New Delhi: Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) president Chirag Paswan said on Wednesday that his party has finalised a seat-sharing formula with the BJP for the Lok Sabha polls and all his “concerns” were addressed.

Following a meeting with BJP president J P Nadda, Paswan was lavish in his praise of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other leaders of the ruling party as he expressed satisfaction at the offer given to him, a change from his recent muscle-flexing as the alliance talks dragged on.

Sources said Paswan’s party may contest on five of the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar.

Hajipur seat, currently represented by his estranged uncle and Union minister Pashupati Kumar Paras who heads another LJP faction, might be given to Paswan as he considers the constituency a part of his rightful share due to his father Ram Vilas Paswan’s long association with it. The LJP founder and stalwart Dalit leader represented Hajipur eight times in Lok Sabha.

“Division of Lok Sabha seats in Bihar among all NDA parties decided. It will soon be formally announced. All my concerns have been addressed by the BJP. I am satisfied,” Chirag Paswan said.

Asked about the fate of the faction headed by Paras, Paswan said it was not his concern.

“The seats my party has are mine,” he said, in an indication that the claims of the Paras-headed National Lok Janshakti Party might have been ignored by the BJP.

With Paras serving as a Cabinet minister in the Union government, sources said the BJP will not like him to go against the ruling alliance and may accommodate him in some other capacity.

However, a close aide of Paras claimed that his faction, which has four MPs including him, will explore its options as he vented anger against the BJP over its deal with Chirag Paswan.

Amid claims and counterclaims by the two LJP factions and the BJP’s apparently failed bid for a rapprochement following Ram Vilas Paswan’s death in 2020, his younger brother Paras had walked away with four other MPs of the party due to their differences with Chirag Paswan, who remained the only MP in his faction.

However, the Jamui MP was successful in galvanising his party’s core supporters around his leadership, making the point to the BJP that he is the political heir to his father’s legacy.

One of the MPs of the Paras faction recently crossed over to the Chirag Paswan-led group.

Following Paswan’s assertion after talks with Nadda, Paras went into a huddle with his supporters at his residence here as his party weighed its options for the polls.

Though the BJP and the Janata Dal (United), the second biggest party in the National Democratic Alliance in Bihar, have made no official comments, sources said they may contest around 17 and 16 Lok Sabha seats respectively. Two other smaller allies may be given one seat each.

Paswan exuded confidence that the NDA will be able to win all 40 Lok Sabha seats from Bihar.

Asked about his differences with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who heads the JD(U), he said all NDA constituents are working to achieve the target of crossing 400 seats in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Gwalior : Even as the Trinamool Congress has decided to contest all 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal, the Congress on Sunday said doors are still open for an alliance with the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC for the upcoming general polls.

Ahead of the opposition’s rally in Patna, Congress general secretary and in-charge of communications Jairam Ramesh told PTI they are still hopeful and believe that when West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee says she is in the INDIA alliance, her priority is to defeat the BJP.

“We take that as a statement of her priority and intent,” he said in Gwalior.

“We have not closed any doors. She has unilaterally announced that she will contest all 42 seats (in West Bengal), well that is her announcement. As far as we are concerned, talks are still continuing, the doors are still open and the final word will not be said till the final word is said,” he said.

On the rally to be held in Bihar capital Patna, Ramesh said it is a joint opposition rally and coming after the prime minister went there on Saturday.

“It’s a very significant political rally and it shows the opposition unity to defeat the BJP and its allies,” he said.

Former Congress president and Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi has also given a break to his ongoing ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’ to take part in the rally, he said.

“Today is the 50th day (of the yatra), there has been a slight change because Rahul Gandhi has to go to Patna for the opposition rally and Congress president Malliarjun Kharge is also going to participate in it,” Ramesh said.

“So this morning, he (Gandhi) is going to have an interaction on the Agniveer issue. Then there will be a road show in Mohna. After that there is no yatra today. But tomorrow, on the 51st day, as planned and as scheduled, we will start from Shivpuri (in MP), ” he said.

