Dismissed from Uttarakhand cabinet and expelled from the BJP, former state minister Harak Singh Rawat is expected to join the Congress today. Meanwhile, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami will attend the crucial BJP meet in New Delhi along with top BJP leaders. Union Home Minister Amit Shah, UP CM Yogi Adityanath will also attend the meeting. Suspended for ‘indiscipline’, Rawat is said to have been seeking a ticket for his daughter-in-law Anukriti Gusain from the Lansdowne constituency and a change of seat for himself.
Meanwhile, the BJP-PLC alliance in Punjab is expected to announce its first list of candidates for the assembly polls scheduled to be held on February 14. The ruling Congress has announced the names of 86 candidates while the Aam Aadmi Party has announced 109 candidates so far for the elections to the 117-member assembly.
The Election Commission has deferred the voting in Punjab to February 20. The polling was earlier scheduled to be held on February 14.
A PIL is filed in SC seeking direction to ECI to take steps to ensure that every political party publishes the details regarding criminal cases of each candidate along with reason for such selection on the Home Page of its official website in the spirit of the apex court judgment. The PIL, filed by Advocate Ashwini Upadhyay, also seeks directions to the ECI to de-register the political party which violates the directions of the apex court.
UP CM Yogi Adityanath will meet the BJP's top leadership in Delhi today to decide on the names of candidates for the third and fourth phase of Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections today.
ECI to discuss request of Punjab CM Charanjit S Channi, BJP& Punjab Lok Congress for postponement of Punjab Assembly polls scheduled for Feb 14 as many people from SC community from State likely to visit Varanasi, in view of Guru Ravidas birth anniversary on Feb 16: ECI Sources
The Election Commission is likely to hold a meeting today to decide on the request of several Punjab political parties to postpone the February 14 polls by a few days due to Ravidas Jayanti.
The SP-RLD alliance is also expected to announce another list of candidates today for the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. The alliance has already announces names of 36 candidates, which include 26 from Rashtriya Lok Dal and 10 from Samajwadi Party.
