Election 2022 Highlights: Campaigning Ends For Punjab, UP Phase 3 Polls Ahead Of Feb 20 Voting
Assembly Election 2022 Highlights: Follow this space to get all the latest news on electioneering and campaigning for Uttar Pradesh, Manipur, and Punjab assemblies.
Muktsar (Pb), Feb 18 (PTI) Shiromani Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal on Friday claimed that the SAD-BSP alliance would win over 80 seats in the February 20 Punjab assembly polls.
Badal also predicted that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) would fail to cross its tally of 20 seats that it won in the 2017 polls while the Congress was likely to be reduced to less than 10 seats in 117-member Punjab assembly.
The SAD-BSP combine is heading towards an absolute majority, he said.
Our seats are increasing by the day as people are realising the time-tested pro-farmer, pro-poor policies of the SAD coupled with its commitment to peace and communal harmony is the only way forward," Badal said.
"We are on the 80-seat threshold and this figure may increase further on polling day, the SAD president added.
Badal thanked the people for "reposing" their overwhelming faith and trust in the SAD-BSP combine by coming out in strength on the last day of campaigning to snub both the AAP and Congress.
Never before has Punjab witnessed such a sea of humanity coming out on the roads in overwhelming support of any political party, Badal said after attending a road show from Kotkapura bypass to Ghaa Mandi chowk in the city, according to a party statement.
Speaking at the rally, Badal claimed, The Congress party knows the game is up and that it has been consigned to the dustbin. It will not get more than 10 seats in the assembly elections .
Attacking AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal, he alleged, Punjabis had also seen through AAP and its leader Arvind Kejriwal who has been thoroughly exposed as a divisive and communal leader with an anti-farmer and anti-poor agenda, besides being essentially anti-Punjab and anti-Punjabis .
He claimed that AAP would not even be able to reach its last term figure of 20 seats and could secure between 10 to 15 seats.
Badal said even Kejriwal has seen the writing on the wall.
That is why he is now crying wolf and complaining that all political parties have ganged up against him. Even he has realised that Punjabis have consolidated in favour of the SAD-BSP combine, he said.
Badal said people know that the Delhi Model is a sham and accused Kejriwal of trying to win the election on the basis of Rs 850 crore advertisement campaign.
On the Congress, Badal said people are judging the Congress by its five-year misrule which was marked by corruption, scams, gang culture, and sand and liquor mafia.
People realise that the Congress government added Rs one lakh to the state debt but did not implement even one of the promises made to the people, be it complete loan waiver, jobs for youth, Rs 2,500 per month old-age pension or Rs 2,500 per month unemployment allowance, he said.
It is due to this that the Congress party has been virtually dissolved in Punjab and will not cross the 10-seat mark, he added.
Meanwhile, SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia appealed to the people of Amritsar East constituency, from where he is locked in a keen contest against State Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu, to vote for change and development.
Polling in Punjab is scheduled to be held on February 20 while counting of votes will take place on March 10.
Jalalabad/Abohar (Pb), Feb 18 (PTI) AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal on Friday appealed to people to give his party a chance to form an "honest" government in Punjab and take the state on the path of development.
On the last day of campaigning for the February 20 Assembly polls, he claimed the AAP's rivals have joined hands to defeat it, but the people of Punjab have made up their minds to bring his party to power.
"They have been looting Punjab for the last 70 years and want to continue it. All of them have united to stop AAP because they are afraid that if the party forms government in Punjab it will put a stop to all such practices forever," Kejriwal said.
He appealed to the people to "get together and put an end to their politics of loot and corruption".
"The AAP will come to power and an honest government will be formed in Punjab. The loot of resources is about to end. Punjab's money will now be spent on the people of the state," the Delhi Chief Minister said.
"This time we have to vote to save Punjab. Vote for the better future of your children. Vote to end corruption and mafia from Punjab.
Kejriwal campaigned for party candidates in Jalalabad and Abohar. Sukhbir Singh Badal is the SAD candidate in Jalalabad.
Kejriwal said his party aims to build good schools and hospitals, eliminate drug menace corruption and mafia, and provide education and employment.
"On the other hand, the aim of our opponents is only to defeat us."
