1. Uniting the Scattered Congressmen Will Be a Challenge in Punjab
In this year's assembly elections, the Jalalabad constituency is being seen as one of Punjab's key seats, with Shiromani Akali Dal's Sukhbir Singh Badal, AAP's candidate Bhagwant Mann, and former Punjab CM Late Beant Singh's grandson Ravneet Singh Bittu comepeting for the seat.
After the party's decision to nominate Bittu, Congress members from the Jalalabad area have raised questions, which has indicated that uniting these scattered Congressmen will be a tough task for Ravneet Singh Bittu.
(Source: Punjab Kesari)
2. Congress, BJP, Then Congress Again For Ex-Punjab CM Beant Singh’s Daughter, Gurkanwal Kaur
Gurkanwal Kaur, daughter of former Punjab chief minister late Beant Singh, returned to the Congress fold after joining the BJP on Saturday.
Gurkanwal was welcomed into the Congress on Tuesday by PCC president Amarinder Singh and Patiala MLA Preneet Kaur, who said her “homecoming” was an endorsement of the Congress wave in Punjab ahead of the assembly elections.
Amarinder said Gurkanwal had some minor grudges, which the party had addressed.
Gurkanwal, on her part, said she was happy to be back in her “political family”. She was an MLA from Jalandhar Cantonment from 2002 to 2007 and a minister in Punjab government.
Gurkanwal is the sister of former minister Tej Prakash Singh and aunt of Congress MP Ravneet Singh Bittu and MLA Gurkeerat Kotli.
(Source: PTI)
3. SC Rejects SAD Leader Jagir Kaur’s Plea to Contest Punjab Poll
The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected former SGPC chief Bibi Jagir Kaur's plea for suspension of her conviction in the 2000 murder case of her daughter Harpreet Kaur.
A bench comprising Justices AK Goel and UU Lalit refused to entertain the plea even as senior counsel Shyam Divan contended that this was necessary to enable his client to contest the February 4 Punjab Assembly poll.
Divan pleaded that she had been sentenced to five years by the trial court only on the charge of criminal conspiracy, not for the substantial offence of murder.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court had already stayed the sentence but a stay on the conviction was necessary for contesting the poll, Divan said.
(Source: The Tribune)
4. RSS Won’t Campaign Actively for BJP, Says Goa Unit Chief
The Goa RSS unit has stated that the organisation will not play an active role in campaigning for BJP candidates for the 4 February assembly elections.
“We will not tell RSS cadre to support any particular party,” RSS sanghchalak for Goa Laxman Behre told TOI.
In the past, RSS members have actively campaigned for BJP candidates. But Behre stated that the state unit would leave it up to its members whether they want to work for any candidate or not. He also claimed that RSS was never actively involved in politics. But BJP state president Vinay Tendulkar told TOI he had full confidence that RSS cadre would back BJP candidates in the polls.
(Source: Times of India)
5. Arvind Kejriwal Gets EC Notice, This Time for His ‘Take Bribe and Vote’ Remark
Aam Aadmi Party chief and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal was slapped with a notice by the Election Commission on Monday for violation of the model code of conduct – this time for allegedly asking voters to take bribes from rival parties but vote for the AAP.
Kejriwal has been asked to explain his stance by 1 pm on 19 January, failing which the poll panel will take a decision without any further reference to him.
The notice follows a complaint by the Congress wherein it had accused Kejriwal of “deliberately and intentionally” instigating the public “to take bribe for voting” in a public rally in Panaji on 8 January.
(Source: Times of India)
6. Parties Prepare Themselves for Contesting Elections in Manipur
Political parties are queuing up to contest the two phased assembly polls of Manipur in March.
Manipur People’s Party (MPP), the oldest regional party in the north-east, will contest 39 constituencies in the 60 member house.
MPP has twice ruled Manipur. However, in 2012 assembly polls MPP was not able to win a single seat. MPP is confident of good show in this election.
Meghalaya's opposition party National Peoples Party (NPP) will make electoral debut and will contest around 25 to 30 seats. NPP is a member of BJP floated platform of non-congress parties, Northeast Democratic Alliance (NEDA).
(Source: The Economic Times)
7. Uttarakhand Govt Worried After Rumours of a Bribery Sting Operation
Rumours of a sting operation on a senior IAS officer have brought sleepless nights not only for the government but for the bureaucracy as well. There is chatter that a senior IAS officer has been caught on camera taking Rs 40 lakh as bribe.
It is being said that this sting will be out in the public. The talk about this has been doing the rounds of Uttarakhand's IAS officers' WhatsApp groups.
(Source: Amar Ujala)
8. Your Not-So-Secret Ballot
Indians going to vote in the upcoming elections will do so believing that their vote is secret and the button they press on the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) is known only to them. After all, while polling officials can hear the beep of the machine, indicating that a vote has been registered, they don’t know which button has been pressed.
But does their vote stay secret afterwards?
During the counting process, EVMs from polling booths across the constituency are brought together at counting centres and the votes for each party and candidate are counted machine by machine. It is therefore possible to work out the breakdown of votes for each party at each and every polling booth.
(Source: Indian Express)
9. Beyond Bitter Elections
With the Assembly elections in five states, the stage is set for yet another bitter electoral battle between the NDA and its political rivals.
But, there is much more at stake in this round of elections in these states for the BJP that heads the ruling alliance at the Centre, than just the formation of new governments in these states. To be more specific, the outcome of these polls will determine whether the ruling alliance will have the edge in the presidential election in July.
Come July, the ruling NDA will have to garner over 5.5 lakh votes if it wants its candidate to sail safely through. Uttar Pradesh is the biggest among the five states going to polls in February-March and is also the state with the maximum number of votes in the presidential election.
(Source: New Indian Express)
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