On the fifth day, he (Gandhi) will be in Ujjain and visit the holy Shri Mahakaleshwar temple, he said.

Asked about the Lok Dal’s participation in the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in Uttar Pradesh recently, Ramesh said the “real” Lok Dal welcomed Rahul Gandhi during the yatra in Aligarh. There were posters, banners and hoardings of former PMs Chaudhary Charan Singh, Indira Gandhi and the Lok Dal, he said.

“That was the real Lok Dal, asli Lok Dal, RLD (Rashtriya Lok Dal) is the nakli Lok Dal,” he claimed.

The RLD joined the BJP-led NDA after the central government recently conferred the Bharat Ratna posthumously on former PM Chaudhary Charan Singh. Asked whether Rahul Gandhi will contest from the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat (in Kerala), Ramesh said, “That is under discussion and Rahul Gandhi will decide the seat.”

On the BJP declaring its first list of 195 candidates for the Lok Sabha polls, Ramesh said why should he comment on the saffron party’s candidates.

“We are finalising our manifesto, our candidates and our seats in different states. My concern is what we are doing and not what the BJP is doing,” he added.

New Delhi : Thirty-six per cent of Rajya Sabha candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves while the average assets of candidates analysed stood at Rs 127.81 crore, according to poll rights body Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).

The ADR and the National Election Watch analysed the self-sworn affidavits of 58 out of the 59 candidates in the fray for 56 seats in 15 states. The Rajya Sabha polls are scheduled for February 27.

Congress candidate from Karnataka G C Chandrashekar was omitted from the analysis due to poorly scanned documents.

The analysis found that 36 per cent of the scrutinised candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves.

Additionally, 17 per cent of these individuals face serious criminal charges with one candidate having cases related to attempted murder.

According to the analysis, eight (27 per cent) out of 30 BJP candidates, six (67 per cent) out of nine Congress candidates, one (25 per cent) out of four TMC candidates, two (67 per cent) out of three SP candidates, one (33 per cent) out of three YSRCP candidates, one (50 per cent) out of two RJD nominees, one (50 per cent) out of two BJD candidates, and one (100 per cent) BRS candidate have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.

Moreover, the analysis delved into the financial backgrounds of the candidates.

Approximately 21 per cent of the candidates are billionaires, boasting of assets exceeding Rs 100 crore. The average assets of Rajya Sabha candidates stand at Rs 127.81 crore.

Congress nominee from Himachal Pradesh Abhishek Manu Singhvi with total assets worth Rs 1,872 crore, Samajwadi Party nominee from Uttar Pradesh Jaya Amitabh Bachchan with assets worth Rs 1,578 crore and JD(S) nominee from Karnataka Kupendra Reddy with assets amounting to Rs 871 crore are among the top three weathiest candidates, according to the analysis.

Among the poorest candidates are BJP’s Madhya Pradesh candidate Balyogi Umesh Nath with assets worth over Rs 47 lakh, BJP’s West Bengal candidate Samik Bhattacharya with assets worth Rs 1 crore and BJP’s Uttar Pradesh candidate Sangita with assets worth Rs 1 crore.

While 17 per cent of the candidates have educational qualifications ranging from 5th pass to 12th pass, a significant 79 per cent hold graduate or higher degrees.

A majority (76 per cent) of the candidates fall in the 51-70 age group with a smaller proportion (16 per cent) in the 31-50 age group. Only 19 per cent of the candidates are women, according to the analysis.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday overturned the result of the Chandigarh mayoral poll in which the BJP candidate had emerged an unlikely winner, and declared defeated AAP-Congress alliance candidate Kuldeep Kumar as the new city mayor.

It also ordered prosecution of the returning officer for the poll, Anil Masih, a BJP leader, for his “misdemeanour”, after finding serious faults in the conduct of the January 30 election.

The apex court made it clear that it was not quashing the entire electoral exercise and restricting itself to dealing with the wrong-doings in the counting process which led to invalidation of eight votes cast in Kumar’s favour.

A bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud said it was evident that Masih made deliberate attempt to deface eight ballot papers.

The BJP had won the mayoral poll defeating the comfortably placed AAP-Congress alliance candidate after the returning officer declared as invalid eight votes of the coalition partners, drawing accusations of tampering with ballots.

Manoj Sonkar of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had defeated Kuldeep Kumar after polling 16 votes against his rival’s 12 to bag the mayor’s post. Sonkar, however, resigned subsequently, while three AAP councillors defected to the BJP.

Returning officer of the Chandigarh mayoral polls Anil Masih

New Delhi: Returning officer of the Chandigarh mayoral polls Anil Masih on Tuesday faced the wrath of the Supreme Court which ordered his criminal prosecution for allegedly giving false statement before it and his “misdemeanour” during the counting of votes.

The apex court, which declared defeated AAP-Congress alliance candidate Kuldeep Kumar as the new mayor of the union territory by setting aside the January 30 poll result, said Masih had put marks on eight ballot papers to create a ground for treating them as invalidly cast.

“That apart, it is evident that the presiding officer (Masih) is guilty of serious misdemeanour in doing what he did in his role and capacity as a presiding officer,” a bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud said.

The bench, also comprising Justice J B Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra, directed the registrar (judicial) of the apex court to issue a notice to Masih to show cause as to why proceedings should not be initiated against him under section 340 of the Code of Criminal Procedure for allegedly making false statement before the court.

It said he can file his response to the notice and the matter would be taken up after three weeks.

In its verdict, the Supreme Court bench said Masih’s conduct as the presiding officer has to be deprecated at two levels.

“Firstly, by his conduct he has unlawfully altered the course of the mayoral election… Secondly, in making a solemn statement before this court on February 19, the presiding officer expressed falsehood for which he must be held accountable,” the bench said.

It said as a returning officer, Masih could not have been unmindful of the consequences of making such a statement before the court. The bench noted that before recording Masih’s statement during the hearing on Monday, the court had placed him on notice about the serious consequences if he was found to have made an incorrect statement.

The BJP had won the Chandigarh mayoral polls on January 30 defeating the comfortably placed AAP-Congress alliance candidate after the returning officer declared as invalid eight votes of the coalition partners, drawing accusations of tampering with ballots.

Manoj Sonkar of the BJP defeated Kuldeep Kumar after polling 16 votes against his rival’s 12 to bag the mayor’s post. Sonkar, however, resigned subsequently, while three AAP councillors defected to the BJP.

In its verdict, the bench observed that Masih had made a deliberate effort to deface eight ballots which were cast in favour of Kumar to secure a result in which Sonkar would be declared as an elected candidate.

“During the course of these proceedings, for the above reasons, we have come to the conclusion that the result which was declared by the presiding officer is clearly contrary to law and will have to be set aside. We order accordingly,” it said.

The bench observed that votes in the eight ballot papers, which were invalidated by Masih, were duly cast in favour of Kumar.

It said that as the returning officer, Masih had clearly acted beyond the term of his remit under the statutory regulations.

“We accordingly order and direct that the result of the election as declared by the presiding officer stands quashed and set aside. The petitioner (Kumar) is declared to be the validly elected candidate for election as mayor of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation,” the bench said.

It referred to Masih’s statement made before the court on Monday in which he had stated that besides signing the ballot papers, he had put ‘X’ mark at eight ballot papers during the course of counting of votes to identify them as defaced.

The bench, which perused the ballot papers during the hearing and also saw the video recording of counting process, said none of these ballot papers were defaced as claimed by Masih.

Masih, a nominated municipal councillor, is a member of the BJP’s minority wing and has been associated with the party since 2015 and has been seen attending party events. He was nominated as a councillor in the Chandigarh civic body in October 2022.

Masih, who acted as the returning officer on January 30 mayoral polls, studied at a government school in the union territory and did his graduation from the DAV college there.

