling for the single-phase Uttarakhand assembly elections began on Wednesday and the one question in everyone's mind is whether this Himalayan state, which was carved out from the gigantic Uttar Pradesh in 2000, is going to have a new chief minister or the incumbent supremacy will continue.

The rebel party leaders, certainly, hold the key in the outcome in the hilly state where two prominent parties – the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) and the Congress — are trying every bit to seek the favour of every section of voters. Both parties expelled many leaders ahead of the elections, who then walked into the rival camps. While the BJP has fielded candidates, who have served the Congress, from 13 seats, the grand old party is trying its luck with seven erstwhile-BJP MLAs.

In the last leg of the election campaign, the Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi asked to waive off loans worth crores which were taken by some 50 rich families, instead of an initiative against black money as Prime Minister Narendra Modi projected.

On the other hand, Prime Minister Modi, in his last rally in Pithoragarh, tried to strike an emotional chord where the majority of people are in the Army and other security forces. Starting from OROP and surgical strike, he went on to announce many schemes for the betterment of Army personnel.

Reports of the cold war between Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat and Pradesh Congress Committee chief Kishore Upadhyay emerged as the polls drew near. Besides fighting with the BJP, Harish Rawat is also combating for power within the state unit of his party.(Read More)

D-day for Uttarakhand today

Uttarakhand Elections 2017 - Only N D Tiwari has given a five-year-long stable government in to Uttarakhad. After Tiwari’s exit, political instability kept haunting the hill state as chief ministers were changed repeatedly by both Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress.

And last year, the instability reached its peak when the Harish Rawat government was dismissed and later reinstated.

On Wednesday, the state will see its Assembly elections after a year-long political instability, making it a day of reckoning. The polling will be held for 69 constituencies after the election for the lone Karanprayag seat was countermanded following the death of Kuldip Singh Kanwasi, a BSP candidate. The polling in Karanprayag will be held on March 9. “Preparations for the polling have already been made,” said an Election Commission official.

The ruling Congress is facing a stiff challenge from BJP in almost all the seats.

In more than 20 seats, the contest is likely to be very close. Even a difference of 100 votes can change dimensions, especially in Assembly seats such as Vikasnagar, Dehradun Cantt, Narendra nagar, Doiwala and Ranikhet, claimed political experts. But hours before the polling, a purported sting operation accusing Rawat of bribing Dan Singh Bhandari, a former BJP MLA, created flutter in the political circles of Uttarakhand.(Read More)

UP poll: No love lost between political rivals on Valentine's Day

UP elections 2017 - Even as the Valentine's Day falls today, there is apparently no love lost between the top leaders of major political parties as they crisscross poll bound Uttar Pradesh addressing public meetings and unleashing vitriolic attack on opponents.

The canvassing for the second phase of polling in 67 assembly constituencies across 11 largely western UP districts had come to an end on Monday evening with voting scheduled for Wednesday. The districts going to polls on February 15 include Saharanpur, Bijnore, Moradabad, Rampur, Sambhal, Bareilly, Amroha, Pilibhit, Kheri, Shahjahanpur and Badaun.

The politicking for the phase II polling nonetheless witnessed top mascots of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Samajwadi Party (SP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Congress upping the ante to corner their opponents with a view to consolidating their core vote banks.

Senior political leaders who addressed rallies on Monday across UP, included Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP President Amit Shah, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi, BSP President Mayawati, SP President and UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav.

While, Modi and Rahul addressed well attended public meetings in Kheri, Mayawati and Akhilesh were the star campaigners and speakers at election rallies in Etawah and Badaun districts respectively.(Read More)

PM Modi's letter defending note ban gets delivered in every UP household

Election 2017- Prime Minister Narendra Modi has written a letter addressing voters in Uttar Pradesh saying that his government's surprise demonetisation measure was necessary to root out corruption and prevent terrorism, reported The Economic Times on Tuesday.

