Hours after her appreciation speech for CM Adityanath, Samajwadi MLA Pooja expelled from party
Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday expelled MLA Pooja Pal from the party after she praised CM Yogi Adityanath in the Assembly. She had thanked Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for 'delivering justice' in her husband's murder case and praised him for bringing in policies with zero tolerance against criminals.
What did Pooja Pal say?
Speaking in the Uttar Pradesh assembly during a 24-hour marathon discussion on 'Vision Document 2047' on Thursday morning, Pooja Pal, the wife of Former Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLA Raju Pal, said, 'Everyone knows who murdered my husband (Raju). I want to thank the Chief Minister for bringing me justice and hearing me when nobody else did.'
She added, 'The Chief Minister gave justice to many other women like me in Prayagraj by bringing in policies like zero tolerance that led to the killing of criminals like Atiq Ahmed. Today, the entire state looks at him with trust.'
Hours after her appreciation speech, the MLA was expelled from the party. In his statement in Hindi, Akhilesh Yadav said: 'She (Pooja) is no longer permitted to participate in any party programs and will not be invited to them in the future.'
How Pooja responded?
'…Perhaps you could not hear the women in Prayagraj who were even more worried than me. But I am their voice, I have been elected as an MLA and sent to the Assembly. I am the voice of mothers and sisters who have lost their loved ones. They have sent me here. All people in Prayagraj who were disturbed due to Atiq Ahmed have been given justice by the CM, not just to Pooja Pal. I have been saying this from day 1, even when I was in the party. I have been expelled only today. I stand by my statement even today.'
'I became an MLA later but I am a victim woman first, a wife first…We could not stand the incident that occurred with us…They speak of PDA. I too belong to a backward community, I was troubled, I stepped out of my house because my husband was killed in broad day light, I was a newly-wed bride and there was nobody at my home…They have proven that they are completely against PDA.'
How was Raju Pal killed?
Former Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLA Raju Pal death which was a result of political rivalry with gangster Atiq Ahmed's brother Ashraf, whom Raju had defeated in the 2004 bypoll to the Prayagraj West seat. In February 2023, Umesh Pal, a key witness in the murder case, was shot dead in Prayagraj's Sulem Saray area.
Days later, Atiq and Ashraf – both of whom were arrested – were shot dead by three men when they were being taken for a medical check-up in Prayagraj.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Hindu
an hour ago
- The Hindu
What are the challenges confronting the EC?
The story so far: At a press conference on August 7, Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi accused the Election Commission (EC) of massive electoral roll manipulations in Mahadevapura Assembly constituency in Karnataka. Mr. Gandhi's presser capped a series of allegations of deliberate voter roll discrepancies by the EC beginning with the Maharashtra Assembly polls. This, coupled with the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar, which is under judicial scrutiny, has put the poll body in the eye of a storm. What is the mandate of the EC? The Election Commission of India is a permanent constitutional body. The Constitution has vested in the EC the superintendence, direction and control of the entire process for conduct of elections to Parliament and the legislature of every State, and to the offices of President and Vice-President of India. Originally, the commission only had a Chief Election Commissioner (CEC). It was expanded to include two Election Commissioners (ECs). Why has there been a controversy about the appointment process? Parliament passed a new law governing appointments to the EC, namely the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023. In accordance with the new law, the ECs are selected by a three-member selection committee, comprising the Prime Minister, a Union Minister and the Leader of the Opposition. The Opposition had objected to this, saying the committee gave little room for dissent as the Prime Minister and the Union Minister are part of the government and could rule 2:1 in favour of their candidate. Why is the EC's role in the spotlight? Last year, the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance had alleged that lakhs of new voters had been added to Maharashtra's electoral rolls in the time period between the Lok Sabha polls in May and the Assembly elections in October. The Congress had made the same allegations about Haryana, and later the Aam Aadmi Party alleged that voter rolls were tweaked in Delhi before Assembly polls. Even as the EC was grappling with these claims, CEC Gyanesh Kumar announced the SIR in Bihar which aims at cleaning up electoral rolls. The EC said the SIR exercise will be carried out across the country. At his press conference, Mr. Gandhi alleged large-scale discrepancies in the Mahadevapura Assembly segment under the Bangalore Central Lok Sabha constituency in Karnataka which he claimed helped the BJP win the seat. Mr. Gandhi said his party had carried out an investigation which spanned over six months before reaching this conclusion. He claimed that the voter list had manipulated entries, including duplicate voters, invalid addresses, and bulk registrations of votes at single locations. Following this, Mr. Gandhi reiterated his demand for machine readable voter rolls to be provided to all political parties for proper verification. The EC stated it has not been providing machine readable or 'text-searchable' voter lists for