BJP today announced candidates for all nine Lucknow seats after a long discussion. High profile hopefuls from the capital Lucknow, Aparna Yadav, the daughter-in-law of Samajwadi Party patriarch and former chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, and BJP MP Rita Bahuguna Joshi's son Mayank Joshi, were both not on the list.
Former Enforcement Directorate officer Rajeshwar Singh, whose voluntary retirement was today accepted by the union government has been given the party ticket from the Sarojini Nagar assembly seat. Swati Singh, state's minister of state for woman welfare, and her husband Dayashankar Singh were both eyeing the seat.
The high-profile Lucknow Cantonment seat, where both Ms Yadav and Mr Joshi were hoping to be nominated, has been given to state minister Brijesh Pathak. This is considered a safe seat for The party. Rita Bahuguna Joshi had defeated Aparna Yadav on this seat in the last elections.
The BJP had won eight out of the nine seats in Lucknow in the last state elections.
Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Manipur, Punjab, and Uttarakhand will vote over seven phases starting February 10, with counting of votes scheduled for March 10.
A total of 690 Assembly constituencies will vote over the next two months, with the maximum in UP (403 seats) followed by Punjab (117), Uttarakhand (70), Manipur (60) and Goa (40).
Here are the LIVE Updates on Assembly Elections 2022:
Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia on Wednesday said the fight for Amritsar East seat is a fight for restarting development projects in the constituency. He said the work in constituency completely stalled during the last 18 years of Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu's administering it.
Despite promising to give 40 per cent of the tickets to women, the party cancelled the candidatures of some women it had fielded, including Dalit candidate Barkha Rani and Sandhya Dalakoti from Lalkuan, Mr Kaushik alleged.
"Priyanka Gandhi should first explain this anomaly," he added.
Aditi Singh accused Priyanka Gandhi Vadra of being hypocritical in her politics. "If she supports women then why did she deny him a ticket because of this? She continuously tries to harass me," she alleged.
Sonia Gandhi was elected as a Lok Sabha MP from Rae Bareli's seat in 2004, 2009, 2014, and 2019.
Ms Shukla hogged the limelight in June 2017 when she, along with 10 others, tried to stop Adityanath's cavalcade on the Lucknow University Road and waved black flags to protest against government policies.
The Samajwadi Party has promised to complete building the Ram temple in Uttar Pradesh's Ayodhya much earlier than the BJP if it comes to power in the country's most populous state, which votes in seven phases starting February 10. The BJP responded saying it is challenging Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav to announce he would build a temple in Lord Krishna's birthplace in Mathura.
Speaking to news agency ANI, Swati Singh said she is a part of the BJP and will continue to remain so throughout her life.
"I am part of BJP and will continue to remain so throughout my life. No worker should question the decision taken by the party leadership. The party must have done it for good," the Uttar Pradesh Minister said on not being given a ticket in this Assembly election.
Hailing the BJP's candidate list, Dayashankar Singh said that this time the party win 9 out of 9 seats.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh today addressed a public meeting over the phone after dense fog prevented him from reaching the venue in Uttar Pradesh's Lakhimpur Kheri.
Rajnath Singh reached Bareilly at 11 am as scheduled and travelled to Lakhimpur Kheri and Pilibhit by helicopter but after several attempts, the chopper failed to land at either of the venues due to poor visibility.