Assembly Election 2022 Highlights: Actor Sonu Sood's Sister Malvika Joins Congress Ahead of Punjab Polls

Key UP Congress Leader To Join Akhilesh Yadav's Party, Meets Supporters
One of the tallest Congress leaders in Uttar Pradesh will join Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party in a big setback for Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's party in India's most populous state, where elections will be held next month. Former Congress MLA Imran Masood has said only Akhilesh Yadav's party can defeat the BJP, whose campaign is being led by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

Actor Sonu Sood's Sister Malvika Joins Congress Ahead of Punjab Polls

Actor Sonu Sood's sister, Malvika Sood, will contest the Punjab polls representing the Congress party. Punjab will vote in a single phase on February 14. The votes will be counted on March 10. The actor, whose work during the Covid crisis has earned him rich praise, said he supports his sister.

Assembly Elections "Right Opportunity To Defeat Hatred": Rahul Gandhi
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi today said the upcoming assembly elections are a right time to defeat hatred.

Assembly elections in five states including Uttar Pradesh will be held in seven phases starting February 10 to March 7. The counting will take place on March 10, the Election Commission has announced.

PM's Photo Won't Be On Vaccine Certificates In 5 States Going To Polls: Sources
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's photograph has been taken off vaccine certificates in five states where elections will be held next month, sources have said. Official sources said filters have been applied on the CoWIN platform to exclude PM Modi's photo in the five states as the model code of conduct came into into force.

A similar move was made during a string of state elections held in April-May last year after complaints from various opposition parties.

Manipur Election 2022: Congress MLA In Manipur Joins BJP Day After Poll Dates Announced
A day after the Election Commission announced poll dates for Manipur, Congress MLA and tribal leader Chaltonlien Amo of Tipaimukh Assembly constituency joined the ruling BJP on Sunday.

The voting for Manipur will take place in two phases on February 27 and March 3. The votes for the 60-member assembly will be counted on March 10.

Mr Amo is the 15th MLA to quit the party after the 2017 assembly polls in the state where the Congress emerged as the single largest party but could not form the government.

Goa Election 2022: Goa Minister Quits Before Polls: "BJP No More Party Of Common People"
Goa minister Michael Lobo resigned today, just a month before polls in the state, and quit the BJP, saying it is "no longer a party for the common man". He may be headed to the Congress in a reversal of the trend of Congress MLAs crossing over to the ruling party in the past few years.

"I have resigned from both the posts (minister and MLA). I will see what steps are to be taken next. I have also resigned from the BJP," Michael Lobo, who was in charge of the state waste management department, told reporters.

"The voters told me that the BJP is no more a party of the common people," he said, defending his move.

UP Election: 55 Paramilitary Companies To Be Deployed In UP's Muzaffarnagar For Feb 10 Polls
Fifty-five companies of paramilitary personnel will be deployed in Muzaffarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh for peaceful conduct of assembly polls to be held on February 10, an official said.

District Magistrate Chandra Bhushan Singh said the district has six assembly constituencies and 20,20,826 voters, including 9,37,688 women.

He said the district has been divided into 25 zones and 156 sectors to be overseen by zonal and sectoral magistrates.

Fifty-five companies of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) personnel will be deployed in the district for peaceful conduct of assembly polls.

Goa Election 2022: Congress Declares Second List Of Candidates For Goa Assembly Elections
The Congress on Sunday released its second list of candidates for the Goa assembly elections.

In this list, seven candidates have been named for the February 14 single-phase polls for the 40-member state assembly.

The names of candidates were finalised after a meeting of the central election committee of the Congress, and it was chaired by party president Sonia Gandhi, according to a statement.

Laddu And A BJP Welcome : Why Photo Of Senior UP Cop Is Going Viral
A photograph of a senior IPS officer in Uttar Pradesh who is the police commissioner of Kanpur, one of the state's largest cities, meeting with a BJP Rajya Sabha MP and retired director general of police has gone viral on social media, as campaigning for the crucial state election goes virtual because of Covid induced restrictions.

Minutes after the Election Commission finished announcing the poll schedule on Saturday, Asim Kumar Arun, a 1994 batch UP cadre IPS officer who was appointed the police commissioner of Kanpur in March 2021, announced on Facebook that he had sought voluntary retirement from the police, saying he "wanted to serve the nation and society in a different manner". In the same post, Mr Arun also thanked Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath "for finding him worthy of membership of the Bharatiya Janta Party".

Yogi Adityanath's "80 vs 20 Fight Now" Remark Month Ahead Of UP Polls
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has called the election in India's most populous state an "80 versus 20 battle", in a highly controversial comment seen to imply a religious divide. The numbers citied by the BJP's Yogi Adityanath roughly correspond to the ratio of Hindus to Muslims in UP, where assembly elections will be held next month.

Yogi Adityanath was attending an event organised by a private news channel in state capital Lucknow when he was asked a question about Brahmin votes in UP.

"The contest has moved much ahead," the saffron-robed Chief Minister replied. "The fight is now 80 versus 20," he added.