Punjab Election Bullet: No Manish Tewari Even in Cong’s Last List

Here’s a round-up of all the big events around Assembly Elections 2017.

1. Punjab Polls: Congress Last List in, Manish Tewari Out

Punjab Congress president Captain Amarinder Singh could not manage tickets for his staunch supporters, including former Union Minister Manish Tewari and his close aide BIS Chahal’s son, even as his push for former SAD MLA Inderbir Singh Bolaria worked to get him nominated.

The party, with just one day left for filing of nominations, announced its last three candidates – Bolaria from Amritsar (South), Sanjeev Talwar from Ludhiana (East) and Dr Manju Bansal from Mansa.

With this, Congress completed its ticket distribution process, and is the last major political party to do so.

Source: The Indian Express

2. Who's the Boss, Capt or General?

Punjab polls are near and the mutual exchanges are getting increasingly heated, even ugly. A day after cricketer-turned-political Navjot Singh Sidhu joined Congress, the party feels it has a massive edge in the upcoming poll elections.

Congress state President and former Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, who is gunning for a major win and is contesting for the last time in elections, has hit out at his counterpart and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) contender from Patiala-I Assembly constituency General JJ Singh saying that, “He was a year junior to me and I know, he was a lacklustre and an average general.”

Source: Financial Express

3. Punjab's Corrupt Ministers Will Be Put Behind Bars: Kejriwal

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Tuesday that the Aam Aadmi Party would form the next government in Punjab and the “Badals will be held accountable for their alleged misdeeds that have ruined the State”.

“An AAP government would not allow Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and the members of his Cabinet who are facing corruption charges to go scotfree. We will constitute a special investigating team to investigate the ill-gotten wealth of the Badal family and recover every single pie looted from Punjab,” Mr Kejriwal said at a press conference.

Source: The Hindu

4. Congress Confirms 'Seat-Sharing Deal' in Goa

Stating that their strategy is to defeat BJP in the coming state assembly elections, senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Tuesday clarified that the party is going to fight the polls on its own, with a 'seat sharing agreement' in a few constituencies.

This BJP government has taken U-turns on every poll promise. Our strategy is to inform people door-to-door about these U turns. We are in no formal alliance with anyone and have a strategic seat-sharing agreement which is subject to discussion with state leaders.

Source: Times of India

5. Goa Assembly Polls: Battle Goes Online

Days after VJ Raghu campaigned for the Aam Admi Party (AAP) in Goa, he has become a major cause for a war of words between AAP and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) supporters online.

While those backing BJP are sharing a video of Raghu being cornered by a student's arguments, AAP supporters are sharing a clipping of Raghu clarifying that the video is using information selectively.

AAP and BJP supporters have the most online presence as the date for the Goa assembly polls draws closer.

Source: Times of India

6. AAP Alleges Harassment by Goa Govt Officials; Seek EC Intervention

Alleging bias, the AAP on Tuesday approached the Election Commission and sought deterrent action against “hostile” officials of the Goa government, even as it raised the issue of symbols identical to party’s “broom” being used by some to “mislead” the people. AAP’s Delhi unit convenor Dilip Pandey also accused many officials of working under the “influence” of the ruling BJP.

In a complaint, the AAP has listed out seven instances in the last three months when its volunteers were allegedly threatened and assaulted and yet no action was taken against the culprits.

Source: Indian Express

7. Congress 'Rebels' in Uttarakhand to Contest as BJP Candidates

In its first list of 64 candidates from Uttarakhand announced on Monday evening in New Delhi, the BJP has fielded the former Congress MLAs, or “ rebels” who denounced the Congress and joined the BJP last year, while putting the State under President's Rule.

While sticking to the constituencies from which they had registered a victory in the former State Assembly polls, “rebels” Pradeep Batra will be contesting from Roorkee, Kunwar Pranav Singh Champion from Khanpur, Subodh Uniyal from Narendranagar, Rekha Arya from Someshwar (SC), Shailendra Mohan Singhal from Jaspur, Umesh Sharma (Kau) from Raipur, and Shaila Rani Rawat from Kedarnath.

Source: The Hindu

8. Cong Leader ND Tiwari Seeking a BJP Ticket for Son Rohit Shekhar

Former Chief Minister of the states of Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh and presently the senior Congress leader, ND Tiwari is all set to change his loyalty and all this, for the sake of his son. Tiwari, a Congressman now seeks a BJP ticket for his son, for which he is in talks with necessary people.

Tiwari wants a BJP ticket for his son Rohit Shekhar from Kumaon region of Uttarakhand. For this purpose, he has been in touch with central BJP as well as state level leaders. Apparently, they have given him a green signal regarding this matter.

Surprisingly, it was not long ago that ND Tiwari had failed to acknowledge Rohit Shekhar as his own son. Rohit Shekhar had filed a paternity suit against the Congress leader and it was only after various newspaper as well as DNA proofs that the court declared Rohit to be Tiwari’s biological son.

Source: Financial Express

9. Manipur Polls in a Season of Discontent

The dates for the election to the Manipur Legislative Assembly have been announced. Polling will be in two phases, on March 4 and March 8. Results will be declared on March 11.

A fortnight ago, there was speculation that the election may be preceded by a spell of President’s Rule in the wake of the indefinite economic blockade by the United Naga Council (UNC), a civil organisation in Manipur which claims to be the apex body of all Naga tribes in the State, but these have since been put to rest.

The blockade is now two and a half months old and Manipur continues to reel under the effect of shortages of many essential commodities, petrol and cooking gas in particular.

Source: The Hindu