Page 46 - Assembly Elections

Gujarat: BJP candidates list out, Alpesh contesting from Gandhinagar South

The party has fielded Mahesh Bhuria from Jhalod, Jayantibhai Rathwa from Jaitpur and Keur Rokdia from Sayajiganj.

If BJP wins majority, Bhupendra Patel will be CM of Gujarat again: Shah

Bhupendra Patel will remain the chief minister of Gujarat if BJP secures a majority in the next month's Assembly elections, senior party leader and Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Monday. Shah's statement makes it clear that Patel is the chief ministerial candidate of the BJP, which is eyeing the seventh consecutive term in the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Shah. "If BJP gets a majority in Gujarat, Bhupendra Patel will be the next chief minister," Shah told CNN-News18 here. Patel replaced Vijay Rupani as the chief minister in September 2021, a move that surprised many. He is the first-time MLA from the Ghatlodia constituency. He is renominated from the same seat. Earlier, Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party had declared party leader Isudan Gadhvi as the chief ministerial candidate after conducting a "public survey". Congress has decided not to declare the CM face for the elections. Voting for the total of 182 seats in Gujarat will be held in two phases on

EC puts in place multi-layered monitoring mechanism for Assembly polls

The Commission visited Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh in Sept for reviewing electoral preparedness and dedicated teams also visited various regions of the two states in October to oversee preparations

Gujarat polls: BJP faces rebellion, 5 threaten to contest as independents

At least one sitting Bharatiya Janata Party MLA and four former legislators have threatened to contest as independents after being denied tickets by the BJP for the upcoming Gujarat Assembly elections. While some of these disgruntled leaders have said they will make their next move after consulting supporters, former BJP MLA and the party's known tribal face Harshad Vasava already filed his nomination papers on Friday as an independent from Nandod seat, reserved for Scheduled Tribe candidates. Vasava is the president of Gujarat BJP's Scheduled Tribe Morcha and represented the erstwhile Rajpipla seat between 2002 and 2007 and from 2007 to 2012. Nandod in Narmada district is currently held by the Congress. The BJP has fielded Dr Darshana Deshmukh from the seat. Unhappy over the announcement, Vasava resigned from his post in the BJP and submitted his nomination papers for the Nandod seat on Friday. Elections for the 182 member Gujarat Assembly will be held in two phases on December 1

Guj Assembly polls: 324 candidates file nomination forms; AAP leads with 70

A total of 324 candidates have filed nominations for the two-phase polls to the 182-member Gujarat Assembly since the process began on November 5, an official said on Saturday. While 316 candidates have filed nomination forms for the first phase of polling on December 1, eight for the second phase on December 5, a release from the state's chief electoral officer said. Votes will be counted on December 8. As per information made available by poll authorities, 70 Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidates have filed nominations, followed by 52 from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), 48 from the opposition Congress, 21 from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), nine from the Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) and several Independents. AAP candidates have filed 14 nominations for seats in Surat district, 12 in Rajkot and eight in Kutch, it said. Nominations have been filed in different districts such as Kutch, Surendranagar, Morbi, Rajkot, Jamnagar, Devbhumi Dwarka, Porbandar, Junagadh, Gir Somnath, ..

Himachal Pradesh records 65.92% turnout till 5 pm: EC provisional data

Himachal Pradesh recorded a voter turnout of 65.92 per cent till 5 pm on Saturday, the Election Commission said, citing provisional polling figures for the state where the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress are locked in an aggressive fight. Voting began at 8 am on a slow note but picked up as the day progressed and the sun warmed the winter chill. The assembly election is a crucial test for the BJP which is hoping to beat precedent and return to power while the Congress has urged voters to go by tradition of voting out the incumbent. Only around five per cent polling was recorded in the first hour, while till 11 am, it was 19.98 per cent. It notched up to 37.19 per cent by 1 pm and 55.65 per cent till 3 pm. Till 5 pm, a 65.92 per cent turnout was recorded, the Election Commission (EC) said. The highest polling of 72.35 per cent was recorded in Sirmour district followed by 68.48 per cent in Solan and 67.67 per cent in Una and 67.5 per cent in Lahaul and Spiti. The high-altitud

