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The Abhimanyu who knew his way out of the Chakravyuh: Here are the 5 challenges Yogi Adityanath faced, to emerge victorious

OpIndia Staff
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The Abhimanyu who knew his way out of the Chakravyuh: Here are the 5 challenges Yogi Adityanath faced, to emerge victorious

From the moment Yogi Adityanath was selected as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh by BJP after the 2017 elections, he has been in the cross-hairs of Indian elites. Reminding us of the coverage Narendra Modi got during his tenure as Gujarat CM, Yogi Adityanath was subjected to all sorts of attacks from the usual suspects over the past 5 years. However, all those attacks came to nought as Yogi Adityanath returns to power with a thumping majority.

Casteism allegations

It started with Congress and their ecosystem trying to push Yogi as a casteist Thakur, who will ignore all other castes. They thought addressing Yogi Adityanath as Ajay Bisht will lead to the downfall of BJP in Uttar Pradesh, as it will remind everyone that Yogi was born a Thakur. However, what they didn’t realize, unlike most of the voters, is that Goraknath’s mahant is a casteless entity.

Militant Monk

Barely a year after his ascension to the post of Chief Minister, Yogi Adityanath was derided as an “Islamophobic militant monk” in global publications like the Washington Post. Even though they couldn’t pinpoint which particular policy is against Muslims, the tag of Islamophobia was here to stay just because he didn’t do any appeasement politics.

Anti-Romeo Squads

In a state where women were scared to venture out alone, Yogi Adityanath created “Anti-Romeo squads“. Instead of focusing on the intent of such squads, Shakespeare’s disciples got upset that Yogi Adityanath is out to arrest every Romeo, a true Shakespearean hero. Now in 2022, women are voting overwhelmingly for BJP over the improved law and order situation.

Anti-CAA protests

During the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), once again attempts were made to instigate maximum protests in Uttar Pradesh. However, once again, Yogi Adityanath cracked down on any sort of violence with an iron fist and made sure people’s daily lives are not disturbed. Something that didn’t happen in Delhi as lakhs of commuters suffered for months due to Shaheen Bagh protests.

Coronavirus handling

However, the worst attacks that Yogi Adityanath faced, were during Coronavirus days, particularly during the second wave. As Maharashtra and Kerala kept topping the Covid numbers, and as Delhi ran out of Oxygen, the entire media focus was on Uttar Pradesh. Old practice of some Hindus burying their dead along the banks of holy river Ganga, or immersing their dead in the Ganga, was abused. Government of UP was blamed for hiding Covid deaths by leaving the dead bodies alongside the river.

Not only this, the media attacked Yogi Adityanath for rising cases due to Kumbh, which was held in Uttarakhand. However, Geography is not the strongest suit of Indian liberals so we can let that pass.

As it turned out, Uttar Pradesh turned out to be one of the best performing Indian states when it comes to handling Covid. With the population equal to a country like Brazil, Yogi Adityanath managed to bring the cases down much faster, and normal life resumed much sooner than most other states.’

Having come through 5 years of relentless attacks from the Indian left to get re-elected, Yogi Adityanath is following the same path that was followed by PM Narendra Modi. If he keeps getting attacked similarly for another term, it won’t be a surprise if he does end up as the Prime Minister of India, like Narendra Modi.

As trends show AAP victory in Punjab, here is why Election Commission lists Aam Aadmi Party as ‘AAAP’

OpIndia Staff
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As trends show AAP victory in Punjab, here is why Election Commission lists Aam Aadmi Party as ‘AAAP’

The Aam Aadmi Party is all set to win the Vidhan Sabha elections in the State of Punjab.

As per the trends reported by the Election Commission of India (ECI) at 2 pm on Thursday (March 10), the Arvind Kejriwal-led party is leading on 84 constituencies and has won an additional 8 seats out of a 117-seat Punjab Legislative Assembly.

The nodal election body reported that the Aam Aadmi Party has clinched a vote share of 42.43% in the elections so far. While the Election Commission of India abbreviated party names such as Indian National Congress, and Bharatiya Janata Party as INC and BJP respectively, the case was different with the winning Aam Aadmi Party.

Screengrab of the election results in Punjab, data via ECI website

The Arvind Kejriwal-led party was represented on the ECI website as ‘AAAP’ instead of the commonly used ‘AAP’ abbreviation. However, this is not the first time that the nodal election body has represented the Aam Aadmi Party in this form.

