UP gets ready for another round of polls

Uttar Pradesh is bracing for the next round of elections. Local urban bodies will see elections beginning November 22. In the first phase, five city municipal corporations and 71 municipal councils will go to the polls. This election will be a test of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s popularity. Two new corporations — Ayodhya and Mathura Vrindavan — will go to the polls for the first time. The polls will be concluded on November 29 and the results announced on December 1. The polls will be fought along party lines. The Bharatiya Janata Party, Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Samajwadi Party (SP) are set to contest the elections to 653 urban local bodies, including 16 municipal corporations. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has already released its first list of 19 candidates for the Lucknow Municipal Corporation election. According to a release issued by the party, Priyanka Maheshwari is its nominee for the post of Lucknow mayor.

Gandhis’ connection with Doon School continues

Doon School — where successive generations of the Gandhis have studied — celebrated its foundation day last week. Cricket historian and old boy Ramachandra Guha was chief guest. The Doon School Boys played a cricket match with the Old Boys team, competing for the R L Holdsworth trophy. The current boys won the match. In the afternoon, a debate was organised between the senior-most batch (2018) within the school and the batch of 1992. The topic was: “This house believes in seniority.” The debate was close, with the current batch, side proposition, beating the batch of 1992. The judge? The mother of a current boy, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who took active part in other activities including “Pagal Gymkhana”.