This Article is From Feb 03, 2022

Assembly Elections 2022 Highlights: Banter As Priyanka Gandhi, Akhilesh Yadav Ran Into Each Other

Assembly Elections 2022 LIVE Updates: Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Manipur, Punjab, and Uttarakhand will vote over seven phases starting February 10, with counting of votes scheduled for March 10.

Assembly Elections 2022 Highlights: Banter As Priyanka Gandhi, Akhilesh Yadav Ran Into Each Other

Assembly Elections 2022 LIVE Updates: Counting of votes will be held on March 10. (File)

New Delhi:

Akhilesh Yadav and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra waved at each other when their roadshows crossed paths in Uttar Pradesh's Bulandhshahr today, days before voting in the state.

AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi has alleged that shots were fired at his car when he was returning to Delhi after campaigning in Uttar Pradesh's Meerut. No one was injured but his car tyres were punctured, he said.

Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Manipur, Punjab, and Uttarakhand will vote over seven phases starting February 10, with counting of votes scheduled for March 10.

A total of 690 Assembly constituencies will vote over the next two months, with the maximum in UP (403 seats) followed by Punjab (117), Uttarakhand (70), Manipur (60) and Goa (40).

Here are the highlights on Assembly Elections 2022:

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Feb 03, 2022 21:06 (IST)
Bullets Hit AIMIM Chief Asaduddin Owaisi's Car In UP, 1 Arrested
AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi has alleged that shots were fired at his car when he was returning to Delhi after campaigning in Uttar Pradesh's Meerut. No one was injured but his car tyres were punctured, he said.

"We are all safe. Alhamdu'lilah," he wrote.

The incident took place at a toll plaza near Delhi, in Hapur in western Uttar Pradesh. The shooters left their weapons and escaped, said the Hyderabad MP. Read here
Feb 03, 2022 21:03 (IST)
Watch: Priyanka Gandhi, Akhilesh Yadav Crossed Paths In UP. This Happened
Akhilesh Yadav and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra waved at each other when their roadshows crossed paths in Uttar Pradesh's Bulandhshahr today, days before voting in the state.

In a video, Priyanka Gandhi was seen grinning and waving at the Samajwadi Party chief, who was riding in a "rath" or repurposed campaign bus with his ally Jayant Chaudhary, the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) chief. Read here
Feb 03, 2022 19:49 (IST)
Earlier Governments Wanted To Use Police As Personal Tool: Yogi Adityanath
Claiming success in controlling crime in the state, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday accused his predecessors of failing to undertake police reforms and said they wanted to use the department as their "personal tool".

He alleged that the Samajwadi Party (SP), which was in power from 2012 to 2017 in the state, only "usurped money" in the garb of building graveyards.
Feb 03, 2022 19:01 (IST)
A Vote For Congress An "Indirect Vote For BJP": Arvind Kejriwal To NDTV
Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal today took a swipe at the Congress, saying a vote for it in Goa will mean an "indirect vote" for the BJP, given the trend of Congressmen joining the ruling party. The battle in Goa, therefore, is between the AAP and the BJP, he added, urging people to vote for his party to see the BJP out.

"The people of Goa have a choice between AAP and BJP. If you want a clean, honest government, you can vote for AAP. The other option is to vote for the BJP directly or indirectly. Indirect voting is when you vote for the Congress, that Congress man will win and go to the BJP," Mr Kejriwal said at the NDTV townhall.
Feb 03, 2022 18:14 (IST)
Amit Shah's Warning For Akhilesh Yadav Ally Jayant Chaudhary Over Election Tie-Up In UP
Union Home Minister Amit Shah today cautioned Rashtriya Lok Dal president Jayant Chaudhary over his party's tie-up with Samajwadi Party, asking that when Akhilesh Yadav does not listen to his father and uncle, how will he be heard.

Addressing a poll event at the Anupshahr Assembly constituency in Bulandshahr, the Home Minister also claimed that the SP will not be able to form a government in Uttar Pradesh.

Praising the Yogi Adityanath-led government in UP, Amit Shah hit out at former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and asked if the Samajwadi Party chief can keep law and order in check in the state.
Feb 03, 2022 17:05 (IST)
Farmer Body SKM Has Appealed To Farmers To Punish BJP In UP: Yogendra Yadav
The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) has issued an appeal to farmers in Uttar Pradesh to "punish" the BJP in the upcoming state elections for betraying the farmers by not fulfilling their demands, Swaraj India President Yogendra Yadav said today.

57 farmer organisations have supported the call given by the SKM, Yogendra Yadav said. He, however, clarified that the group has nothing to do with seeking votes for any party in the elections.

SKM, which spearheaded the farmers' agitation against new farm laws which were ultimately rolled back, said their remaining demands, including the setting up of a committee on Minimum Support Price (MSP) and withdrawal of cases against farmers, remain unfulfilled.
Feb 03, 2022 15:50 (IST)
On Congress's Chief Minister Face For Punjab, Arvind Kejriwal's Poser
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has a query for the Congress as the party took a page out of Aam Aadmi Party's book and sought public opinion on its Chief Ministerial candidate. Caught between pressure from supporters of party chief Navjot Sidhu and the internal favourite Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, the Congress had started collecting public feedback through Interactive Voice Response calls a few days ago.

