Tag: BJP

Murder, Rs 130-crore scam accused: BJP fields tainted candidates in Jharkhand polls.

Source – indiatoday.in

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which generally talks about morality in politics, seems to be going the opposite way in the upcoming Jharkhand Assembly elections. A lot of candidates belonging to other parties earlier have been given tickets by the party and it also includes some of those who have serious allegations of corruption against them.

Two candidates who recently joined the BJP are Bhanu Pratap Shahi, who was a minister in Madhu Koda’s government and is now the BJP candidate from Bhavnathpur Assembly constituency and is accused in a Rs 130 crore medicine scam. The second is Shashi Bhushan Mehta, who has been given the ticket from Panki and is accused of killing a teacher working in his school.

As per court sources, the chargesheet submitted by the CBI and the ED in the 2008 medicine scam has the name of Bhanu Pratap Shahi, who has been included in the first list of 52 candidates by the BJP.

According to sources, the government made a provision to purchase medicines from public sector undertakings under the National Rural Health Mission but Shahi, during the Madhu Koda government, defied the rules and purchased a huge quantity of medicines from private companies.

Shahi was arrested in this case in 2011 and is out on bail since 2013. Sources say that Shahi is an accused in a money laundering case also. The BJP leaders are also not happy with the party for giving tickets to such people. This is the reason Anant Pratap Dev, a former MLA from Bhawanthpur constituency, quit the BJP and joined the All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU).

“I never thought that the party which used to talk about morality is now giving tickets to the tainted leaders. Everyone knows about corruption during the Madhu Koda government. The BJP in the state won the elections on the issue of corruption only. Bhanu Pratap Shahi is facing several charges and all these things were ignored,” Dev told IANS.

Mehta, accused of killing a teacher of his school, joined the BJP in October and has been given the ticket from Panki whereas there has been no announcement on giving a ticket to the whistleblower in the fodder scam and senior BJP minister Saryu Rai.

LJP Ready to Contest Jharkhand Assembly Election on its Own: Chirag Paswan.

Source – news18.com

Patna: Lok Janshakti Party national president Chirag Paswan on Monday said the party is ready to contest the coming assembly poll in Jharkhand on its own. BJP has announced candidates for most of the seats in the state which the LJP had sought from the saffron party as a partner of the NDA.

Election for the 81-member Jharkhand Assembly will be held in five phases beginning on November 30. Paswan emphasised that LJP will not accept seats given to it in as “tokens” this time.

BJP, which is seeking to retain power in Jharkhand amid a determined bid by opposition parties, released its first list of 52 candidates on Sunday for the assembly polls.

Paswan had categorically said a few days ago that LJP would like to contest assembly elections in Jharkhand under the banner of NDA and conveyed this to the alliance leaders. “Now, there are no talks on contesting polls as an alliance. We will take a decision by late evening today as LJP is ready to contest assembly elections on its own,” he told reporters here.

LJP will not accept seats given to it as a “token” this time, Paswan said. “We had demanded six seats as part of the alliance(NDA) but BJP on Sunday declared candidates for most of the seats that we had demanded.”

“If we are offered seats under the alliance where our party (LJP) is not prepared properly or does not have strong candidates, then we will not contest such seats,” he said. The LJP leader said that the party’s Jharkhand unit has been for contesting the assembly polls on its own as the party’s organisation has become stronger and it has better candidates than before.

The state unit has sent a list of 37 seats to the party’s central office which it wants to contest, Paswan said.

BJP releases first list of 52 candidates for Jharkhand polls, CM Raghubar Das to contest from Jamshedpur.

Source – hindustantimes.com

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday announced its first list of 52 candidates for the assembly election in Jharkhand which is scheduled to be held later this month.

The list includes 17 Scheduled Tribe (ST), 21 Other Backward Class (OBC) and five women candidates, the BJP’s general secretary Arun Singh announced.

As many as 30 MLAs have got tickets, and 10 have been dropped from the list.

Chief minister Raghubar Das will contest from Jamshedpur east and state president Laxman Giluwa from Chakradharpur. Several turncoats such as Bhanu Pratap Shahi also have got BJP ticket.

Jharkhand has 81 assembly seats and the BJP is discussion an alliance with the All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) of former minister Sudesh Mahto.

Mahto is asking for about 18 seats but the BJP is willing to offer just 10.

A formal announcement about the alliance is expected in a couple of days.

The state elections will be held in five phases beginning November 30 and the counting of votes will take place on December 23.