The matter first came to light in February 2020 during the Delhi Vidhan Sabha polls. Aam Aadmi Party, a State party, was abbreviated by the Election Commission of India as ‘AAAP’. An editor at The Times of India, Vishwa Mohan, assumed that it was an oversight on the part of the ECI.

He inquired, “What does AAAP (triple A) mean for AamAadmiParty at Election Commission of India website, showing #DelhiElectionResults and trends?”

The Spokesperson for the Election Commission of India informed that ‘AAP’ was allotted to another party, prior to the registration of the Aam Aadmi Party in 2013.

“Triple A in the abbreviation is not a typo…. the same abbreviation was used in 2015 Elections also.. as ‘AAP’ was already allotted to another party before Aam Aadmi Party approached ECI for registration in 2013,” the Election Commission of India had clarified then.

The ECI further informed that ‘AAP’ was assigned to a party named Awami Aamjan Party, which was registered on January 3, 2011.

Meanwhile, Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi may soon meet Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit and submit his resignation as the counting of votes for the Punjab Assembly Elections is underway. Charanjit Singh Channi and Bhagwant Mann were the chief ministerial faces of the Congress and the AAP respectively for the state of Punjab where

Congress is looking at a humiliating defeat in the state where it was in power for five years. According to the Republic TV report, on Thursday, CM Channi arrived at his official residence in Chandigarh and is likely to resign in face of AAP’s massive sweep in the 2022 elections. Channi lost from both the Bhadur and Chamkaur Sahib seats.

AAP clean sweep in Punjab, will Kejriwal totally sink the border state or there is some hope?

Rahul Roushan
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AAP clean sweep in Punjab, will Kejriwal totally sink the border state or there is some hope?

By the title of this article itself, it’s clear that I am no fan of Arvind Kejriwal or the Aam Aadmi Party. Those who have followed my opinion, especially on Twitter, for sure know that. With AAP sweeping the 2022 assembly election in Punjab, the only option seemingly left for me is to feel agitated and predict doomsday. However, berating mandates and painting doomsday is a quintessential ‘liberal’ reaction, so I’m going to avoid that.

But that doesn’t change the fact that a lot of people are apprehensive about the future of Punjab under AAP. AAP had flirted with separatist elements back in 2017 itself, but Congress ended up winning the assembly election that year. Even though NDA (the BJP alliance) had lost power, a big section of BJP supporters welcomed the fact that the border state would be led by Congress leader Amarinder Singh, a man who was earlier in the army and thus who won’t be as irresponsible as any AAP leader. But what happens now that AAP has scored a massive victory in the 2022 Punjab assembly election?

What makes matter worse is that in the run up to this year’s election, the separatist and Khalistani sentiments were far more visible and stronger as compared to the previous assembly election. The handlers sitting in London and Canada found the perfect opportunity to fan such sentiments during the ‘farmers protests’ against the three farm laws, which were ultimately withdrawn by the union government.

Khalistani flags, slogans and rhetoric was regularly heard during such protests, which also shielded criminal elements involved in rape and murder of a man for ‘blasphemy’. And of course, the protestors desecrated the Red Fort on Republic Day in 2021, throwing an open challenge to the constitutional authority of the nation. Such elements were criticized only in a token manner by most pollical parties. In fact, parties like Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) extended monetary and legal support to vandals of Republic Day. AAP too provided logistic and other supports to the protesters who had squatted on Delhi borders.

We are currently in a position where virtually no mainstream political party in Punjab can openly call Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale a terrorist. Same Bhindranwale who pushed Punjab into its darkest chapters of the history where thousands of Hindus were massacred and as many Sikhs too lost their lives in mindless pursuit of some kind of ‘justice’ and regional aspirations. As recently as last month, slogans in favour of Khalistan were heard during the funeral of Deep Sidhu, a Punjabi actor who had rose to national fame during the ‘farmers protests’.

One has to be an ostrich to dismiss these things as ‘isolated’ incidents. While it’s entirely true that not everyone in Punjab is pining for creation of Khalistan, it’s also true that the handlers, including some sitting in neighbouring Pakistan, must be seeing it as their best opportunity in recent times to push this separatist narrative and demand. With all this as backstory, Punjab now goes into the hands of AAP. Or let’s say, it goes into the hands of Arvind Kejriwal. What will this man do?