This afternoon, Mr Kejriwal questioned them about the lack of a third option -- one that was allegedly rejected on religious grounds.
Feb 03, 2022 14:40 (IST)
People In Punjab Want AAP To Form Next Government In State: Bhagwant Mann
People of Punjab are tired of giving chances to the Congress and the SAD for the last 44 years and now want the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to be in the saddle, says the party's chief ministerial face Bhagwant Mann.

The 48-year-old Bhagwant Mann, who is contesting from the Dhuri Assembly segment, also says that mafia raj, unemployment, inflation, drug menace and farm distress are some of the major issues facing the state and his party will work to solve them.

Mr Mann has been declared as the chief ministerial candidate of the AAP after the party in Punjab held a first of its kind 'Janta Chunegi Apna CM' drive last month.

In the AAP survey to pick the party's chief ministerial candidate, 93 per cent of those who called or sent messages to a party number chose him.
Feb 03, 2022 13:50 (IST)
Rahul Gandhi To Declare Punjab Chief Minister Candidate On Sunday: Sources
The Congress will announce its chief ministerial candidate in Punjab on Sunday, sources have said. Party leader Rahul Gandhi will visit Ludhiana on Sunday, when he is likely to name who will become the Chief Minister of Punjab if Congress retains power in the border state.

The party has been seeking public opinion via phone calls on who should be the chief ministerial candidate, similar to what Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party had done in Punjab before it announced Bhagwant Mann.
Feb 03, 2022 13:03 (IST)
"What Wasn't Done In Decades Done In 5 Years": Yogi Adityanath's UP Claim
Between 1947 and 2017, Uttar Pradesh ranked sixth or seventh in the country on several indices, but the BJP government helped the economy reach the second spot, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said today as he released BJP's campaign video ahead of the state polls.

"I would like to highlight that what could not be done in decades has been done in just 5 years. Today, UP is ranked 2nd in India," he said.

Asserting that his government had achieved all its key objectives and did its duty towards the people with earnestness and honesty, he said, "The last two years were a challenge not just for UP, but the entire world because of the Covid pandemic. The threat was not just for life, but also livelihood. But I want to thank the Prime Minister for leading the nation and helping it rising from the challenge," he said.
Feb 03, 2022 12:39 (IST)
Goa Elections 2022: Vote For AAP This Time For Sake Of Goa's Future, Says Arvind Kejriwal Urges Supporters Of Other Parties
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday made a strong pitch to the supporters and workers of other political parties, including the BJP and the Congress, to vote for the AAP in the upcoming Goa Assembly polls for the sake of their own future as well as that of the coastal state.

He said they can vote for the AAP without having to change their party affiliation.

Elections to all 40 Assembly seats in Goa are scheduled on February 14 and results will be declared on March 10. The AAP is contesting all the Assembly seats in the state.
Feb 03, 2022 12:08 (IST)
"Hema Malini" Remark Was Sarcastic, Akhilesh Yadav's Ally Clarifies
Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Jayant Chaudhary, who is being criticised for his Hema Malini comment, today clarified that it was a sarcastic comment. Yesterday, Mr Chadhary had claimed that his party leader was told by senior BJP leader and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, "I will make you Hema Malini if you join".

"Attempts were being made to poach our candidate from Maant seat. Yogesh (Nauhwar) had said from the stage that he was offered an MP post. So I said it sarcastically that they are going to make him Hema Malini," said RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary on Wednesday told ANI.
Feb 03, 2022 11:22 (IST)
Yogi Adityanath Isolated In His Own Party: Akhilesh Yadav
Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday taunted Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, claiming that his own party had "isolated" him and accused him of playing the politics of negativity.

Addressing a joint press in Shamli's Kairana with Rashtriya Lok Dal's Jayant Chaudhary, Mr Yadav also attacked the Chief Minister over his "language" in the run-up to the assembly polls, which he said would be a "Bhaichara banaam Bharatiya Janata Party" (brotherhood versus the BJP) contest.

He referred to Yogi Adityanath's reported remarks on the "hot-blooded" SP-RLD alliance leaders. The Chief Minister had said their "khoon ki garmi" would cool down once the assembly election results come in.
Feb 03, 2022 11:04 (IST)
On Akhilesh Yadav Ally's "Hema Malini" Remark, Union Minister's Reply
Launching a scathing attack on Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) chief Jayant Chaudhary for his remark on BJP MP from Mathura Hema Malini, Union Minister Anurag Thakur said that the RLD chief cannot compare to the Mathura MP as she holds a "different" place in the country and world as an actor as well as a leader.

Speaking to news agency ANI on Wednesday, Mr Thakur said, "Jayant ji can never become Hema Malini because she holds a different place in the country and the world as an actor as well as a leader. People of Mathura have showered a lot of love on her and voted her to power."
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