BJP MLA from Jharkhand Jai Prakash Bhai Patel joins Congress
New Delhi (PTI): Ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, BJP MLA from Jharkhand Jai Prakash Bhai Patel joined the Congress on Wednesday and vowed to strengthen the INDIA bloc.
Patel joined the Congress at the party headquarters in the presence of AICC in-charge of Jharkhand Ghulam Ahmad Mir, Jharkhand Congress chief Rajesh Thakur, Jharkhand minister Alamgir Alam and party's media and publicity department head Pawan Khera.
Patel is an MLA from the Mandu assembly constituency that falls under the Hazaribagh Lok Sabha segment. Earlier he had been an MLA of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha.
Patel said he wants to fulfil the dreams his father Tek Lal Mahto, a former MP, had for Jharkhand. He said he was unable to find his father's ideology in the NDA and has now vowed to work to strengthen the INDIA bloc in the state.
Patel said Jharkhand has resolved to ensure INDIA bloc's victory in all 14 Lok Sabha seats in the state.
"I have joined the Congress not for any greed or post but for ideology and to fulfil the dreams of my father had for the state," Patel said.
Patel could be fielded by the Congress from the Hazaribagh Lok Sabha constituency in the upcoming polls.
Mir said this joining was an indication of the things to come and claimed that many leaders from various parties in Jharkhand and West Bengal were in touch with the Congress for crossing over.
He said some want to join as it is election season but many have been impressed by the party's ideology and the Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo yatras.
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Kolkata Port: Decline in number of voters during SIR brings in uncertainty in TMC bastion
Kolkata (PTI): A sharp decline in the number of voters following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls has injected an element of uncertainty into the Kolkata Port Assembly constituency, considered a safe seat for the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC).
The electorate in the south Kolkata constituency has dropped from 2.36 lakh in the 2021 Assembly polls to around 1.75 lakh, a fall of nearly 26 per cent, prompting political parties to closely assess its potential impact on the April 29 polling.
The TMC re-nominated senior minister and Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim, who has held the seat for two consecutive terms, while the BJP fielded Rakesh Singh. The Congress nominated Aquib Gulzar, and the CPI(M) put up Faiyaz Ahmad Khan, making it a four-cornered contest.
Kolkata Port, part of the Kolkata Dakshin parliamentary constituency, comprises dock areas, old business districts and densely populated neighbourhoods. Muslim voters form a significant segment of the electorate, alongside traders, transport workers and working-class Hindu families.
The reduction in voter numbers has prompted party workers across formations to scrutinise the revised rolls booth-wise to identify deletions and assess whether specific localities have been affected.
Singh’s candidature has added a twist to the contest. He had earlier contested against Hakim as a Congress candidate but is now in the fray on a BJP ticket.
Hakim won the seat in 2016 by 26,548 votes, defeating Singh, and increased his margin significantly to 68,554 votes in 2021, polling over one lakh votes.
While the TMC has expressed confidence in retaining the seat, opposition parties have raised concerns over the voter list revision, alleging that names of genuine voters have been removed.
“People here know who has stood by them. Elections are decided by trust,” Hakim told PTI during a campaign event.
Singh claimed several residents had complained about missing names in the rolls, stressing the need for transparency. The CPI(M) nominee also said voters in several areas had raised similar concerns.
The constituency has remained a difficult terrain for the opposition in recent elections.
Civic issues such as sanitation, traffic congestion and declining business activity in traditional markets also feature in the campaign in the constituency, though the revised voter list has emerged as a key talking point.
Polling in the constituency will be held in the second phase on April 29, with counting scheduled for May 4.