If Kumar Vishwas, the former colleague of Kejriwal, is to be believed, Kejriwal nurses ambitions of becoming the Chief Minister of Punjab himself, because that is far bigger a post than being the CM of a half-state like Delhi. Vishwas actually went on to claim that Kejriwal had said that he can even go to the length of becoming the ‘Prime Minister’ of an ‘independent Punjab’, which has to be Khalistan. Weirdly, AAP threatened to sue every media house carrying this claim of Vishwas, but they didn’t sue Vishwas himself. Kejriwal indirectly responded by calling himself a ‘sweet terrorist’. Weird again.

Such casual approach towards such a grave charge makes one wonder if Arvind Kejriwal could really mess up things so much that Punjab might go back to those dark chapters of history. The obvious answer could be that indeed ‘Sadji’ is going to screw it up because he has made many irresponsible statements earlier too.

However, I would like to believe that maybe things won’t be catastrophic. Surprise surprise, yes, I’m having hope in Arvind Kejriwal to actually not make things worse.

Ever since the 2019 Lok Sabha verdict, Arvind Kejriwal has shown that he can be a pragmatic leader too and not an unpredictable maverick who makes incendiary statements, which he had been doing earlier – questioning surgical strikes, questioning EVMs, claiming that Modi will not allow any elections if he wins again, hobnobbing with Urban Naxals, and so on and so forth.

After the 2019 ‘shock’, there has been a perceptible change in the way Kejriwal is doing politics. He no longer appears to be a mad man in a hurry. He didn’t make provocative statements around the Ram Temple verdict or removal of Article 370 for example, or for that matter even on CAA (though what his MLA Amanatullah Khan did is not unknown to people). He has totally avoided statements or acts that can be seen overtly anti-Hindu. On the other hand, he has been organizing public puja and kirtans, due to which his ’secular’ fan base often attacks him as someone toying ‘soft Hindutva’.

Kejriwal has also stopped going mental against Prime Minister Narendra Modi on every possible occasion, having called Modi a ‘coward and psychopath’ earlier. Basically he has tempered down and appears to be ready to play a long innings where he would like to build his strength brick by brick and by taking strategic steps, rather than trying to win through some kind of blitzkrieg that he thought could pull off earlier.

And that’s where the ‘hope’ lies – Kejriwal might no longer be the guy wanting to become Prime Minister of a new country, but he’d rather want to be the Prime Minister of the existing country. Not a mad man in a hurry, but a shrewd man willing to wait.

Based on exit polls that predicted AAP victory in Punjab, party leaders had already started issuing statements that this was the beginning of AAP replacing the Congress on a national level. You can’t have ‘national’ ambitions while being cynical and flirting with ‘anti-national’ elements, and hopefully that will stop Arvind Kejriwal from taking disastrous steps in Punjab.

It is going to be challenging. Kejriwal definitely is not going to drop ‘humein kaam nahi karne de rahe ji’ strategy. For whatever poll promise his party fails to implement in Punjab, for sure he is going to blame the centre. Now that’s the biggest concern – while Kejriwal will see it as shrewd political move to put BJP govt in centre in a fix, Khalistani elements are going to present it as a ‘Hindu’ India doing injustice to ‘Sikh’ Punjab.

I hope for his own good and for country’s sake, Kejriwal realises this risk and doesn’t let Khalistani elements further use this big political development in Punjab to their own advantage. During the farmer protests, Kejriwal had left a meeting when he was ‘grilled’ by some ‘farmers’ as to why he didn’t oppose removal of Article 370 in Kashmir. Kejriwal clearly said that it had got nothing to do with farming. Those ‘farmers’ were basically parroting the far-left line where if one is against farm laws, one also has to be against CAA and in favour of ‘Kashmiri struggle – you know, the grand alliance of the ‘oppressed’ – but Kejriwal refused to accept that binary. That’s why I feel there is hope. The man might not blow it up entirely.

He surely is going to put his own interests ahead of everything, but hopefully he sees his own interest as improving his profile to be seen as a matured responsible national leader, a ‘PM material’. Hopefully that will stop him from being manipulated by the Khalistani elements.