In the first phase on November 30, voting will be held on 13 assembly seats. Then, 20 constituencies will vote on December 7, 17 on December 12 and 15 constituencies on December 16.

In the fifth and the last round, voting will take place on 16 assembly seats on December 20 and the results will be declared three days later.

The term of the outgoing assembly expires on January 1, 2020.

Jharkhand BJP MLA from Barhi Joins Congress Ahead of Assembly Polls.

Source – news18.com

Ranchi/Hazaribag: Former BJP MLA from Jharkhand’s Barhi constituency, Uma Shankar Akela, on Sunday joined the Congress ahead of the Assembly polls in the state.

Akela joined the Congress in New Delhi in the presence of AICC in-charge RPN Singh and Jharkhand Pradesh Congress Committee president Rameshwar Oraon, Hazaribag district Congress leader Devraj Kushwaha said.

Kushwaha claimed that Akela joined the Congress after not being given a BJP ticket from Barhi Assembly seat in the upcoming elections in the state.

Akela had won the Barhi seat in the 2009 Assembly elections, but lost in the 2014 polls to Manoj Yadav of the Congress.

Yadav has recently joined the BJP and got a ticket from the seat. Akela is hoping to contest the elections from Barhi seat on a Congress ticket, party sources said.

Polling will be held in Barhi seat on December 12. The five-phase polling to 81 seats in the state Assembly will begin on November 30 and end on December 20. Counting of the votes will take place on December 23.

Meanwhile, NDA’s ally AJSU Party is scheduled to meet the BJP leadership on Sunday night to discuss seat-sharing, a party leader said. When asked about the number of seats AJSU Party will

demand from the BJP, party president Sudesh Mahto told PTI that the details will be disclosed following the meeting.

Mahto, a former deputy chief minister, said his party will announce its manifesto on November 14.

Earlier in the day, the BJP announced its first list of 52 candidates for the Assembly polls in the state.

Jitan Ram Manjhi Threatens To Pull Out Of Opposition Alliance In Bihar.

Source – ndtv.com

PATNA: Disarray in the opposition Grand Alliance in Bihar again emerged on Friday when former Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi’s fresh threat of pulling out of the five-party formation was rubbished by other coalition partners as his pressure tactics.

They expressed the view that the Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) chief was merely trying to play hardball and would ultimately fall in line.

Mr Manjhi had announced at the meeting of his party’s national executive meeting in Bihar capital Patna Thursday night it will go it alone in Jharkhand where it has never contested an election so far and field its candidates in all the 243 assembly segments in Bihar when Vidhan Sabha polls were held next year.

The mercurial leader, however, was yet to make up his mind as to which seats to contest in Jharkhand where elections have been announced and polling would commence by the end of this month.

His announcement of fighting all the Bihar seats was in line with his repeated threats issued in the aftermath of the drubbing received by the grand alliance in the Lok Sabha polls.

HAM had lost all the five Lok Sabha seats it had contested, including Gaya which Mr Manjhi himself lost to a relative newcomer Vijay Manjhi of the JD(U).

Speculation is rife that after having gravitated to the grand alliance last year, when he quit the NDA and ended up clinching a legislative council berth for his son from the quota of the RJD the wily leader may be eyeing a return to the formation headed by the BJP which seems on the upswing in the state as well as the country.

However, Mr Manjhi firmly denied any plans to return to the NDA when asked by reporters on Friday.

NDA sources say that Mr Manjhi’s entry is likely to meet with stiff opposition from Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who heads the JD(U) and against whom the HAM president had revolted before floating his own outfit.

Besides, the LJP of Ram Vilas Paswan would also not like to share his political space with another Dalit leader.

Meanwhile, RJD national vice president Raghuvansh Prasad Singh dismissed Mr Manjhi’s latest outburst, saying “he is simply engaging in a bit of shadow boxing to enthuse his party’s rank and file.”

“He may be having some demands which are not being met. But that happens to all parties in a coalition. Once the process of campaign for Bihar assembly elections picks up, he is going to find no other abode except the grand alliance”.

The views were echoed by Congress Rajya Sabha member Akhilesh Prasad Singh, who hoped that his current foul mood notwithstanding, Mr Manjhi will be firmly with the grand alliance when the poll bugle is sounded in Bihar.

Interestingly, former Bollywood set designer Mukesh Sahni whose support Mr Manjhi has been counting on since the recent by-polls, ended up at a press conference addressed jointly by leaders of the grand alliance and Left parties as a show of solidarity among forces opposed to the BJP-led coalition, which rules the Centre as well as the state.