Interacting with reporters in Chandigarh, AAP's Punjab affairs co-incharge and Delhi MLA Raghav Chadha claimed that his party ran an issues-based positive election campaign in Punjab.
It came out with a roadmap on how to take the state forward if the AAP comes to power, he said.
"On the other hand the Shiromani Akali Dal, Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress spread false propaganda against Arvind Kejriwal, Bhagwant Mann and the AAP," Chadha said.
'Dry days' declared in Chandigarh from 6 pm of 18th Feb till the conclusion of Assembly polls in Punjab on 20th Feb and on 10th March counting day: UT Administration
Jammu, Feb 18 (PTI) The Jammu and Kashmir administration on Friday announced that polling day in Punjab will be a paid holiday for the people from that state working in the Union Territory so that they can exercise their franchise.
According to the order issued by the General Administration Department, sanction has been granted for a paid holiday for government employees, semi government employees and industrial workers, who are registered voters in Punjab and working in Jammu and Kashmir, for voting on polling day on February 20.
Voting in Punjab's 117 assembly seats will be held in a single phase and the counting will take place on March 10.
Chandigarh (ANI): Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur on Friday slammed Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal over allegations levelled by his former associate and termed Aam Aadmi Party as "Arvind Anti Punjab".
Addressing a press conference here on the last day of the campaign in the state for assembly polls, Thakur accused Kejriwal of "silence" over allegations made by a "founding member" of the Aam Aadmi Party who has now moved away from the party.
"There are some people whose political appetite is never satiated. Several members of AAP who were also the founding members of the party have levelled serious charges against Arvind Kejriwal. And he has not responded yet," he said. The BJP leader said AAP stands for "A- Arvind A- Anti P- Punjab". "People of Punjab will never accept them," he said. He said the Narendra Modi government provided justice to the Sikh community for the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
"What could not be done for 30 years, the Modi government has done that. What has Kejriwal done in Delhi? He did not appoint a single Punjabi Minister but has come to seek votes in Punjab. So on the eve of the polls, I want to tell the people of Punjab, it is very important to understand what kind of thought they (AAP) have. The allegations raise a big question mark," the Union Minister said.
Punjab will go to the polls on February 20. The counting of votes will take place on March 10.
Amritsar (Punjab), Feb 18 (PTI) AAP chief ministerial candidate Bhagwant Mann and Punjab Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu have "brighter future" in comedy, BJP leader and Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Friday in a swipe at them ahead of the February 20 assembly polls.
Puri, who has been canvassing for his party's candidates across Punjab, also claimed that AAP national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was forced to declare the party's chief ministerial candidate as Mann was "a millstone around his neck".
"They (AAP) announced Bhagwant Mann as their chief ministerial face as he was a millstone around Kejriwal's neck. If you pull aside Kejriwal he will tell you how uncomfortable he is...he has shared his assessment of Bhagwant Mann with me. Pre-poll announcement of chief ministerial candidates can work both as advantage and disadvantage. And in case of both the Congress and the AAP, it is going to be disadvantage," Puri told PTI in an interview.
The Congress has announced Charanjit Singh Channi, the incumbent, as its chief ministerial candidate.
The BJP, which is contesting the polls in an alliance with former chief minister Amarinder Singh's Punjab Lok Congress and the Akali Dal faction headed by Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, is going all out to put up a strong performance.
Referring to Mann's habit of consuming alcohol, Puri questioned the AAP's choice of chief ministerial candidate. "For a state which is reeling under the problem of toxication, to have somebody who is popularly perceived as 'piyakkad' (drunkard)...is a slap in the face of the state. I don't think he is serious chief ministerial face," he said.
The Congress is a divided house in Punjab and its leaders are busy in settling scores with each other rather than working for the overall welfare of people, he charged.
Taking a dig at both Sidhu and Mann, Puri said, "I think they have brighter future in comedy where money is readily available.... If you put people like that here, then there will be a problem."
Referring to recent remarks of poet and former AAP leader Kumar Vishwas, Puri said Kejriwal harbours the desire of being the chief minister of Punjab.
