Assembly Elections Highlights: The counting of votes for all five states will be held on March 10.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday accused the ruling BJP of trying to "steal" votes and claimed a truck carrying EVMs was "intercepted" in Varanasi, but the Election Commission clarified that the machines were for training officials on counting duty and were not used in elections.
Meanwhile, the ECI has ordered action against Varanasi Additional District Magistrate NK Singh over the violation of rules in transportation of training EVMs, and the official is set to be suspended, said sources.
Along with Uttar Pradesh, assembly elections are set to be held in four other states - Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur. The counting of votes for all five states will be held on March 10.
Here are the Highlights on the Assembly Elections:
85 Lakh Litres Liquor Seized From 5 States That Went To Polls: Election Commission- Over 85 lakh litres of liquor seized from the five states.
- Punjab accounted for nearly 70% of the total liquor haul.
- Drugs worth Rs 575.39 crore were confiscated.
- The total seizures made during the elections amounted to Rs 1,061.87 crore.
Arvind Kejriwal Will Be Seen In PM's Role if People Give Opportunity: AAP Leader- AAP leader Raghav Chadha said if people give an opportunity, Arvind Kejriwal will be seen in a "bigger role of Prime Minister".
- He said AAP has emerged major national force and will be a "natural and national" replacement of Congress.
- He said Arvind Kejriwal is the hope of crores of people.
LIVE: 3 UP Officials Removed As Poll Body Acts Over Voting Machines Complaints- Three officials have been removed from election duty in Uttar Pradesh.
- This comes a day after Samajwadi Party alleged voting machines were being shifted in an unauthorised manner.
- The officials were replaced on the directions of the Election Commission.
(PTI)
Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh Speaks To NDTV Ahead Of Result DayManipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh To NDTV:
- "We will get more seats than what was shown on NDTV Poll Of (Exit) Polls."
- "We will form government with two-third majority."
- "We would like to keep some of our coalition partners with us even if we have comfortable majority."
Election Live: Section 144 In Punjab, Gathering Prohibited Outside Counting Centres- Prohibitory measures under CrPC Section 144 imposed in all districts of Punjab, said the state chief electoral officer.
- Gathering of people outside the counting centres has been prohibited in view of the counting of votes.
- The poll official said victory processions have been prohibited as well.
(PTI)
Election Live: Farmers' Outfit, RLD Workers Keep Eye On EVMs In Western UP- Workers of the Rashtriya Lok Dal and Bharatiya Kisan Union have pitched tents near election offices in western UP.
- They have pitched their tents to keep an eye on assembly polls' vote counting on Thursday.
- According to UP Police, a total of 250 companies of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) have been provided to all districts.
(PTI)
Election Live: Congress's Sachin Pilot Says People Dissatisfied In BJP-Ruled States- Congress leader Sachin Pilot said the party's performance will be better in the assembly elections.
- He said that according to the feedback he has received, a change is almost certain.
- Mr Pilot said wherever there is BJP government, there is huge dissatisfaction among people.
(PTI)
Election Live: Over 50,000 Officials Deployed For Counting Of Votes, Says Report- Over 50,000 officials have been deployed for the counting of votes in the five states.
- The counting will begin at 8 am in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa, Manipur and Punjab.
- Nearly 1,200 counting halls have been set up where results will be recorded from EVMs.
Election Live: Punjab Congress Meeting Underway Ahead Of Results, Says Report- A meeting of Punjab Congress leaders with Ajay Maken is underway.
- The meeting aims at devising the strategy after the declaration of the poll result.
- Navjot Sidhu, Pawan Khera, Harish Chaudhary are present in the meeting.
- PTI
BJP Keeps Uttar Pradesh, Big AAP Win In Punjab, Predicts Another Exit Poll- The BJP is set for a massive victory in Uttar Pradesh and the Congress will be routed in Punjab, a new post poll survey has predicted just a day before the counting of votes cast in five state elections tomorrow.
- The BJP and its allies will win 43 per cent of the vote share in Uttar Pradesh, says the Lokniti-CSDS exit poll.
- Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party, the BJP's main challenger, will win 35 per cent of the votes, says the exit poll.
- Mayawati's BSP is set to win 15 per cent of the votes, the Congress three per cent and the others, four percent, Lokniti-CSDS says, according to a series of tweets by political analyst Sanjay Kumar.
AAP Guards Goa Candidates After Congress Moved Its Own To Resort: Sources- A day after Congress moved its MLA candidates in Goa to a resort, the Aam Aadmi Party has also moved to keep its own candidates under guard.
- Sources say AAP candidates have been put together at certain locations in the state.
- With predictions of a hung assembly and Congress's neck and neck fight with the BJP in Goa, both AAP and Congress have started ring-fencing their candidates to avoid a 2017 repeat.
Uttarakhand Polls: High Command, Party MLAs Will Decide Chief Minister, Says Congress Poll Observer Mohan Prakash- A day ahead of the counting of the votes, Congress poll observer in Uttarakhand Mohan Prakash on Wednesday said that Chief Minister will be decided by the party high commands and elected MLAs.
- "High command and (party) MLAs will decide (on CM face) after discussion...We are sure of forming govt in Uttarakhand, Goa, Punjab and getting majority numbers in Uttar Pradesh," said Mr Prakash.
- His remarks came in the wake of Congress leader Harish Rawat saying that nobody in the party has any objections to his name as the Chief Ministerial candidate.
BJP's Loss Necessary To Fight Inflation, Says Rajasthan Minister
- The country will "get rid" of inflation if the BJP faces defeat in the Assembly elections in five states, Rajasthan's Food and Civil Supplies Minister Pratap Singh Khachariyawas said.
- "People of the country have expectations from the results tomorrow because the BJP has betrayed the people. If the BJP gets defeated, the country will get rid of inflation," Mr Khachariyawas said.
- "This will also teach the BJP a lesson," he added.
Officer Admitted To "Lapse": Akhilesh Yadav Party Tweets Video In EVM RowA day after Akhilesh Yadav's sensational charge that Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) were moved illegally in Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi just 48 hours before the counting of votes in state elections, his party tweeted the on-camera statement of an official conceding there were "lapses".
Speaking to reporters last evening, Varanasi's Commissioner Deepak Agarwal appeared to accept that there was a lapse in protocol in the movement of EVMs. However, he insisted that the vote machines in question were only for training purposes.
Varanasi Video Has Trucks 'Stealing' Voting Machines: Akhilesh YadavSamajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, the biggest challenger to the BJP in the recently held assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, has alleged that Electronic Voting machines were being stolen from a counting centre in Varanasi just two days before the counting of votes. Accusing the government of "theft", he pointed out that in 2017, the BJP's winning margin on nearly 50 seats were less than 5,000 votes.
Read more