The press conference was organized by RLSP chief Upendra Kushwaha on Friday and Mr Manjhi took care to ensure no leader of his party attended the same.

However, RLSP national secretary general Madhaw Anand told PTI “we are not able to understand the grouse of Manjhi, who is a senior and respected leader. He seems to be impatient about things like the grand alliance chief ministerial candidate and the respective share of seats for each constituent. We can only urge him not to cause more damage to the Mahagathbandhan by haste,” Mr Anand said.

Mr Anand was hinting at Mr Manjhi having fielded his candidate from Nathnagar assembly segment where by-polls were held last month and which the RJD lost by a margin less than the number of votes secured by the HAM candidate.

Taking a cue from Mr Manjhi, Mr Sahni had also fielded his party’s candidate from Simri Bakhtiyarpur though it did not come in the way of the RJD wresting the seat from JD(U) by a comfortable margin.

Mr Manjhi’s defiant stance during elections had followed repeated attacks on RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav on whose inexperience he blamed the Lok Sabha debacle of grand alliance and threw his hat in the ring for being projected as the opposition coalitions cm candidate, much to the annoyance of Lalu Yadav’s party.

Mob lynching in Jharkhand: Mubarak becomes latest victims of lynchings.

Source – enewsroom.in

Ranchi: Mubarak Ansari, 48, becomes 22nd mob lynching victims in Jharkhand. While Akhtar Ansari, 26, has managed to live on, despite receiving serious injuries from a mob thrashing. He  is undergoing treatment in a hospital in Bokaro district of Jharkhand.

Mubarak and Akhtar were accused of stealing a battery from a truck in Govindpur colony of Bokaro. The two accused hail from a village closeby. On Nov 5, the duo was intercepted by the owners, in Govindpur, when the they were allegedly whisking away a truck battery. Following which the owners invited many more resident, who tied Mubarak to a pole and began to mercilessly beat the two.

“We were mercilessly beaten from midnight to early morning of Nov 6. Only when some villagers of my village crossed by and identified us, that they called our village Sadar (local committee president), who informed the police,” said Akhtar in written complaint to the police.  Akhtar, is at present undergoing treatment,  also mentioned in the FIR that Mubarak succumbed to the injuries that he sustained due to mob lynching.

Like other lynching case, in this case too, the entire episode of Mubarak and Akhtar being lynched was recorded on camera. Female voices could also be heard inciting the mob and also demanding for a compensation.

Bokaro police has arrested four accused in this lynching case. Interestingly, in this case one of the arrested accused is a woman, who has been named in the FIR lodged by Akhtar.

The lynching of Mubarak is the latest one in the long list of at least 22 victims of lynching cases that has taken place in Jharkhand under Raghubar Das led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government. People have been lynched sometimes on the basis of alleged stealing charges, sometimes for transporting beef and cows and sometimes for child lifting or theft. And mostly Muslims or members from the scheduled tribe (tribals) and scheduled caste (dalits) have been victims of these heinous crimes that have been taking place in Jharkhand, over these three years.

A recent case of Tabrez Ansari was highlighted across the world and the issue was even raised in United States and in its Security Council.

However, only in two cases (Alimuddin Ansari of Ramgarh and Mazloom Ansari of Latehar), conviction of the accused took place at the lower courts.

While it is well known to every that killers of Alimuddin are on bail now and have even been felicitated by the Hazaribagh MP Jayant Sinha.

Jharkhand Assembly polls: Congress-JMM seat-sharing talks in final stages; announcement likely today in Ranchi.

Source – firstpost.com

Seat-sharing talks between the Congress and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) for the Assembly election are in final stages and an announcement is likely on Friday, sources said.

The Congress, JMM and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) are attempting to form an alliance to defeat the ruling BJP in the five-phase election in November-December in the eastern state.

According to sources, deliberations are on between senior leaders of the Congress and the JMM for finalising the seat-sharing agreement and an announcement is likely to be made in Ranchi on Friday.

Jharkhand Pradesh Congress Committee president Rameshwar Oraon and Congress Legislature Party leader Alamgir Alam met JMM chief Hemant Soren.

Sources said the JMM is likely to be the leading partner in the alliance and will contest on more than 50 percent of the seats.

The Congress may settle with 25-30 seats in the 81-member Assembly, leaving the rest for smaller allies.

The Congress had contested on all seats in the last Assembly election in 2014, it may settle for 25-30 seats as part of the alliance.

The Congress has already held preliminary discussions on its possible candidates for the election at a meeting of the party’s screening committee.