"Kejriwal deep within him harbours the desire of becoming chief minister of Punjab. If you are serious of becoming chief minister of Punjab, why are you in cohort with people who have no hesitation in undermining the state of Punjab and who are perceived to be Khalistanis," Puri said, while talking about pro-Khalistani outfit Sikhs For Justice head Gurpatwant Singh Pannu.
A fake letter that surfaced ahead of the polls claimed that the Sikhs For Justice extended support to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
Describing Pannu as a paid agent of Pakistani spy agency ISI, Puri said he claims to espouse Sikhism but has no visible manifestation of Sikhism.
"His (Kejriwal's) goose is cooked. Punjab is in no mood to vote for him as survival of the state is at stake," the BJP leader said.
Puri virtually ruled out any post-poll alliance with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) with which the BJP had a tie-up for decades. "Our party is founded on some core values. Akali Dal has some very bad habits and I don't think we can cater to that," he said.
Puri said Punjab is witnessing a multi-cornered contest and the BJP will win many seats as its committed voters are not moving away.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will address a public meeting at 11:30 am at Christian Inter College Ground, Mainpuri. After this, at 12:30 pm, Karhal will address a public meeting at Kurawali Tiraha Bagh, Gol Chakkar, near Ghiror, Mainpuri, located in Shahjahanpur. Joint meeting of Govindnagar and Kalyanpur Vidhan Sabha of Kanpur city at 02:00 pm Chhath Puja Place, Panki Nagar, will address a public meeting in Kalyanpur, Kanpur.
Lucknow: Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi will address 'Congress Pratigya Virtual Maharally' at 3 pm today. Priyanka Gandhi's rally will be broadcast in various assemblies of UP through LED vans.
Jalaun - 10:35 am, Location - Madhavgarh, Vidhan Sabha - Madhavgarh
Kanpur - Samajwadi Vijay Yatra, starting at 11:55 am, Location- Mirpur, Phulbagh, Nayaganj, Ghantaghar, Moolganj, New Road, Parade, Yatim Khana, Rupam Square, Nala Road and P Road. Assembly - Kanpur Cantonment, Arya Nagar and Sisamau
Unnao - 4:20 pm, Location - Khurshid Ali Khet Ground, Mohan, Vidhan Sabha - Mohan, Safipur and Bangarmau
In UP, on February 20, in the third phase, polling will be held in 59 seats in 16 districts, for which the campaigning will end by 6 pm today. The total number of voters for the third phase is 2.15 crore (2,15,75,430) in which male voters are 1,16,12,010 and female voters - 99,62,324. A total of 627 candidates are in the fray for voting on 59 seats, out of which 531 are male candidates and 96 are female candidates.
BJP national president JP Nadda will reach Ayodhya today and will be addressing three public meetings in Uttar Pradesh. At around 11:00 am he will address a public meeting in the Kshatriya boarding ground of Ayodhya assembly, while at 1:00 pm in the Milkipur assembly (Faizabad) and at 3:00 pm in the Rudauli assembly.
Voting in Ayodhya is to be held in the fifth phase on February 27. The process of two phases of voting in the Uttar Pradesh assembly election 2022 has been completed and the third one is slated for February 20.
Background
Assembly Election 2022 Highlights: Hello and welcome to ABP Live blog to find all the latest news from the polling battlegrounds of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, and Manipur.
With the voting process for the second phase of the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections over, preparations for the third phase have started. In the third phase, voting for 59 assembly seats will be held on February 20.
In the third phase, elections will take place in seats across western Uttar Pradesh, Bundelkhand, and Awadh region. In this phase, the most keenly watched contest will be Karhal, the seat of Samajwadi Party president and former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.
Akhilesh is in the electoral fray from the Karhal Assembly Constituency of Mainpuri. BJP candidate and Union Minister SP Singh Baghel is contesting against SP chief.
READ | BJP Incites Rift Among People, Should Be Named Bharatiya Jhagda Party: Akhilesh Yadav
On Thursday, Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav campaigned for his son Akhilesh in Karhal. The 82-year-old leader said his party's priority was the welfare of farmers and to provide the facilities for irrigation, seeds and fertilizers for increased productivity.
For the first time after the 2019 Lok Sabha election, the Samajwadi Party founder campaigned at a poll rally. Age and ill-health have reduced Mulayam Singh's political activity in recent years.
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