Shivpal Yadav and Akhilesh Yadav

Lucknow: The Samajwadi Party on Tuesday declared its third list of five candidates for the Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh, fielding senior leader Shivpal Yadav from Budaun parliamentary constituency.

Shivpal Yadav, the uncle of party chief Akhilesh Yadav, is an MLA from the Jaswantnagar assembly constituency in Etawah district.

The other candidates on the list are Surendra Singh Patel from Varanasi, Iqra Hasan from Kairana), Praveen Singh Aron from Bareilly and Ajendra Singh Rajput from Hamirpur.

With this list, the Samajwadi Party has so far declared the names of 31 candidates for the Lok Sabha polls in Uttar Pradesh.

In its first list, the SP had fielded Dharmendra Yadav, the son of party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav’s younger brother Abhay Ram Yadav, from Budaun.

The Akhilesh Yadav-led party has offered 17 Lok Sabha seats to the Congress, an alliance partner in the INDIA bloc. Altogether, the state has 80 LS constituencies.

LUCKNOW: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’s UP leg reached his erstwhile traditional constituency of Amethi on Monday, drawing huge crowds. He hit out at the BJP government for “not inviting” the Dalits, backwards and even the President to the Ram temple consecration ceremony in Ayodhya. “It was an insult to them,” he said.

“By inviting industrialists and Amitabh Bachchan to the consecration ceremony of the Ram temple, Modi gave the message that the country’s 73% of people have no importance,” Rahul said addressing a gathering at Lalganj Indira Chowk in Rampur Khas Assembly seat.

Continuing with his onslaught, Gandhi said that it was their (BJP) India. “This is not yours. All you do is chant ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’, while all they do is have helicopter rides and make money,” he said.

Reiterating the party’s promise to provide a legal guarantee of MSP to farmers, he said: “Farmers were stopped from entering Delhi. Modi government has put barricades, and constructed walls to stop farmers. What are they demanding? All they are asking for is MSP; it is not a big thing.”

Incidentally, BJP MP Smriti Irani and Rahul Gandhi were present in Amethi on Monday. Rahul’s attack prompted the BJP MP from Amethi to challenge the former Congress chief and party’s Wayanad MP to contest from Amethi if he had the confidence to win.

The developments seem to suggest that Rahul would contest from Amethi this time.

“In 2019 he (Rahul Gandhi) left Amethi, today Amethi has left him. If he is confident, then without going to Wayanad, let him fight from Amethi alone,” said Irani. She tried to underplay Rahul’s Naya Yatra by claiming that “empty roads” of Amethi were the testimony of Rahul’s popularity.

Holding a Jan Samwad programme in Amethi as part of a four-day visit to her parliamentary constituency, Irani said that despite having won three consecutive elections from Amethi, Rahul Gandhi did very little for the constituency.

“Congress had to call workers from Sultanpur and Pratapgarh to welcome the Yatra,” Irani said. “Amethi was

distressed to note how its former representative insulted his voters in Wayanad. Also, the invite to consecration of Ram Lalla in Ayodhya was rejected by him and his family. Amethi is dismayed at this also,” she said.

The Union Minister also claimed that sensing the mood of the people of Amethi where the voters went for a change in 2019, the Gandhi family decided to stay away from Raebareli ahead of the 2024 polls.

LUCKNOW: Uncertainty looms large over the INDIA alliance of the opposition bloc in Uttar Pradesh, with a seat-sharing pact between the Samajwadi Party and the Congress for the Lok Sabha still being a distant dream. Moreover, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav is reportedly skipping Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, saying that he would join Gandhi only after the seat-sharing pact between the two parties gets sealed.

Akhilesh was to join the yatra in Rae Bareli on Tuesday. Earlier on Monday, the SP offered 17 seats to the Congress, calling it the final offer to the grand old party. Notably, the negotiations between the two parties had been going on with Congress initially demanding 25 seats but then scaling it down to 21. However, the SP does not want to spare more than 17 seats for its ally.