Also, as I said earlier, we hardly have any mainstream political party in Punjab right now that will openly speak against likes of Bhindranwale. Rahul Gandhi’s Congress is shamelessly trying balkanization of India with his ‘you can not rule over Tamils’ kind of nonsense. SAD starts pandering to extremist sentiments when their political fortunes dip (like their support to Republic Day vandals). BJP never had a chance to begin with. So AAP might not be the worst of the lot currently. Yes, I can’t believe myself I’m typing it.

As Sidhu loses in Punjab, here is why Archana Puran Singh is trending on Twitter

OpIndia Staff
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As Sidhu loses in Punjab, here is why Archana Puran Singh is trending on Twitter

On March 10, Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu lost the Assembly Elections from his home base Amritsar(East) seat in Punjab. While congratulating Aam Aadmi Party for winning the majority in elections, Sidhu accepted the defeat calling it the mandate of the people of Punjab. His defeat, however, has resulted in Archana Puran Singh trending on Twitter.

The reason behind Archana trending on Twitter is that Sidhu’s defeat formed black clouds on Archana Puran Singh’s job at The Kapil Sharma Show (TKSS), where she had filled the space as the permanent guest replacing Sidhu in 2019.

In 2021, When Sidhu had resigned from his post in Congress Party, Archana had trended on Twitter as netizens speculated Sidhu would want to make a comeback at Kapil Sharma’s show. Archana said during an interview said, “This is a joke that’s cracked on me for many years now. I don’t care, and I don’t take it seriously at all. And if Sidhu would seriously re-enter the show in my place, I will have many other things to do, which I have refused in the past few months.”

Once again, as Sidhu has lost his seat, speculations went wild that he would have ample time to be a part of TKSS as the permanent guest. In that case, Archana, who filled his place in 2019, may have to exit the show. With this speculation, netizens reacted on social media. Twitter user Yo Yo Funny Singh said, “Looks like Archana Puran Singh is going to lose her seat from The Kapil Sharma Show !!”

Journalist Tarun Shukla advised Archana to be very worried.

Film and Television writer Ravi Rai said it was not a good sign for Archana and advised her to save her seat.

Journalist Ashwani Verma also speculated that Archana’s chair could be in danger.

A user Sanjay Singh Mehta even blamed Archana for Sidhu’s defeat and claimed the audience wanted to replace her from day one.

The results for the Punjab Assembly elections were announced on March 10. AAP won majority seats and would form the government with Bhagwant Mann as chief minister.

‘Operation Ganga’ likely to conclude with the last flight scheduled from Bucharest today, 18,000 Indians evacuated so far under the mission

OpIndia Staff
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‘Operation Ganga’ likely to conclude with the last flight scheduled from Bucharest today, 18,000 Indians evacuated so far under the mission

‘Operation Ganga’, the evacuation mission initiated by the Indian government to bring back Indians from Ukraine amid the war, is all set to conclude with its last flight scheduled for Thursday evening. The Embassy in Romania informed that around 8,000 Indians had been evacuated from capital Bucharest and the last flight from the city would depart today.

According to reports, the evacuation of almost all the Indian nationals stranded in Ukraine would be complete by March 10. People familiar with the development further informed the Business Line that the Indian mission has planned to continue to look for people who may have stayed back in some isolated pockets.

“Nearly 8,000 Indians evacuated through Romania. The last special flight will depart from Bucharest today. We express our gratitude to the government and people of Romania for their help. Long live India-Romania friendship!,” the Indian embassy in Romania tweeted.

Pertinently, all the Indian students who were stuck in the conflict-ridden city of Sumy were also moved to a safer location. The Indian Embassy in Ukraine said that special trains had been flagged off to relocate 600 Indian students from Sumy. “They will travel to Poland and are expected to board evacuation flights to India tomorrow”, the tweet read.

Operation Ganga was launched on February 26 to evacuate nearly 20,000 Indian nationals who were stuck in Ukraine amid the conflict. Several special flights had been running from Poland, Romania, and Hungary to bring the students home. Air India, Air India Express, IndiGo, and SpiceJet had also joined the mission operating multiple flights from Ukraine’s neighbouring countries to Delhi and Mumbai.

