Telangana Assembly Elections 2023 Highlights: Tight security at 500 stations in LWE-hit areas

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Kailash Vijayvargiya, national general secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), filed his nomination papers for the Indore-1 assembly seat in the Madhya Pradesh assembly elections on Monday, making a formal return to electoral politics after a ten-year absence. Vijayvargiya arrived at the district collector's office, escorted by party members who held a rally and filed candidature papers.

Telangana TDP chairman Kasani Gnaneswar resigned as the party has decided not to run in the November 30 assembly elections.

While an agreement among INDIA bloc allies in the next state elections would have been beneficial, the majority of the grouping believes the alliance is for the Lok Sabha elections, CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury stated on Monday. The words from the Left leader come as the Congress and other INDIA bloc parties prepare to compete in the upcoming assembly elections in five states. Akhilesh Yadav, the head of the Samajwadi Party, recently expressed his dissatisfaction with the Congress over the seat-sharing problem, while National Conference leader Omar Abdullah indicated on Monday that the situation within the opposition alliance was not good.

BJP national vice president and former Chhattisgarh CM Raman Singh says, "If the CM himself starts looting Chhattisgarh, if he starts collecting Rs 25 publically for coal...For the first time in the history of India, this has happened...Corruption does take place but such corruption wherein the Government itself, along with its officers, is involved in corruption..."

"Bhupesh Baghel has realised that his Government is going away," BJP national vice president and former Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh said. He also added he is attempting to save it by making new announcements every day. However, the people of Chhattisgarh are aware that he is a '40-day CM' and that his announcements have no meaning.

"I filed my nomination papers from the Patan constituency." "I want to make it clear that my fight is not against Bhupesh (Baghel), but against corruption," says Amit Jogi, president of the Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (J).

Telangana Minister KT Rama Rao tweets, "I strongly condemn the murder attempt on BRS MP Prabhakar Reddy by Congress goons. Desperate Congress now resorting to physical elimination attempts of our leaders in Telangana. This was of course to be expected with a 3rd rate Criminal being made the TPCC president. Violence has no place in democratic society and I hope the Election Commission of India will take serious action in this regard."

Congress has always been a supporter of RSS since the time of Nehru, said Telangana minister KT Rama Rao. Earlier, he had said Congress was “the real white elephant" who should have been disbanded after India got Independence in 1947 from British colonial rule.

Telangana chief minister KCR blames Congress for the attack on MP Prabhakar Reddy. The MP was stabbed while campaigning in Siddipet. He is the BRS candidate from Dubbak assembly segment for the November 30 polls. The attacker was caught and beaten by the BRS workers at the rally. The MP was walking towards a pastor's home when the attack took place.

"There are 40,78,681 lakh registered voters in Chhattisgarh for the first phase of Assembly polls. For the second phase, there are 1,63,14,489 registered voters in the state," said Vinay Kumar Agrawal, Deputy Chief Electoral Officer, Chhattisgarh at a press conference.

Senior Congress leaders, including Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot and state Congress in-charge Sukhinder Singh Randhawa, arrive at the party headquarters for the Rajasthan CEC meeting.

The Election Commission tells Delhi HC it can't regulate political alliance over plea to restrain parties from using acronym INDIA. The poll panel said that it only has the authority to register associations of bodies or individuals of a "political party" under the Representation of People Act, 1951 (RP Act).

"People of Chhattisgarh have decided to move on from Congress. I am confident that the BJP will form government in Chhattisgarh again with full majority," Maharashtra Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis said in Raipur.

BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya filed his nomination from the Indore-1 assembly constituency. "We will win all 9 seats in Indore. We will form the government in Madhya Pradesh with a 2/3rd majority; we will win more than 160 seats. There is an undercurrent of development by the BJP in Madhya Pradesh and trust in the leadership of PM Modi. The PM and BJP do what they say. The development works done by the double-engine government in Madhya Pradesh can be clearly seen...So people's trust is in BJP and PM Modi," he said.

On Samajwadi PDA Yatra bicycle rally, Uttar Pradesh Congress president Ajay Rai said, "Political parties work in their own way...We have not been in power in Uttar Pradesh for nearly thirty years... They have been in power but were not able to connect backward castes and other castes... The public is watching everything minutely..."

On INDIA Alliance, National Conference Vice President Omar Abdullah said "It is unfortunate that the condition of INDIA Alliance is not strong right now. There are some internal fights which should not be there, especially in the 4 to 5 states where there are elections... The waythe fight between the Samajwadi Party and the Congress surfaced and both said that they will contest all seats in UP, this is not good for the INDIA Alliance... Maybe we will meet again after the state elections, we will try to sit and work together..."

Telangana Jana Samithi to support Congress in the upcoming elections. The party announced its decision to support Congress after a meeting between its president and Telangana Congress chief Revanth Reddy in Hyderabad.

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav takes part in Lucknow in the ongoing statewide 'cycle yatra' undertaken by the party’s frontal organisation, Samajwadi Lohia Vahini. The objective of the yatra, ‘Desh Bachao, Samajwadi Cycle Yatra’, which started from Prayagraj on August 9, is to reach out to people in 403 assembly constituencies across all 75 districts in the state.

