India News
Gujarat Polls: A glance at key candidates, constituencies that vote today
On the numerous constituencies that will vote on Thursday morning, a tough contest is anticipated as the BJP seeks to hold onto power and the AAP seeks to make inroads into yet another state.
The phase-1 polling has begun in Gujarat on Thursday and after weeks of intense campaigning by all the political parties, Gujarat’s citizens are ready to cast their votes in the first round of the assembly elections.
The fate of political parties will be decided by over 2 crore
With 89 constituencies spread across 19 districts in Kutch, Saurashtra, and South Gujarat up for election today. Political parties including the Bharatiya Janata Party, Congress, and Aam Aadmi Party have been racing to make election promises.
Voting is being held from 8 am to 5 pm, according to the Indian Election Commission.
There are now 39 political parties running for office, and they have fielded 788 candidates, including 718 men and 70 women.
Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP is taking a chance by attempting to capitalise on anti-incumbency and concerns like inflation and unemployment in order to gain power, while the state’s current ruling BJP is displaying confidence in maintaining its 27-year reign.
On the numerous constituencies that will vote on Thursday morning, a tough contest is anticipated as the BJP seeks to hold onto power and the AAP seeks to make inroads into yet another state.
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Jamnagar North (Jamnagar)
The first on the list is Jamnagar North, where the contest is between Rivaba Jadeja of the BJP, the wife of cricketer Ravindra Jadeja, Bipendrasinh Jadeja of the Congress, and Karsan Karmur of the AAP.
Ahir Jivanbhai Karubhai Kumbharvadiya, a candidate for the Congress, was defeated by incumbent MLA Dharmendrasinh Merubha in the 2017 Assembly elections.
The race for the seat gained attention after a political spat between two members of the same family came to light. Rivaba, who is running for office for the first time, is supporting the BJP, while her sister-in-law and father-in-law are supporting the Congress candidate.
Morbi
The second name on the list is Morbi, which gained attention after the recent tragedy in which a suspension bridge collapsed into the river, killing over 130 people.
Kantilal Amrutiya, a replacement for the outgoing MLA and Cabinet Minister Brijesh Merja, is running against Jayantilal Jerajbhai Patel of the Congress and Pankaj Ransariya of the AAP.
In an effort to pressure the administration over the Morbi tragedy, the opposition parties brought up the matter of “mismanagement” in the incident during the campaign.
Prior to Amrutiya’s loss to Merja, a member of the Congress in 2017, the BJP had previously won the Morbi Assembly seat in 1995, 1998, 2002, 2007, and 2012, according to records.
Merja later joined the BJP and won the Morbi by-elections once more. In 2022, the BJP will have Merja and Amrutiya.
Khambalia (Devbhoomi Dwarka)
The seat gains significance because Isudan Gadhvi, the AAP’s nominee for chief minister, is running from here. Vikram Madam of the Congress and Mulu Ayar Bera of the BJP are his opponents.
The BJP and AAP are anticipated to engage in a close race in the triangular conflict. Ahir Vikrambhai Arjanbhai Madam, a Congress contender, was successful in winning the seat in 2017. Congress has changed who will be running in the 2022 elections.
Rajkot West (Rajkot)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi previously ran in a by-election for Rajkot West in 2002. Vijay Rupani, a former chief minister, ran from the location in the 2017 Assembly elections.
Darshita Shah, a two-time deputy mayor, will compete against Dinesh Joshi of the AAP and Mansukhbhai of the Congress on the BJP ticket.
The seat, which the BJP has held since 1985, is regarded as one of its strongholds.
In the 2017 Assembly elections, Rupani defeated INC candidate Indranil Rajguru by a margin of 53,755 votes to win the seat.
Devboomi Dwaraka
The BJP’s Pabubha Manek is running against the AAP’s Nakum Lakhmanbhai Boghabhai and the Congress’ Malubhai Kandoria, who hasn’t lost an election in 32 years for the Devbhoomi Dwarka seat.
Manek had won the first three elections (1990, 1995, and 1998) as an independent leader. After joining the Congress, he won the seat in 2002. Later, running for the BJP, he prevailed in the Assembly elections of 2007, 2012, and 2017.
Manek defeated Ahir Meraman Markhi of the Congress in the 2017 Gujarat Assembly elections by a margin of 5,739 votes.
Katargam (Surat)
Gopal Italia, the state president of the AAP and a prominent Patidar leader, has been nominated by the constituency and is expected to engage in an exciting fight for the seat. He had been instrumental in the 2015 Patidar quota movement. He will compete against BJP candidate Vinodbhai Amrishbhai Mordiya and Congress candidate Kaplesh Variya, a member of the Prajapati community (OBC).
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Bihar: Dalit woman stripped naked over Rs 1,500 loan, money lender, son booked for assault
The accused have not been arrested so far, and police have initiated a search for them.