Jyotiraditya Scindia, Minister of Civil Aviation had earlier informed that the Indian government had been working 24/7 to ensure that all Indians could get out of Ukraine safe. “There were 19760 odd children in Ukraine. Before the war broke out, through the advisories, about 4800 children had already left”, he had said.

It must be mentioned that the Ukrainian airspace was closed for civilian aircraft from the day the war between Russia and Ukraine broke out. As such, the Indian embassy in Ukraine had to coordinate with the embassies of neighbouring countries in Poland, Romania and Hungary for the creation of safe evacuation channels. Under ‘Operation Ganga’, Indians were first taken in batches from Ukraine to bordering countries via buses/commute arranged by the embassy. They were then airlifted to Delhi or Mumbai through chartered Air India flights.

The Indian government had sent its 4 Union Ministers, namely, Hardeep Singh Puri, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Kiren Rijiju and General (Retd) VK Singh to Hungary, Romania and Moldova, Slovakia, and Poland respectively, to coordinate the Operation Ganga

Navjot Singh Sidhu accepts defeat in Punjab, says “voice of the people is the voice of God”

OpIndia Staff
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Navjot Singh Sidhu accepts defeat in Punjab, says “voice of the people is the voice of God”

As Aam Aadmi Party is heading towards a massive victory in Punjab ensuring the outster of Congress government, Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu made a statement accepting his defeat in the Elections. He tweeted, “The voice of the people is the voice of God …. Humbly accept the mandate of the people of Punjab …. Congratulations to Aap !!!”

Sidhu contested from the Amritsar East Vidhan sabha seat in Punjab. He is currently behind Jeevan Jyot Kaur of the Aam Aadmi Party. As per the latest updates from the website of the Election Commission of India, Navjot Singh Sidhu has got 29128 votes as of 2:15 PM. Whereas Jeevan Jyot Kaur of AAP has got 34,257votes with a vote share of 36.05%.

As the counting of votes proceeds, it is visible that the Congress party is lagging behind in all the states as of now. As per latest trends, AAP is leading in 92 seats out of total 117 seats in the state, and Congress is leading in only 18 seats.

Notably, Punjab CM Charanjit Singh Channi had contested from two seats, Chamkaur Sahib and Bhadaur, has lost both the seats. He lost to AAP’s Labh Singh Ugoke in Bhadaur, Chamkaur Sahib he was defeated by AAP candidate Charanjit Singh.

Navjot Singh Sidhu gained political centre stage after he was appointed the chief of the Punjab Congress which led to the former Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh resigning from his post.

After quitting as Punjab Chief Minister, Captain Amarinder Singh stated that the Congress party had humiliated him. Singh also chastised Navjot Singh Sidhu for his apparent affinity for Pakistan’s military and its leaders. He further said that Sidhu poses a national security threat since he is close with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan and has links to Pakistani General Qamar Bajwa, which is unacceptable at all costs and might jeopardize national security.

Noida jinx broken and more: Mahant of Gorakhpeeth breaks two political superstitions with thumping UP victory

OpIndia Staff
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Noida jinx broken and more: Mahant of Gorakhpeeth breaks two political superstitions with thumping UP victory

As Bharatiya Janata Party approaches a historic win in Uttar Pradesh, it is all set to break the jinx associated with state politics. Mahant of Gorakhpeeth, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, faced the challenge of breaking the infamous jinx in UP.

‘CM that visits Noida does not come back to power’

There was a superstition that if a Chief Minister visits Noida during his tenure in Uttar Pradesh, it would be impossible to make a comeback in the next Assembly elections. Because of the superstition, Noida faced hardship as no CM was ready to visit the constituency while in the office. CM Yogi Adityanath did not care about the superstition and visited Noida and Bijnour multiple times. These two cities carried the weight of superstition on them for a long time.

In August 2021, CM Yogi had visited Noida and said he was CM of the whole state and could not be attached to personal ambitions. He said, “If Noida and Bijnore are considered a jinx, it cannot come in the way of my work.” He added that BJP had won Lok Sabha elections and several other polls after he visited Noida. “I’m a man who believes in God, but not superstition or orthodoxy. I pray, visit temples, follow the traditions of my order, and I reject the idea of any heaven that may accrue due to following superstitions. I want to achieve rewards through my karma,” he added.