Himachal Pradesh Assembly polls: 55.65% voter turnout recorded till 3 pm

Himachal Pradesh, where the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress are locked in an aggressive fight, recorded a voter turnout of 55.65 per cent in the first five hours of polling till 3 pm on Saturday, the Election Commission said. Voting began at 8 am on a slow note but picked up as the day progressed and the sun warmed the winter chill. The assembly election is a crucial test for the BJP which is hoping to beat precedent and return to power while the Congress has urged voters to go by tradition of voting out the incumbent. Only around five per cent polling was recorded in the first hour, while till 11 am, it was 19.98 per cent. It notched up to 37.19 percent by 1 pm and till 3 pm, the state recorded a 55.65 per cent turnout. The highest polling of 62.75 per cent was recorded in Lahaul and Spiti district, followed by 60.38 per cent in Sirmour and 58.9 per cent in Mandi, the home district of Chief Minister Jairam Thakur. The high-altitude district of Lahaul and Spiti had recorded

HP elections: 157 polling stations solely being managed by women staff

157 polling stations across the state are such that are being managed solely by women staff: EC

Nearly 30,000 security personnel deployed to ensure free, fair polls in HP

Polling for 68 Assembly segments would be held in a single phase today

Double-engine govt necessary for development of Himachal: Anurag Thakur

Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur on Thursday said a "double-engine" government is necessary in Himachal Pradesh to ensure faster development of the hill state. Addressing rallies on the last day of campaigning for the November 12 Assembly polls, Thakur said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) governments at the Centre and in Himachal Pradesh have ensured all-round development of the state. "Double engine" is a term often used by BJP leaders to refer to the party ruling at the Centre and in a state. "Projects delayed for years were not only started but also completed," Thakur said, addressing rallies in Shimla Rural, Kasauli, Sujanpur and Hamirpur. Polling for the 68-member Himachal Pradesh Assembly is scheduled to be held on Saturday. The BJP is locked in a tough fight with the Congress to retain power in the state. Thakur hit out at the Congress and accused the opposition party of putting up hurdles in the way of development projects in the state. "In 2003,

Multiple CM faces our strength, not weakness: Congress President Kharge

The presence of several chief ministerial faces in Himachal Pradesh is not the Congress' weakness but its strength, party president Mallikarjun Kharge said on Thursday as the campaign for assembly elections in the hill state drew to a close. The ruling BJP, in contrast, is going into elections banking just on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's face because it is "aware of the failures of the chief minister (Jairam Thakur) and the state government", Kharge, who is overseeing his first elections after assuming charge as Congress president last month, said. "The PM is saying don't look at the candidate, vote for me. This attitude belittles the people of Himachal Pradesh. They know the prime minister will not be there in the state after the voting ends," the Congress veteran told PTI in an interview, referring to Modi's campaign speeches. Confident that the Congress will wrest power from the BJP because the people were determined to bring in change, Kharge said his party is going into the .

Ahead of assembly polls, 23rd tranche of electoral bonds opens for sale

Ahead of assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, the 23rd tranche of electoral bonds opened for sale on Wednesday. The bond sale will close on November 15. The Gujarat assembly elections will be held in two phases on December 1 and 5, while Himachal Pradesh will go to polls on November 12. Electoral bonds have been pitched as an alternative to cash donations made to political parties as part of efforts to bring transparency in political funding. State Bank of India (SBI), in the 23rd phase of sale, has been authorised to issue and encash electoral bonds through 29 authorised branches from November 9-15, the finance ministry had said in a statement earlier this week. Usually, electoral bond tranches are open for sale between 1-10 of a designated month. For instance, the 22nd tranche of bond sales took place from October 1-10, 2022 while 21st tranche was from July 1-10, 2022. Sale of the first batch of electoral bonds happened from March 1-10, 2018. The authorised SBI

Assembly elections: BJP cannot befool people of Himachal, says Kharge

Addressing his first public meeting in the Himachal Pradesh assembly elections, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday trained his gun on the BJP and said it may have been able to befool people across the country with its "jumlas" but cannot do so in the hill state. "People here are educated, understand everything and take a considered decision (in voting).... The BJP may have been able to befool people all over the country with its jumlas (rhetoric) of Rs 15 lakh in bank accounts and jobs, but it cannot do so here," Kharge said. Kharge, who was elected Congress president recently, arrived in Himachal Pradesh Tuesday evening and addressed his first public meeting in Banuti in support of party candidate from the Shimla Rural assembly constituency Vikramaditya Singh. The Congress is seeking to wrest power from the BJP in the hill state, where the Congress and the BJP have governed alternately for the past many decades. Polling in Himachal Pradesh will be held on November