Another meeting of the screening panel will be held on 9 November. On the same day, a meeting of the central election committee chaired by Sonia Gandhi will be held to finalise the list of candidates.

Sources said the Congress is unlikely to succeed in its efforts to form a grand alliance with the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (JVM) of Babulal Marandi deciding to go it alone in the election.

The Left parties are also unlikely to be a part of the alliance as their demand for seats are unlikely to be met, sources said.

The Left has two members in the current Assembly, while the Congress has six.

Sources add that the RJD is likely to settle for around 6-7 seats as part of the alliance, even though Lalu Prasad Yadav’s outfit has been demanding 14-15 seats.

“Our aim is to remove the Raghubar Das-led BJP government… The Congress and its partners will try to fulfil the dreams of people of the state that have not been fulfilled so far,” RPN Singh, the Congress party in-charge of Jharkhand affairs, told PTI.

Asked if the Congress was willing to play second fiddle to JMM in the state, he said that when there is a coalition, all allies contest as a family to accomplish the dreams of the people of Jharkhand.

Singh said the Congress would soon come out with a manifesto of its own, besides having a common minimum programme with the JMM.

Jharkhand polls: Leaders in Delhi to finalise lists.

Source – indiatoday.in

As polling day nears in Jharkhand, all the political parties are engrossed in finalising their candidates for the 81-seat Assembly.

Marathon meetings and hectic discussions are being conducted by the parties.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) have been the heavyweights in the elections here while regional parties like the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (JVM), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and All Jharkhand Students’ Union Party (AJSUP) also have stakes here.

For national parties like the BJP and the Congress, the scene has shifted to Delhi where state leaders are camping to finalise their lists.

A BJP leader said Chief Minister Raghubar Das, state party chief Lakshman Gilua, and other leaders are in Delhi as they were asked to reach the national capital. Before leaving for Delhi, the BJP’s state election committee met on Wednesday under Gilua’s chairmanship and a list of candidates was readied.

Sources in the BJP said the party’s central election committee would be meeting on November 8 where the names of the candidates will be finalised.

Sources also said that Suresh Mahato, chief of BJP ally All Jharkhand Student Union, has also reached Delhi to discuss the seat-sharing arrangement.

Congress state leaders, including state party chief Rameshwar Oraon and senior leaders like Aalamgir and Subodhkant Sahay have also moved to Delhi. Party spokesperson Kishore Shahdeo told IANS that the party’s screening committee had met on Wednesday. But, sources said that candidates could not be finalised as the seat-sharing arrangement with the JMM is yet to be finalised.

Congress sources said that the central election committee is likely to meet this week to finalise their candidates.

As the political parties are readying their lists, most of the aspirants are keeping a watch on the happenings in Delhi.

The Assembly polls in Jharkhand will be conducted in five phases from November 30 to December 20, an exercise spread over 21 days because of the Naxal problem that poses a security challenge.

Counting of votes will be taken up on December 23.

Of the 81 Assembly seats in Jharkhand, nine are reserved for the Scheduled Castes (SC) and 28 for the Scheduled Tribes (ST).

Assembly Elections 2019: All you need to know about the Jharkhand state polls.

Source – moneycontrol.com

The Election Commission of India, on November 1, announced the polling schedule for Assembly elections in Jharkhand.

With the announcement, the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) came into effect in the state.

Tenure of the current Jharkhand Legislative Assembly will end on January 5, 2020.

The election for all 81 Assembly seats will happen in five phases spanning over 20 days.

Important dates to watch out for in Jharkhand, by phases:

Phase 1> Issue of notification: November 6
> Last date of nomination: November 13
> Scrutiny of nominations: November 14

> Last date of withdrawal of candidature: November 16

> Voting: November 30

Phase 2> Issue of notification: November 11
> Last date of nomination: November 18
> Scrutiny of nominations: November 19

> Last date of withdrawal of candidature: November 21

> Voting: December 7

Phase 3> Issue of notification: November 16
> Last date of nomination: November 25
> Scrutiny of nominations: November 26

> Last date of withdrawal of candidature: November 28

> Voting: December 12

Phase 4> Issue of notification: November 22
> Last date of nomination: November 29
> Scrutiny of nominations: November 30

> Last date of withdrawal of candidature: December 2

> Voting: December 16

Phase 5> Issue of notification: November 26
> Last date of nomination: December 3
> Scrutiny of nominations: December 4

> Last date of withdrawal of candidature: December 6

> Voting: December 20

Counting of votes for all phases will happen together on December 23.

