Elections 2022 Live Updates: BJP attempts makeover in Punjab; high voter turnout sign of anti-incumbency, says Goa Congress

2022 Assembly Election Updates: Fighting for the first time as the senior partner in an alliance that comprises the breakaway factions of the Congress (Capt Amarinder’s Punjab Lok Congress) and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD-Sanyukt), BJP’s campaign, powered by the national leadership and celebrities, is as much about reimagining itself as it’s about creating a ‘nawaan (new)’ Punjab, a refrain in its posters.

A week to go for the polls, the party is pulling out all the stops. PM Narendra Modi addressed a physical poll rally in Jalandhar Monday, his first in Punjab since January 5 when a road blockade by protesters had forced him to cut short his visit to the state. Modi promised the electorate a “nawan (new)” and “nasha mukt (drug free)” Punjab within a decade, claiming that the BJP had become a political alternative in the state for the first time.

Meanwhile, as polling concluded in Goa’s 40 Assembly constituencies on Monday, the tentative turnout stood at 78.94 per cent, higher than other states that voted on Monday but a tad lower than the state’s 2017 count of 81.21 per cent. All India Congress Committee (AICC) in-charge of Goa, Dinesh Gundu Rao, told ANI, “There is a huge anti-incumbency wave and that’s the reason this high number of voting is taking place. I think it’s going to be a very good result for Congress and we will get an absolute majority.”

Punjab: Do not experiment, Rahul cautions voters
Urging people not to do any “experiment” in the Punjab Assembly polls, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi Monday said that maintaining peace and brotherhood was most important for the state and only his party was capable of doing that.

“Punjab’s peace is the most important thing. Remember, this is not a laboratory…not a chemistry lab to carry out an experiment…because if peace goes and if hatred starts to spread here, it will not only be Punjab’s, but nation’s loss…You understand the Congress party. It can take everyone along and maintain peace. We have experience in doing so. This is not the time to experiment,” said Gandhi, who addressed poll rallies in Hoshiarpur and Gurdaspur.

Wanted to pray at Jalandhar temple, local admn said can’t make arrangements: PM
A month after a security breach forced him to return from Punjab without addressing a scheduled rally, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was unable to pay a visit to Jalandhar’s revered Devi Talab Mandir during his Monday visit as the local administration expressed its inability to make necessary arrangements.

Modi addressed a physical poll rally in Jalandhar, his first in Punjab since January 5 when a road blockade by protesters had forced him to cut short his visit to the state. The PM said it was his desire to pay obeisance at Devi Talab Mandir, but the police and the administration here said “they will not be able to make arrangements”.