Election

LIVE: Congress President Rahul Gandhi addresses a public gathering in Chittorgarh, Rajasthan

In conversation with Chief Minister of Uttrakhand Harish Rawat - Congress will form the government again in Uttrakhand

BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav on Sunday rejected as ablsolute lie the claims of Manipur activists Irom Sharmila that the saffron party had offered her Rs 36 crore to contest the state assembly elections against Chief Minister Ibobi Singh.

In an interview to NDTV recently, Sharmila had said that the BJP had approached her to contest against Singh and had offered Rs 36 crore.

“I was approached by the BJP to fight on their ticket in this election. Their suggestion was that to fight Ibobi, I will need 36 crores. If I have it, I should produce it, if not the centre would sanction it. On that condition, I said I will stand for elections as an independent. I don’t criticise other political parties. I just want to bring a change in the society. I want to bring the right to justice to all and ensure that the draconian AFSPA (Armed Forces Special Powers Act) is withdrawn,” said Sharmila in the interview.

Reacting to Sharmila’s claim, Madhav said that his party’s entire election campaign does not cost as much as claimed by Sharmila. “Absolute lie. Our entire election campaign in MANIPUR doesn’t cost that much. She should find respectable ways of fighting elections,” tweeted Madhav.

Sharmila, however, is contest the state elections Ibobi Singh from Thoubal constituency in the Assembly elections to be held on February 15. Known for her fight against Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), Sharmila is a political greenhorn while Congress has been in power in Manipur for three successive terms under Ibobi Singh.

Congress on February 3 had released a list of 60 candidates for Manipur Assembly elections, with Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh contesting Thoubal seat.

In August last year, the 44-year-old Iron Lady broke her 16-year-old hunger strike, the world’s longest such campaign, and declared that she wants to become the chief minister so that she could press for repeal of the contentious AFSPA.

Terming demonetisation as the "century's biggest scam", senior Congress leader Anand Sharma today asked the Centre to issue a white paper on it, saying if his party came to power, it will order a Supreme Court-monitored inquiry into the move.
    
According to the third quarter projections, the growth rate has dropped by one per cent due to demonetisation and there is a downturn in both investment and industrial production, he said at a press conference here.
    
Though the step was taken to fight corruption, black money, the scourge of counterfeit currency and funding of terror activities, it had failed to achieve these goals, he said.
    
"All cash is not black money. Black money is in the bullion market, real estate and in foreign exchange. By withdrawing 85 percent currency in circulation, Rs 15 lakh crore cash has been turned into trash in one go, but after note ban, 58 percent cash returned to the banks defeating the very objective of the move," he alleged.
    
The former Union minister, who was here to campaign for Congress for the February 15 Uttarakhand Assembly polls, said the Centre was talking about going cashless at a time when the whole country has to do without basic facilities like toilets.
    
Sharma said Congress had not boycotted Parliament but the Prime Minister over the latter's "raincoat" barb at his predecessor Manmohan Singh.
    
He also accused Narendra Modi of insulting people of Uttarakhand by making a light-hearted reference to the recent earthquake in the state during a speech in Parliament.

Samajwadi Party (SP) founder Mulayam Singh Yadav on Sunday said that he would not campaign for the party, which has entered into a coalition with the Congress, for the upcoming UP Assembly elections.

He also said that he was vehemently against the alliance, and that the SP could have won the election on its own.

Political observers are saying that Mulayam's current stance is a result of his dreams of becoming the president of India being dashed by Akhilesh Yadav, who has his own plans to return as UP chief minister and then go on to become prime minister, or at least be a kingmaker at national-level politics.

A few weeks ago, there had been speculation that Mulayam and Akhilesh had been feuding over control of the SP because they had different views of what was to come. It had been rumoured that the BJP, which leads the NDA coalition government at the Centre, had asked Mulayam to play it soft with his party in the UP polls, so the saffron party could benefit from it.

It is common knowledge that UP is possibly the most politically important state in the country, having sent the most number of prime ministers to Parliament. This includes Narendra Modi, who is a Lok Sabha member from the Varanasi constituency. If the BJP won UP, it would all but cement its position at the Centre for the 2019 General Elections.

That could have been achieved had Mulayam stayed in charge of the SP and not been unseated by son Akhilesh. And if the BJP had won UP, grapevine had it that Mulayam had been promised the post of president of India.

However, none of that happened because of the ambitions of Akhilesh Yadav, who wants not only to return as UP chief minister - he is the incumbent - but also to maybe become prime minister one day. An alliance with the Congress can take him there, because the Congress still has a sizeable voter base outside UP, which Akhilesh might want to tap at the national level.

The alliance at the state level means if he ever were to stake claim to the post of prime minister, he might get support from the Congress. And if the Congress staked claim for Rahul Gandhi to be prime minister if the Congress wins the 2019 General elections, then the SP can play kingmaker and wield greater clout at power corridors of Delhi.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has rejected the request of the Election Commission to enhance the weekly cash-withdrawal limit, imposed after demonetisation, for those contesting Assembly elections in five states, prompting an angry reaction from the poll panel.

The Commission had on Wednesday requested RBI to enhance the withdrawal limit of candidates to Rs 2 lakh from Rs 24,000 per week imposed post demonetisation as the nominees would find it difficult to meet their campaign expenditure.

But RBI said that it was not possible for it to hike the limit at this stage.

The Election Commission has urged the central bank to reconsider the proposal. An apparently peeved Commission has now written back to RBI Governor Urjit Patel expressing "serious concern about the cursory manner in which the issue has been dealt with".

"...(It) appears that the RBI has not realised the gravity of the situation...It is reiterated that it is the constitutional mandate of the Commission to conduct free and fair elections and to provide level-playing field to all candidates...in order to facilitate proper conduct of elections, it is imperative that directions issued by the Commission are complied with," the poll panel said.

On Wednesday, the Commission had told RBI that it has been apprised of the problems candidates were facing due to withdrawal limits imposed after the note ban.

The Election Commission said the returning officer of the constituency would issue certificate that the person was a candidate in the fray and the contestant be allowed to withdraw Rs 2 lakh cash per week from the bank account opened especially to meet poll expenses.

The Election Commission said the facility be extended till March 11, the day of counting.

Candidates are bound to open an election account for meeting poll-related expenditure which is monitored by the Election Commission.

The Election Commission said that with a weekly withdrawal limit of Rs 24,000, a candidate would be able to withdraw Rs 96,000 in cash during the election process which lasts three to four weeks.

The Election Commission reminded the Reserve Bank that as per law, candidates contesting Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Punjab can spend Rs 28 lakh each for electioneering.

The limit in Goa and Manipur is Rs 20 lakh each. The poll panel said despite paying amounts through cheques, candidates still need hard cash for petty expenses. Also the issue is further adversely effected in rural areas where banking facilities are negligible.