Reserved seats

While, 28 seats have been reserved for Scheduled Tribes (STs), nine have been reserved for Scheduled Castes (SCs)

Voters and polling

According to data released by EC, Jharkhand has a total of 2.26 crore eligible voters. Out of these, 41,336 are service voters.

The number of polling stations that will be used by voters across the state is 29,464. This number is 19 percent higher than in 2014.

To encourage greater constructive participation of women in the electoral process, EC has directed that at least one polling station will be managed exclusively by women in every Assembly constituency. In such stations, all election staff, including security personnel, will be women.

EC has confirmed that Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPATs) will be used in this election.

Lowdown on the political situation

Chief Minister Raghubar Das-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is hoping to retain power in the state. BJP is widely expected to contest the election in an alliance with the All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU).

The BJP-AJSU alliance is being challenged by Opposition parties such as former chief ministers Shibu Soren and Hemant Soren’s Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), the Indian National Congress and the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) (JVM-P). The three parties had contested the 2019 Lok Sabha election in an alliance and are expected to fight in this formation again, with the possibility of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) joining hands.

BJP’s ally in Bihar, the Janata Dal (United), has said that it will contest all 81 seats alone.No alliance has declared their seat-sharing formula so far.

After witnessing below-expectation Assembly election results in Haryana and Maharashtra in October, the BJP is recalibrating its strategy. Many factors that came into play in Haryana and Maharashtra could may play a key role in Jharkhand too.

JD (U) banking on Jharkhand, Delhi assembly polls for national party status.

Source – hindustantimes.com

The Janata Dal (United) led by Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar has set its eyes on the upcoming Jharkhand and Delhi assembly polls which could be critical to its efforts of being declared a national party.

The elections to the 81-member Jharkhand assembly will be held in five phases beginning November 30; Delhi will go to polls early next year.

After assuming charge for the second consecutive term as the party’s national president in Delhi, Kumar, on Wednesday made a strong pitch towards realizing the target at the earliest.

“My priority as the party president is to expand its base in other states including Jharkhand, Delhi and the north-east to get national party status for the JD-U,” he said.

According to the criteria set by the Election Commission of India (ECI), a national party needs to get at least 6% of the votes across a minimum of four states, or 2% of the total seats in the Lok Sabha from at least three states, or it should be recognised as a state party in at least four states.

At present, there are six recognized national parties in India — the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Congress, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), the Communist Party of India (CPI) and the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M).

JD(U)’s ambition to expand its national footprints received a boost after it won 8 out of 60 assembly seats in Arunachal Pradesh , next only to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party which won 41 seats and secured a majority, in elections in May this year.

However, it performed badly in assembly polls in Chhattisgarh (2018), Rajasthan (2018), Karnataka (2018), and Gujarat (2017). In Nagaland, the party won one seat. In Assam, JD (U) contested four seats in collaboration with AlI India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) led by Badruddin Ajmal, but could not win a single seat.

In Kerala, JD (U) contested seven seats under the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF), but failed to open its account.

“The JD (U) has the requisite share from two states, Bihar (70 seats) and Arunachal Pradesh, and we narrowly missed the target in Nagaland,” said the party’s principal general secretary, K C Tyagi.

In Delhi, the party is eyeing Poorvanchalis, the migrant population from Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh who dominate certain pockets of the city. In 2015, over a dozen members of the 70-member Delhi assembly were from Purvanchal.

The JD (U) has contested Delhi assembly elections in the past too. In 2013, it contested 27 seats and won 1. In 2015, the party contested 12 seats but failed win any.

“In Delhi, we might be contesting close to 35 seats where the voters from Purvanchal have a say in deciding the fate of the candidate,” said a senior JD (U) leader who spoke on condition of anonymity.

In Jharkhand, some party leaders say that the JD(U), which is part of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance, will go solo and contest all the 81 seats in the November-December polls. In 2005-06 ,JD (U) had seven legislators in Jharkhand.

However, the party lost its sheen after the 2009 polls and has failed to win a single seat in any election thereafter.

“Our strategy for Jharkhand and Delhi is clear. We want to contest independently and with full strength. The number of seats to be contested will be decided later,” said Afaque Ahmed Khan, the party’s national general secretary.

DM Diwakar, professor, AN Sinha Institute for Social Studies, Patna, said that vying for national status is the ambition of every party.

“Nitish Kumar’s party wants to send a message that it is expanding its base, thereby projecting him as a national leader. On the other hand, wherever the JD (U) contests, it indirectly helps the BJP as it erodes the votes of the party opposed to the BJP.”