Former Chhattisgarh chief minister Ajit Jogi's vehicle was attacked on Thursday morning by unidentified persons near Girwar village in Marwahi constituency, police said.The assailants pelted stones on the vehicle when Jogi was traveling through his assembly constituency in Bilaspur district, they said.Though the vehicle was damaged, Jogi was unhurt, police said.
Former MLA Ram Dayal Uikey, the BJP nominee from Pali-Tanakhar seat in Korba district, was present in the vehicle when the cash was seized from there, the police official said.
As the five states -- Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram -- go to the polls, here is how the big names are faring.
After the Modi mask in Gujarat, it is now Jogi mask in the poll-bound tribal state of Chhattisgarh. Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's election strategies appear to have caught the fancy of political parties here.Children are seen wearing masks of former chief minister Ajit Jogi in his paternal village Jogisar. The party has distributed large number of Jogi masks in all the booths of Marwahi constituency, from where the veteran party leader contests the election.
Polling in 70 constituencies began at 8 am and will conclude at 5 pm, except in nine polling booths in the Maoist-affected Bindranawagarh seat in Gariaband district, where voting began at 7 for security reasons, a poll official said.
Electoral fortunes of 687 candidates, including 50 women, will be sealed in the EVMs on Thursday with 88,14,228 voters expected to exercise their franchise.
'BJP ministers in Chhattisgarh were arrogant'
Jaggi was a close confidante of the party's state president V C Shukla, who is a former Congress leader.
Vijay Baghel and Jogi accuse the chief minister of prompting liquor vends across the state.
Congress tribal leaders led by former Chhattisgarh chief minister Ajit Jogi on Wednesday opposed the candidature of PA Sangma for President, saying the Nationalist Congress Party leader was "playing into the hands of communal forces"
Chief Minister Ajit Jogi said she will visit the tribal dominated Bastar and Sarguja districts on the first day and address two party rallies in their district headquarters Jagdalpur and Ambikapur.
He and about 150 others are accused of storming a police station demanding registration of an FIR against Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Ajit Jogi and his son in connection with a murder.
The Congress' backfiring brainstorming sessions Sonia Gandhi's retirement date Ajit Jogi robotic legs and new ambitions All this and more in this week's Dilli Gupshup.
The Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress remain the most dominant political forces in Chhattisgarh, though the state has several regional outfits that have pockets of influence, while the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is making a determined bid to challenge its well entrenched rivals and make a mark in polls to the 90-member House.
The BJP tops the list with 43 (80 percent) of 54 MLAs each having declared assets valued at more than Rs 1 crore.
In an embarrassment to the ruling party, two of its sitting ministers lost and six were trailing.
Needing 46 seats to secure a simple majority in the 90-member state assembly, Bharatiya Janata Party led in 52 seats pushing the Congress to distant second place with a lead in 33 seats, as per the official website of the state election commission.
Bhupender Singh Patel, Arvind Vijay Mohan and Rajat Prasad, who played pivotal role for carrying out the sting operation, have also been charged under various provisions of Indian Penal Code and Prevention of Corruption Act.
The former had been celebrating completion of four years in power while the latter had been distributing school bags embossed with the CM's picture.
The Congress leader, who resigned as the chief minister Sunday night, emerged victorious in the Patan assembly seat, defeating BJP candidate Vijay Baghel by 19,723 votes in the state assembly elections held last month.
In both of these Hindi heartland states, the straight contest between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and the opposition Congress.
Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi said in Korba in Chhattisgarh on Friday that chief ministers of Congress ruled states refrain from going among the people fearing that people may throw stones at them.
The former Madhya Pradesh chief minister is hoping for a return to power...in Chhattisgarh this time... Illustration: Uttam Ghosh.
Led by Raman Singh, the Bharatiya Janata Party has ruled Chhattisgarh for three consecutive assembly terms ever since a resounding victory by his party ousted the then Congress leader Ajit Jogi's three-year-old government in 2003.
The high-pitched election speeches skipped corporate issues, unlike during the assembly polls about four months ago.
The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has pinned its hopes on the old guard to ensure victory in next month's assembly elections in Chhattisgarh as it gave tickets to 11 sitting MLAs and renominated 13 leaders who lost in the 2018 polls.
Rediff Labs analysed the 2013 assembly election results merged with 2014 Lok Sabha election results to develop a Sentiment Meter for the 2018 electoral battle in Chhattisgarh.
Counting of votes will be held on Sunday in assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Telangana in what is seen as a semi-final contest ahead of the general elections in less than six months.
Extensive arrangements have been made due to the COVID-19 pandemic including personal protective equipment kits for election staff, more polling booths, thermal screening, sanitisers, masks and gloves for voters and markings to ensure social distancing, officials said.
However,the exit polls got their forecast of a tight finish in Madhya Pradesh right.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley on Friday said the Congress had no clear policy on countering Naxalism, and it was the Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled Chhattisgarh which showed the way on how to tackle the ultras.
Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party took a swipe at the Congress, with its leader Ravi Shankar Prasad saying forging a coalition was not in its DNA and it only gives importance to the Gandhi family.
Delhi has emerged as the youngest assembly in terms of age of elected legislators from the four states, with an estimated average age of about 43 years for members of Legislative Assembly elected in the national capital.
Vishnu Deo Sai, a prominent tribal face of the Bharatiya Janata Party, will be the next chief minister of Chhattisgarh where the saffron party returned to power after a gap of five years following the recently-concluded assembly polls.
The CM's failure to keep his house in order coupled with the arrogance of ministers and top leaders riled BJP cadres.
In its third list of candidates for the coming Lok Sabha elections, the Congress on Tuesday fielded 58 candidates, mostly tried and tested ones. While most sitting ministers, including Kapil Sibal (Chandni Chowk), Krishna Tirath (Northwest Delhi), Sachin Pilot (Ajmer) and Srikant Jena (Balasore) were retained, the surprise elements were state Youth Congress President Vishwajeet Kadam replacing tainted Suresh Kalmadi from Pune and cricketer Mohammed Azharuddin from Tonk-Sawai Madhopur (Rajasthan).
Due to hectic engagements with Telangana issue, Gandhi was unable to have an interaction with party MPs as there was no valedictory dinner meeting of the parliamentary party during the just-concluded winter session of Parliament, the last of the 15th Lok Sabha.
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