‘A party cannot come in power for two consecutive terms’

Another superstition associated with UP is that no political party can come back in power for two consecutive terms. However, the superstition has been broken, and for the first time in 36 years, the Chief Minister of the ruling party is getting re-elected for the second consecutive term.

Notably, CM Yogi was confident that he would come back as CM and even said in an interview with Times Now that “I will come back”. In February, during an interview with Times Now, when journalist Navika asked him that there was a saying that no CM comes back to power in UP for second consecutive terms, CM Yogi interrupted her and said, “I will come back”.

A superstition that still lingered

There is one superstition that seems to linger in future too. There is a saying that the party that wins the Hastinapur seat in the Meerut constituency would form the government. BJP is all set to win the seat with a huge margin.

A welcoming change in UP politics

The Saffron-clad monk has broken the superstitions associated with UP politics and showed how good governance can do wonders in a state where caste and religion-based politics had always been the main topic of discussion during elections. Popular as Maharaj Ji, CM Yogi Adityanath is all set to rule the state for the second term. 

‘BJP will form government in Goa with MGP and independents’, says CM Pramod Sawant, seeks appointment from Governor to stake claim

OpIndia Staff
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‘BJP will form government in Goa with MGP and independents’, says CM Pramod Sawant, seeks appointment from Governor to stake claim

Goa chief minister BJP leader Pramod Sawant has said that the BJP will form government in Goa and they will take MGP (Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party) and independent candidates along. He said that BJP will win more than 20 seats, and if needed, they will take the support of MGP and independents, who are already in touch with BJP.

News agency ANI has tweeted quoting Pramod Sawant, “BJP will form the government in Goa; We will take MGP and independent candidates with us.” He added that the credit for this win goes to the party workers.

Pramod Sawant himself has won from the Sanquelim Assembly constituency, and set to continue as the GOA CM. However, he won by a narrow margin, which he admitted is a cause of concern, and said that he will intrspect on it.

Notably, Goa BJP has already sought an appointment with Goa governor PS Sreedharan to stake the claim to form the government.

According to the latest trends in the ongoing counting rounds, BJP is leading on 19 seats of the 40 member Goa assembly with a vote share of 33.4%, while the MGP is leading on 3 seats with a vote share of 8.02%. 3 independent candidates are also leading in the trends.

One independent candidate Dr Chandrakant Shetye, who is leading from Bicholim constituency, has already announced his support for BJP.

In most of the exit polls it was predicted that despite facing tough headwinds from a reinvigorated Congress, the BJP will emerge as the largest party in the coastal state. The trends in the ongoing counting are in line with the exit poll predictions till now.

While Yogi Adityanath is set to come back as Uttar Pradesh CM, here are some tweets predicting Akhilesh Yadav’s victory that did not age well

OpIndia Staff
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While Yogi Adityanath is set to come back as Uttar Pradesh CM, here are some tweets predicting Akhilesh Yadav’s victory that did not age well

Counting of votes for Uttar Pradesh assembly elections held from February 10 to March 7 in seven phases is underway. As per the latest trends, BJP’s Yogi Adityanath is on course to retain power for a second straight term. In the initial rounds of counting of votes in Uttar Pradesh, BJP has comfortably crossed the halfway mark, way ahead of its rival Samajwadi Party.

The results are in expected lines as almost all exit polls had predicted BJP’s return with a comfortable majority. In fact, one exit poll had predicted a repeat of the BJP’s 2017 performance, when it won a whopping over 300 seats in the 403-member Assembly.

While all statistics since the beginning appeared to be in favour of the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh, a few ardent supporters of SP chief Akhilesh Yadav remained bullish on the Samajwadi Party chief. They were confident that Akhilesh Yadav would dethrone Yogi Adityanath as the next Chief Minister. However, as the BJP inches closer to victory, it is clear that these Tweets predicting Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav’s victory in Uttar Pradesh did not age well.

Let’s take a look at some Tweets expressing confidence that Akhilesh Yadav and his Samajwadi Party would replace the incumbent BJP government in Uttar Pradesh led by Yogi Adityanath.

Arfa Khanum Sherwani, a ‘journalist’ for The Wire, led the charge, tweeting in January that the vote distribution in Uttar Pradesh would be 80:20, with the BJP securing 20%.

“The speed with which leaders are leaving BJP to join SP, feels like in the game of 80:20, BJP will be left with just 20,” Arfa Khanum had suggested rather confidentely on January 12, 2022.