Last month, the SP chief unilaterally announced 11 Lok Sabha seats for the Congress in UP. Caught off guard, the baffled leadership of UP Congress said that the seat-sharing talks with the SP were still on and the central leadership would take the final decision.

Later, the SP released the first list of candidates for 16 seats, including many like Lakhimpur Kheri and Farrukhabad, which the Congress had demanded. Meanwhile, on Monday, immediately after offering 17 seats to the Congress, the SP released a second list of 11 party candidates for the polls. It covered at least three seats, which the Congress was demanding.

Dealing a blow to the INDIA bloc in the state, RLD president Jayant Chaudhary recently decided to part ways and switch over to the ruling NDA.

However, the support of the SP in Amethi and Rae Bareli is significant for the Congress as it has been winning both seats over the past few decades, banking upon the former’s support. SP and BSP have not been fielding their candidates in Amethi and Rae Bareli in support of the Congress for the last few elections to check the division of votes.

BHOPAL: While exuding confidence that the BJP will win 370-plus seats on its own in the coming Lok Sabha polls, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday that the target will be achievable once the party adds 370 new votes to its best ever votes tally on each polling booth.

“Even the prominent opposition leaders are now admitting that the 400 seats-plus figure for the NDA in the coming polls is achievable. I’ve been hearing about 400-plus seats for the NDA and 370-plus seats for the BJP on its own.For the BJP to win 370-plus seats on its own, we’ll first have to find out the party’s best performance on each polling booth in the last three elections.” he says.

“Once the best tally of votes is found, then our efforts should be focused to add 370 new votes to that best ever tally of votes on each booth. Once we add 370 new votes to our best ever tally on each booth, the 370-plus seats target for BJP will be assured,” Modi adds while addressing the Vishal Adivasi Mahakumbh in Bhil tribe dominated Jhabua district of Madhya Pradesh.

“For adding 370 votes in BJP’s best ever tally on each booth, you’ll have to reach out to every voter, educate them about the schemes and achievements of the government. Tell them which schemes have benefitted the voters. But those voters who are yet to be benefitted by the schemes, assure them that the benefits will be ushered to them, once Modi returns to power,” the PM said while addressing the gathering which included BJP workers from Jhabua and adjoining tribal dominated districts of western MP as well as party’s tribal leaders from adjoining Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Odisha and Jharkhand.

Before addressing the mega tribal gathering, Modi unveiled and laid the foundation of development projects worth over Rs 7,500 crore for MP. He laid foundation of multiple projects, including CM Rise School in Jhabua, Talavada Project for drinking water to people in Jhabua, Ratlam and adjoining tribal dominated districts.

CHANDIGARH: In yet another setback to the Opposition INDIA bloc post Nitish Kumar’s somersault, Delhi Chief Minister and AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal announced that his party would contest all 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab and the lone seat of Chandigarh UT. It virtually closes all doors for the laboured projection of the Congress-AAP alliance in the state.

Kejriwal was addressing a rally at Khanna, a town known for the grain market in Ludhiana district, on the launch of the party’s free ration scheme. “Bless AAP with a victory on all 14 seats of Punjab and Chandigarh the way you did in the Assembly polls two years back by AAP victory in 92 out of the 117 Punjab Assembly seats,” Kejriwal said.

Kejriwal took a dig at the Congress and SAD, saying neither the Akalis nor Congress took any step for the well-being of the people in their party rules. “If I ask you today, in 75 years, the Congress ruled for so many years, tell me one good work the Congress has done. You will not remember. If I ask you Akali Dal ruled for so many years, tell me one good work the Akali Dal has done, you will not remember,” said Kejriwal.

Kejriwal’s announcement will add to the turmoil in the opposition bloc. TMC chief and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee has already said her party would go it alone in the state for LS polls.

Mann said the centre has adopted a hostile attitude against all non-BJP-ruled states. He blamed the Centre for the now-scrapped farm laws, adding that the BJP continues with the hostile attitude by stalling funds meant for various welfare schemes in Punjab.

Punjab CM Mann said that candidates for all the 13 Lok Sabha seats will be announced by month-end