concerns over cyber-security. The Supreme Court (SC) had upheld it in a petition filed by former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath in 2018. When was a revision announced in Bihar? On June 24, the EC ordered a SIR of electoral rolls in Bihar, barely five months before the Assembly elections. As per the SIR orders, every voter in Bihar who had not been listed in the 2003 voter rolls would have to submit documents proving their date and place of birth to determine whether they were Indian citizens. Those born after 1987 would also have to submit proof of their parents' date and place of birth. However, after the completion of the first phase of the SIR exercise, the EC released a draft electoral roll on August 1, which saw a drop in the number of voters in Bihar by 65 lakh. There were 7.89 crore voters registered in the 2025 electoral list before the SIR exercise; after the recount, it slid to 7.24 crore electors. The EC said that most of these 65 lakh 'missing' voters have died; are registered in two locations; have migrated out of Bihar; or are untraceable. Civil society organisations, Opposition parties as well as NGOs approached the Supreme Court challenging the SIR process. What has the SC directed EC to do? In an interim order on August 14, the Supreme Court directed the EC to publish an enumerated, booth-wise list of the 65 lakh electors not included in the draft roll. A Bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi instructed the EC to provide reasons for the deletion — death, migration, untraceability, duplicate registrations — against each name. The court also asked EC to accept Aadhaar as proof of identity for an elector to include his or her name in the rolls. 'That it has taken the Supreme Court to nudge the EC towards following basic norms of natural justice and fairness in the Bihar SIR exercise reflects poorly on an organisation which takes pride in collecting and counting every last vote. While errors can creep into voter lists over time, the answer to that is not mass disenfranchisement as the EC is attempting,' said Alok Kumar Prasanna, Advocate and Co-Founder of Vidhi Centre for Public Policy. What about migrant voters? Migrant voters still have to return to the place where they are on the rolls to vote. This is a huge cost and depresses turnout, notes Mr. Prasanna. 'There is no simple solution to this currently. The solution will have to be cheap, secure and transparent to work. Solutions which work in richer societies and for richer migrants will not work for poor migrants from States like Bihar,' he added. What has been the political fallout? After Mr. Gandhi's press conference, the Opposition upped the ante and tried to hold a march from Parliament to the Election Commission headquarters. They courted arrest when stopped. The ongoing monsoon session of Parliament has also been virtually paralysed over demands for a discussion on the Bihar SIR. The government has, however, not conceded to the Opposition's demand. The issue has brought Opposition parties together and protests are likely to continue when Parliament reconvenes on August 18. 'To protect the voters of this country and democracy whatever has to be done we will do,' Rashtriya Janata Dal Rajya Sabha MP Manoj Jha told The Hindu.
Deccan Herald
an hour ago
- Deccan Herald
Counting on democracy
The EC's Special Intensive Revision in Bihar, just ahead of an Assembly election, is a politically contentious exercise. The commission's insistence on proof of birth and other documents risks the disenfranchisement of millions, including legitimate immigrants with voter IDs and Aadhaar cards.
Time of India
3 hours ago
- Time of India
All private schools now under new fee regulation law, says Delhi education minister
Advt Advt New Delhi, The Delhi government has brought all 1,700 private schools in the city under a new fee regulation law, with provisions for parental participation and veto power on fee hikes, Education Minister Ashish Sood said on at a "Parents' Town Hall" in Janakpuri, Sood said the Delhi School Education (Transparency in Fixation and Regulation of Fees) Bill, 2025, passed in the Monsoon Session of the Assembly, seeks to end arbitrary fee increases and ensure transparency in the fee fixation 200 parents attended the interaction, where the minister explained key provisions of the law, including penalties for that raise fees without government approval will face fines ranging from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 10 lakh, with double penalties if excess charges are not refunded, he said, according to an official Act also grants the Director of Education powers similar to those of a sub-divisional magistrate to ensure uniform action against violations, it comprising parents, teachers, school management and government representatives will be involved in setting school fees, it said the new law closes a loophole in the 1973 rules, under which only 300 schools were covered for the fee regulation. "Now, all private schools in Delhi will come under the ambit of fee regulation," he minister criticised previous governments for failing to establish a transparent system for private school fee control."Those who claimed to have brought an education revolution did not make real improvements in government schools," he said, adding that many parents opted for private schools because of the poor state of public education per the Act, decisions on fee proposals must be made by school-level committees by July 15, district-level committees by July 30, and finalised by September. If no decision is reached within 45 days, the matter will be referred to an appellate said the law was drafted after consultations with parents and education experts to curb the commercialisation of education and safeguard the interests of students. PTI>
