Assembly Elections 2022 Updates: Election Commission issues notice to Samajwadi Party over violation of Covid norms

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has released the first list of candidates on 53 assembly seats of Uttar Pradesh for the upcoming polls. "We have finalized candidates on 53 seats in the first list, remaining 5 will we released in a day or two," BSP chief Mayawati said Saturday while addressing a press conference in Lucknow.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will interact with BJP members from Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi on January 18, the party said on Saturday. This will be Modi's first political programme involving party workers after the Election Commission announced the schedule for the elections to five state assemblies, including Uttar Pradesh.

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Friday urged the Election Commission (EC) to reconsider its ban on election rallies and corner meetings in Punjab, stating that the poll panel should allow small meetings as they were a must for candidates to approach all sections of society.SAD spokesperson Daljit Singh Cheema, in a letter to the EC, said the panel’s ban on election rallies, pad yatras, corner meetings up to January 15 was causing great hardship to candidate of all parties.

A day after the Congress released its first list of candidates for the 2022 Vidhan Sabha elections, the campaigner who featured on the poster for ‘Ladki Hoon Lad Sakti Hoon’ drive, Priyanka Maurya, alleged that the process for selection of candidates was rigged.

Delhi chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal will visit Goa on Saturday for two days (January 15-16) ahead of assembly polls in the state scheduled to take place this February. Kejriwal will reach Goa today at around 1:30 PM and will kick off the 'Door to Door' campaign of the party.

With the current Covid situation forcing parties and candidates to focus on digital modes of campaign in the five states polls, chief election commissioner Sushil Chandra on Friday directed the election observers to keep a close tab on the expenditure incurred by candidates on virtual campaigning, besides monitoring adherence to Covid safety norms by political party leaders and candidates and flagging any violations for necessary action.

Grappling with defections of MLAs, BJP has another peculiar situation at hand with rumour mills on an overdrive about more resignations in the offing, keeping the saffron party on tenterhooks on eve of elections. On Friday, a fake resignation letter of BJP’s Domariyaganj MLA Raghavendra Pratap Singh, who is state incharge of Hindu Yuva Vahini and considered close to CM Yogi Adityanath went viral on social media. Addressed to UP BJP chief, the letter alleged neglect of Brahmins, Dalits and backwards. Singh, however, termed the viral letter on social media “fake and conspiracy of SP”.