Ashok Swain, a habitual fake news peddler and Left propagandist, was another entrant on the list of sycophants, having dismissed exit polls because they predicted a sweeping victory for the BJP in Uttar Pradesh. On March 7, 2022, Swain Tweeted, “India’s Exit Polls are as ‘good’ as Indian media – No truth in it.”

Many other leftist liberals, who despise the BJP and Yogi Adityanath, had also wished for the BJP to lose in Uttar Pradesh. Swati Chaturvedi, journalist cum abusive troll who accuses others of being abusive trolls, also took to Twitter on March 7, 2022 to share an op-ed she wrote in which she belittled Modi by saying that Modi wants to believe he has an appointment with history if he and Yogi win UP.

She captioned her Tweet, “UP Elections 2022: All roads lead to Kashi | Op-eds – Gulf News where I say that Modi, MP from Kashi thinks he has an appointment with history if he & Yogi can win UP. Contenders the Gandhi siblings & Akhilesh Yadav out to prove a point.”

“It will be a welcome change if BJP loses UP. It will weaken those who today have too much power and will give hope to the Opposition for 2024. It may also force Govt into some good governance. But I don’t see them losing in UP. Could be tight but they may come through. #UPElections,” Sumanath Raman, a Tamil television anchor and sports commentator had hoped on March 7, 2022.

Many leftist media outlets also attempted to create an anti-incumbency wave against the BJP by publishing article after article predicting the BJP’s defeat in the 2022 Assembly Elections in Uttar Pradesh.

TOI report published on March 6, 2022
A report by The Print published on October 9, 2020

Given their penchant for meddling in India’s internal affairs, Pakistani TV actress Sehar Shinwari predicted that Yogi would ‘badly’ lose the Vidhan Sabha elections in 2022. She not only predicted Yogi’s defeat but also insulted him by referring to him as ‘Atanknath.’ Shinwari went on to make another extremely ambitious prediction that Mamata Banerjee would succeed Modi as Prime Minister of India in 2024.

However, much to their chagrin, trends show that the BJP, led by Yogi Adityanath, is on course for an unprecedented victory in Uttar Pradesh. The ruling party is currently leading on 270 plus seats, 70 more than what is required to form the government. The live updates, trends and highlights of the 2022 Assembly election results can be viewed here.

“One Nation, One Election” is a good idea, Election Commission capable of holding all elections simultaneously: CEC Sushil Chandra

OpIndia Staff
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“One Nation, One Election” is a good idea, Election Commission capable of holding all elections simultaneously: CEC Sushil Chandra

In a statement made to ANI, Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra said that the “One Nation, One Election” proposed by PM Modi is a good idea and that the Election Commission is completely prepared and capable of managing all elections concurrently. He went on to say that it is possible, but that it would need a constitutional amendment.

CEC Sushil Chandra stated, “One Nation One Election is a good suggestion but this needs a change in the Constitution. The Election Commission is fully geared up and is capable of holding all the elections simultaneously. We are ready to hold elections only once in 5 years.”

“According to the Constitution, all the elections should be held simultaneously. The parliament elections that are held since independence, three of them are simultaneous elections. It is only later that sometimes the Assembly was dissolved, sometimes Parliament, which disturbed the schedule,” he added.

The CEC further added, “It is to be decided in Parliament that should we take half of the assembly together and the next time, take the other half together, but the election commission is fully prepared and is capable of holding all the elections simultaneously and is ready to elect it only once in 5 years.”

Additionally, as the counting of votes for the 2022 Assembly Elections in the states of Goa, Manipur, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, and Uttarakhand continues, he refuted all the allegations of EVM tampering and stated that the counting of votes is an entirely transparent procedure.

One Nation, One Election

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has strongly supported a “One Nation, One Election” system and a single voter list, arguing that holding elections every few months stifles growth. Governments will have more time for constructive work if the ONOE is implemented, as the enforcement of a model code of conduct impedes development and welfare activities. Furthermore, rather than campaigning incessantly, the ruling parties will also be able to concentrate on legislation and governance.

The execution of ‘One India, One Election’ with good policy and rule support, taking into consideration the rising requirement for stable governance and minimized ruckus, would be a significant shift.

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