Govt clears 23rd tranche of electoral bonds; open for sale on Wednesday

Ahead of assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, the government on Monday approved issuance of the 23rd tranche of electoral bonds that will open for sale on November 9. The Gujarat assembly elections will be held in two phases on December 1 and 5, while Himachal Pradesh will go to polls on November 12. Electoral bonds have been pitched as an alternative to cash donations made to political parties as part of efforts to bring transparency in political funding. State Bank of India (SBI), in the 23rd phase of sale, has been authorised to issue and encash electoral bonds through 29 authorised branches from November 9-15, the finance ministry said in a statement. Usually, electoral bond tranches are open for sale between 1-10 of a designated month. For instance, the 22nd tranche of bond sales took place from October 1-10, 2022 while 21st tranche was from July 1-10, 2022. Sale of the first batch of electoral bonds happened from March 1-10, 2018. The authorised SBI branches

Gujarat polls: Bharatiya Tribal Party announces candidates for 12 seats

The Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) on Sunday announced its first list of candidates for 12 Assembly constituencies in Gujarat, including nine Scheduled Tribe (ST) reserved seats. BTP's Gujarat president Ramesh Vasava said the party will field its candidates on all the 27 ST-reserved seats across the state for the next month's elections. The party had won two seats in the 2017 polls in the state. Apart from nine ST-reserved seats for which it declared the candidates, the BTP also announced its nominees for Karjan, Jambusar and Olpad, the seats for general category candidates. The remaining nine seats are - Bhiloda, Jhalod, Dahod, Sankheda, Nandod, Vyara, Nizar, Dang and Dharampur. "Apart from 27 tribal-reserved seats, we will also field our candidates on seats having 30 to 40 per cent tribal voters, such as Ankleshwar and Olpad," Vasava said. At present, the BTP has two seats in Gujarat Assembly - Jhagadia in Bharuch and Dediapada in Narmada district. While BTP's founder Chhotu Va

Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections: Small constituencies, but big issues

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to pay one more visit to Himachal Pradesh on November 11 after visiting it over the weekend

Who is Isudan Gadhvi? AAP's newly announced Gujarat CM candidate

Isudan Gadhvi, AAP's choice for chief minister of Gujarat, has become a politician after being a journalist. Aditi Phadnis tracks his career

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Congress releases party manifesto for Himachal Pradesh assembly polls

The Congress on Saturday released its manifesto for the November 12 Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections in the presence of Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel. The party has promised to implement the old pension scheme, 30 units of free power and Rs 10 crore 'StartUp fund' in each constituency. Others present at the party's poll manifesto release included AICC in-charge for Himachal Rajeev Shukla, former PCC chief Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu and AICC secretaries Tejinder Pal Bittu and Manish Chatrath. Party's poll manifesto committee chairman Dhani Ram Shandil said the BJP has failed to live up to the expectations of people and not fulfilled the promises made five years ago. "This is not just a poll manifesto but a document prepared for the development and welfare of the people of Himachal Pradesh," Shandil said. The Congress is banking on anti-incumbency factor and urging voters not to reelect the BJP in the state.

Gujarat Assembly polls: Congress announces first list of 43 candidates

The Congress on Friday released its first list of 43 candidates for the Gujarat Assembly elections scheduled to be held in two phases on December 1 and 5. According to the list released here, former Gujarat Congress chief Arjun Modhwadiya has been fielded from Porbandar, Himanshu Patel from Gandhinagar South and Hiteshbhai Vora from Rajkot South. The list was declared after candidates' names were finalised during a meeting of the party's central election committee (CEC) chaired by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge here. Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi joined the meeting online, while the rest of the participants attended it physically at the AICC headquarters here. The Congress is seeking to oust the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from government in the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, where the saffron party has been in power for more than two decades. Elections to the 182-member Gujarat Assembly will be held in two phases -- December 1 and 5 -- and the votes