In yet another shocking incident, a Dalit woman was assaulted in Bihar’s Patna district by a money lender and his son on Saturday, according to the police. The victim alleged that the accused also urinated on her and tried to disrobe her for not making recurring interest payments on a Rs 1,500 loan that her husband had taken.
According to the victim, Pramod Singh and his son Anshu Singh summoned her to their house on Saturday night mentioning that they had detained her husband and that he would be allowed to go only after the interest on the loan he took from them was fully repaid.
When she reached Singh’s house, her husband was not there. They had lied to her about detaining her husband. The father and son beat her up and tried to disrobe her, and the son also urinated upon her, the woman told the police.
The woman also mentioned that the Rs 1,500 her husband took on loan years ago had already been repaid with interest, but the money lender continued to seek interest from them at regular intervals.
According to reports, police have registered a case against Pramod and Anshu Singh under IPC sections related to assault and misbehaving with a woman, as well as under sections of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. The accused have not been arrested so far, and police have initiated a search for them.
Patna Rural SP Imran Masood asserted that the woman was undergoing treatment for her injuries at a primary healthcare centre. The woman’s brother-in-law told The Indian Express that the poor people of the village have been trapped by money lenders and that it is like a goonda bank. He explained that as most of them are illiterate and cannot get loans from banks, they have to depend on these money lenders and face humiliation.
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UP student slapping row: State should take responsibility of incident, says Supreme Court
The bench underlined that if this incident has happened, then it should shake the conscience of the state. It’s a serious issue, the bench noted.
The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that a teacher at a school in Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar who instructed her students to slap a classmate, targeted one community and that the state must take responsibility for the incident.
Hearing a petition that raised concerns over the incident of school children taking turns to slap a muslim student on order of their teacher, a bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Pankaj Mithal made the aforesaid verbal observation. The video of the incident went viral across social media platforms last month.
The incident sparked widespread outrage, consequently a First Information Report (FIR) was registered against the teacher. While hearing the plea on Monday, the top court bench noted that it had serious objections to the way Uttar Pradesh police handled the matter.
The Supreme Court bench further observed that the teacher is targeting one community and that they will go deep into the matter. The bench questioned whether this was the way teachers teach students and whether this is this quality education.
The bench added that the state must take responsibility for this incident, questioning if the school appointed some counselor for the child? The bench underlined that if this incident has happened, then it should shake the conscience of the state. It’s a serious issue, the bench noted.
The apex court bench also mentioned that at first impression, it was a case of failure on the part of the Uttar Pradesh government to comply with the provisions of the Right to Education (RTE) Act, which prohibits physical and mental harassment of students and their discrimination on the basis of religion and caste. There cannot be any quality education if a student is sought to be penalised only on the grounds that he belongs to a particular community, it added.
The bench further ordered the Uttar Pradesh government to appoint an expert child counselor and provide counseling to the victim so that he can overcome his trauma. It also ordered that a senior IPS officer be appointed to supervise the investigation and submit a report to the court within three weeks.
India News
Bhopal: PM Modi addresses Karyakarta Mahakumbh
PM Modi said every nation wants to collaborate with India. He said investors are looking to invest in India. He said for a developed India a developed Madhya Pradesh was needed.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Madhya Pradesh on Monday. He addressed the Bhartiya Janata Party workers at the Karyakarta Mahakumbh at the Jamboree Maidan in Bhopal. PM Modi said Congress has lost its will power. The grassroots leaders of Congress have been sitting with their mouth locked. PM Modi said first Congress got ruined. Then it became bankrupt. Now the Congress has given its contract to someone else. The party is no longer being run by its leaders. Now it is outsourcing everything from policies to slogans.
PM Modi said every nation wants to collaborate with India. He said investors are looking to invest in India. He said for a developed India a developed Madhya Pradesh was needed. PM Modi said this is the primary reason the BJP government will come to power in Madhya Pradesh.
He said the country is working hard towards prosperity but the Congress wants to take the country back to the 20th Century. PM Modi added nothing is more important than India and its people. PM Modi said the leaders of Congress are born with a silver spoon, how will the Congress feel the pain of the poor.
PM Modi slammed the Congress saying for all the years they ruled they did not provide any assistance to women. PM Modi said Congress did not want to work for women. The prime minister said the Congress has flaws in their intentions. He appealed to the women to stay united and not to fall prey to politics of Congress.
PM Modi slammed Congress for questioning the women’s quota bill. He said the Congress started the Garibi Hatao slogan fifty years ago but the poverty actually increased under its rule. PM Modi said about 13.5 crore citizens came out of poverty level. He said Modi means every guarantee will be fulfilled. He reminded the women of Madhya Pradesh that the guarantee Modi gave of women’s reservation bill has been successful.
