UP Polls Second Phase Begins as Scheduled

The second phase of polling, out of the seven-phase polls in Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections for 59 seats in 10 districts. Today's poll will decide the fate of two state presidents, 31 MLAs and 24 former ministers. More than 1.92 crore voters are expected to cast their votes to seal the fate of 1,098 candidates.

The second phase of polling to be held today in Sant Kabir Nagar, Maharajganj, Gorakhpur, Kushinagar, Deoria, Azamgarh, Mau, Ballia and Ghazipur, Chief Electoral Officer Umesh Sinha said in Lucknow. Stakes are high for ruling BSP, Congress, SP and the BJP in the no-holds-barred fight for the 403 Assembly seats. The voters will exercise their franchise at 20,425 polling booths at 12,995 polling centres. While 3,265 polling booths have been identified as sensitive and 9,971 as hyper sensitive for which adequate force has been deployed, he said. A total of 1098 candidates are in the fray, including 1,021 men and 76 women.

Today's poll will decide the fate of many senior leaders, including Speaker Sukhdeo Rajbhar, Revenue Minister Phagu Chauhan, state presidents of BSP and BJP, deputy leader of SP Ambika Chaudhary, 31 MLAs and 24 former ministers. Vidhan Sabha Speaker Rajbhar is in fray as BSP candidate from newly-created Deedarganj seat in Azamgarh district, whereas deputy leader of SP in Assembly Ambika Chaudhary is seeking re-run from Phephna in Ballia. The prestige of state presidents of BSP and BJP is also at stake in this phase. While BSP state president and Cabinet Minister Swami Prasad Maurya is contesting from Padrauna seat in Kushinagar, BJP state president Surya Pratap Shahi is trying his luck from newly-created Pathardeva seat in Deoria district.

Modi Is Not Our PM: Owaisi

MIM is a recognized state political party based in the Indian state of Telangana, with its head office in the old city of Hyderabad, which has its roots in the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen founded in 1927. Unlike most of the regional and national level parties, MIM party leaders ‘fight’ only for the well-being of Muslims, whereas no other party has such communal feelings. In their each and every speech, MIM leaders speak only about Muslims. If these leaders are here to fight for Muslims, then why there are no development works are happening in old city area for decades. Akbaruddin Owaisi faced criticism for making hate remarks on Narendra Modi and Hindus. Recently, his elder brother Asaduddin Owaisi made some notorious annotations. In a one-on-one debate between BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra and Asaduddin Owaisi on the topic of demonetization in a popular Hindi channel, the former left no stone unturned in exposing the latter’s communal designs. Owaisi claimed how most of the Muslim community still remains unbanked and that demonetization has caused severe inconvenience to Muslims. He even went on to say that ATM’s in Muslim-dominated areas weren’t fed enough money. He indirectly alleged that the Modi government hadn’t done anything for Muslims. Even after being pressurized Owaisi didn’t call Narendra Modi as his Prime Minister. He went on said, “Your Prime Minister…” On the other hand, Sambit spoke wisely and called Owaisi a leader of small stature because he talked only of Muslims. He said that no area was Muslim or Hindu and that all areas belonged to India. Owaisi was constantly quoting an RBI report, to which Sambit challenged him to show where the RBI had used the word ‘Muslim’. Sambit even said that if a Muslim leader speaks of Muslims it’s not an issue, but the moment a VHP leader speaks of Hindus people go crazy accusing them of imposing the Hindutva ideology. The most amazing of his counters was to Owaisi’s claims of Muslims not having been brought into the banking system. Sambit said that when banks or ATMs are to be opened in Muslim areas leaders like Owaisi shout that banking is un-Islamic and that Muslims should refrain from it! This video of debate between Sambit Patra and Asaduddin Owaisi is going viral in social media.