Priyanka, Rahul keep making promises to women, farmers, doubtful it will be fulfilled, says BJP leader Vasundhara Raje. She attacked the Congress over Jaipur's development.

"Every time I remember the day when I went to file nomination for the first time. Today I have left from Bhilai residence to file nomination as a candidate from the Patan assembly constituency. My wife Mukteshwari did tilak like every time. Your love is my strength. For the self-respect of Chhattisgarh, I promise to always remain dedicated to serving you all," said Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel on X.

On upcoming state assembly elections, Madhya Pradesh Congress chief and former CM Kamal Nath in Indore says, "I have full faith in the voters of Madhya Pradesh that they will secure the future of the state."

- Chhattisgarh Deputy Chief Minister TS Singhdeo, commenting on Rahul Gandhi's visit to the poll-bound state, said today that the party is "moving forward with a vision in Chhattisgarh"
- "You saw that important announcements were made -' KG to PG' is a big announcement in which there is provision of free education from school to college in government schools and colleges", said Singhdeo reasserting Gandhi's promise for free education in the state.
- "For landless families who were getting Rs 7,000 per year, they will get Rs 10,000. So big announcements were made by Rahul Gandhi," the deputy chief minister further noted.

- Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on October 29 denied having differences with state Congress president Kamal Nath and claimed such reports were propaganda of the ruling BJP.
- Singh noted that several newspapers have claimed that he cancelled his visits to Jhabua and Khategaon due to his displeasure.
- "The factionalism in the BJP is at its peak these days and to cover it up they are sponsoring and spreading false news of rift among Congress leaders, especially between Kamal Nath and me. Every leader of the Congress is united and determined to defeat the BJP," Singh said in a statement.

- The BJP, on October 29, announced the party's candidates for Guna and Vidisha assembly seats in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh.
- Thus, the ruling party's candidate declaration for all the 230 seats in the state, where the assembly polls are scheduled on November 17, comes to a close.
- Pannalal Shakya has been nominated from Guna and Mukesh Tandon has been filed from the Vidisha assembly seat. .

- Senior Congress leader and Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi during his visit to poll-bound Chhattisgarh on October 28, promised free education in the state's government schools and colleges.
- "We are going to take a major step for you which we call KG to PG’. From KG (kindergarten) to PG (post-graduation), free education will be provided in government institutions to students. They will not have to pay a single penny," he highlighted.
- Gandhi also promised Rs 4,000 annually for tendu leave collectors under the Rajiv Gandhi Protsahan Yojana, which is being seen as a major announcement from the Bhanupratappur seat, which is a part of the tribal-dominated Bastar region.

- In Madhya Pradesh, chief contenders for the Assembly elections, Congress and BJP, have engaged in a war of words over the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya.
- The BJP has said that the Congress was "“pained" over the construction of the Ram temple”, while the opposition party accused the former of “going astray from the devotion to Lord Ram”.
- Last week, the Congress' Indore unit complained to the Election Commission of India (ECI) that the BJP has used religious symbols during poll campaigning by showcasing the Ayodhya Ram temple and Mahakal Lok in Ujjain, violating the model code of conduct.

- The filing of nominations for single-phase assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh and the second phase of state polls in Chhattisgarh closes today.
- In Madhya Pradesh, the BJP has been in power for almost 20 years since 2003, except for a brief 15-month period between December 2018 to March 2020.
- Polling for the 230 seats in Madhya Pradesh will be held in a single phase on November 17 and votes will be counted on December 3.
- Meanwhile, polling in Chhattisgarh will be held in two phases - 20 constituencies will go into polls on November 7 in the first phase of Assembly elections, and the second phase will be held on November 17.

- The Rajasthan State Assembly's term is slated to end on January 14, 2024.
- In the 2018 Assembly polls, the incumbent Congress-led government claimed 100 seats, while the BJP won 73 seats.

- Other parties included the Bahujan Samaj Party (6 seats), Bharatiya Tribal Party (2 seats), Communist Party of India (Marxist) (2 seats), Independent candidates (13 seats), Rashtriya Lok Dal (1 seat), and Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (3 seats).

- The Aam Aadmi Party, on October 29, released its third list of 16 candidates for Assembly elections in Rajasthan.
- Voting for the 200 assembly constituencies will take place in a single phase on November 23, with vote counting scheduled for December 3.
- According to the Election Commission of India, Rajasthan has 141 general assembly segments, 25 seats reserved for Scheduled Castes, and 34 reserved for Scheduled Tribes, with a total number of voters amounting to 5.25 crore, including 2.73 crore males, 2.52 crore females, and 22.04 lakh first-time voters.

- The BJP national president further said that the Congress did not make any developmental efforts in Chhattisgarh.
- "Not a single brick or stone of development was laid by the Congress in Chhattisgarh, but I can say confidently that the BJP can claim its role in every single brick of growth in the state,” he said.
- He also added that the Congress always had considerations for the party and its family, and never for the people or the state.