According to the report, over 1,600 motorcycle-borne activists have been tasked with the duty of delivering the prime minister's letter to 2,75,000 households every day.

The move comes at a time when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) might not be fairing as well in Uttar Pradesh as the party had initially thought. As reported earlier, there is a noticeable defensiveness among BJP voters and supporters this time around regarding the note ban and every time the questions related to the issue crop up. Further, the BJP’s local offices, which in 2014 brimmed with people prematurely celebrating Narendra Modi’s victory before counting, have been muted. (Read more)

A young party official of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh provenance in Rampur, who had his nose to the grindstone when the Lok Sabha polls were underway, told Business Standard that he “lost interest” this time. “I have nothing to say to our voters when they pose uncomfortable questions on demonetisation. I am packing my bags and taking a vacation in my village,” he said. The official’s main worry was that demonetisation had begun to "chip away" at Prime Minister Modi’s image. "Modiji has invested much personal and political capital in it but people ask me, does he not understand our hardships? Why did he make us suffer?" he added. (Read More)

Brand Akhilesh Yadav and the American style of campaigning

UP Elections 2017 - The 2014 general elections represent a watershed in the Indian electoral history in many ways. For one, it changed forever how campaigns are conducted in the country. The Lok Sabha poll campaign saw the then Gujarat chief minister, Narendra Modi, creating a parallel campaign machinery outside of the party to take his word to the people. His campaign to become the Prime Minister had, in fact, kicked off even before the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) named him its Prime Ministerial candidate.

Citizens for Accountable Governance (led by political strategist Prashant Kishor) helped Modi run a political campaign that could have given any MNC giant a run for its money. Through his 360-degree campaign, Modi reached out to disparate voters using their own communication mediums. What made it stand out was the campaign’s focus on modern technology – social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp were used extensively and effectively to create a cult following for Modi and turn the election into an almost Presidential campaign. The result: Narendra Modi seemed to be the only candidate around.

Lessons from this campaign have been learnt by other political parties as well – some more than the others. Later, similar ways were used in Delhi by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), and in Bihar by Nitish Kumar, who built an unlikely alliance with his long-time bête noire Lalu Prasad, took his own message of good governance to the people, and returned to power with a landslide victory.(Read More)

UP: Woman who accused SP MLA of rape found dead in Sultanpur

UP elections 2017 - A 22-year-old woman, who had accused Samajwadi Party MLA Arun Verma of raping her along with some other youth in 2013, was found murdered near her house in Sultanpur, police said on Monday.

The body of the woman, who was missing since Saturday, was found on Sunday near a primary school in Jaisinghpur, they said. An FIR has been registered in this regard.

Police said the injury mark around her neck suggested that she was strangled to death. The body has been sent for postmortem to ascertain the cause of death.

The woman had alleged that the local MLA, who is also the SP's Sultanpur candidate for the February 27 polls, and some others had gang raped her in September 2013.(Read More)

Uttarakhand elections: Rahul Gandhi, Harish Rawat perform Ganga aarti

Uttarakhand elections 2017 - With just two days left for the Uttarakhand assembly polls and the state Congress striving hard to woo voters in the last leg of the election campaign, vice-president Rahul Gandhi and Chief Minister Harish Rawat took part in Ganga Aarti at Haridwar's Har Ki Pauri late night on Sunday.

Rahul also held a 75-km long road show and a Nukkad Sabha in the city.

A day before, tearing into Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'real' motives behind demonetisation, Rahul Gandhi branded the move as a tool to waive off loans worth crores taken by some 50 rich families, instead of an initiative against black money as the Prime Minister has projected.

"He claimed that black money is in Swiss bank accounts, and that he would bring the money back from Swiss banks. The Swiss government has given him the names of Swiss account holders. I want to ask Prime Minister Modi, why have you not revealed those names in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha? Why have you kept those thieves away from us?" Gandhi said while addressing a rally in Uttar Pradesh's Sitapur.(Read More)