Lamphelpat (Manipur) [India], February 27 (ANI): As many as 38 constituencies spread across five districts including Imphal East, Imphal West, Bishnupur, Churachandpur, and Kangpokpi will go to polls in the first phase of Manipur Assembly elections on Monday.

New Delhi Feb 23 PTI Healthy life style and dietary habits are very crucial to control and reduce the burden of cancer on society according to leading cancer biologist Rana P Singh Singh made the comments during a two-day symposium organised by the Jawaharlal Nehru University JNU on recent trends in cancer prevention and interception Healthy lifestyle and dietary habits are very crucial to control and reduce the burden of cancer on society he said Vice-Chancellor of JNU Professor Santishree Pandit highlighted the need for multi-disciplinary research to contribute to the growing knowledge of cancer prevention and therapyShe also stressed an in-depth exploration of traditional medicine including Ayurveda Yoga Unani Siddha and Homoeopathy in the field of cancer research Rajesh Agarwal Interim Chair Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceuticals Sciences University of Colorado Denver USA called for the attention to plant flavonoids such as silibinin which has shown strong growth inhibitory effects on skin cancer with strong translational potential for human skin cancer chemopreventionThe symposium was also supported by the governments Department of Science and Technology PTI VA GJS GJS TIR TIR

Lucknow Jan 22 PTI Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday said his party will provide jobs to 22 lakh youths in the IT sector if it is voted to power in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly pollsYadav was speaking at a press conference hereAt the press conference SP general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav also made a formal announcement that Yadav will contest the upcoming assembly election from Karhal seat in MainpuriMainpuri is the Lok Sabha constituency of SP patriarch and Yadavs father Mulayam SinghThe SP will work to provide 22 lakh jobs to trained youths in the IT sector after coming to power Yadav saidOn the work done by the erstwhile SP dispensation Yadav said The SP government had made efforts to take the state forward in the IT sector HCL was the first to invest in Chak Gajaria Farm here Had the work done during the SP government been taken forward Lucknow could have been recognised as an IT hub But nothing was done later In the HCL campus 5000 people are working and several others could have got indirect jobs he saidThe SP government from 2012-17 was headed by YadavFormer Congress MP Pravin Singh Aron and his wife Supriya joined the SP in the presence of Yadav hereSupriya was named by the Congress as its nominee from the Bareilly Cant assembly seat She will now contest the polls from the same seat as the SP candidateEarlier the SP had declared Rajesh Agarwal as its candidate from the seat He has been replaced by SupriyaThe Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls will be held in seven phases between February 10 and March 7 The counting of votes will take place on March 10 PTI SAB SNS DIV DIV

Lucknow Oct 18 PTI BJP-backed Samajwadi Party rebel Nitin Agarwal was on Monday elected Deputy Speaker in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly defeating his partys official candidate Narendra Verma by 244 votes Agarwal got 304 votes compared to Vermas 60 in the polling held through ballot papers at a special one-day assembly session here Four ballot papers were declared invalid The Bahujan Samaj Party which has 16 MLAs and the Congress with its seven boycotted the election Carrying placards Congress workers protested in front of the assembly building and accused the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party of trying to divert attention from the problems faced by the state Agarwal is now the states first Deputy Speaker in 14 years Speaker Hriday Narayan Dixit called it an important post saying the tradition goes dates back to the Vedic era Agarwal a third-term MLA from Hardoi is the son of former state minister Naresh Agarwal who recently switched over to the BJP from the Samajwadi Party BJP has 304 MLAs in the 403-member House at present and the SP 49 making it a no-contest election as the ruling camp was supporting the SP rebel Apna Dal Sonelal with its nine MLAs is a BJP ally The Rashtriya Lok Dal and the Nishad party have one MLA each There are three independent MLAs while two are unattached Seven seats are vacant The election coming just months ahead of the crucial assembly polls highlighted the absence of any anti-BJP front in the state with Mayawatis BSP and the Congress refusing to side with the SP The three have already decided to fight the assembly polls separately The SP however seemed to have won the support of members of some regional outfits as it garnered 60 votes 11 more than its strength of 49 including Agarwal SP chief Akhilesh Yadav has already made it clear that he will have no alliance with the bigger parties and is forging tie-ups with the smaller regional parties Back in 2004 BJPs Rajesh Agarwal was elected unopposed as Deputy Speaker during the Mayawati governments term After the declaration of the results UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath justified supporting the rebel SP candidate He said the ruling party had backed a young person but the opposition was unable to bring forward a young face in the past four and half years He termed the SP an anti-youth party which was unable to accept its own member Adityanath reminded that technically Agarwal is a Samajwadi Party MLA Newly elected Deputy Speaker Agarwal said he will take all members along in the functioning of the House Apparently referring to Agarwal Leader of the Opposition Ram Gobind Chaudhary said he was not made a minister but handed a lollypop when the term of the House was nearly over PTI NAV SAB SNS DV RT ASH ASH

Lucknow Oct 18 PTI Polling for the post of deputy speaker in the Uttar Pradesh legislative assembly was underway on Monday with BJP-backed SP rebel MLA Nitin Agarwal and the Akhilesh Yadav-led partys official candidate Narendra Verma in the frayThe Bahujan Samaj Party BSP which has 16 MLAs in the House staged a walkout before the voting process began while the Congress with its seven legislators has decided to boycott the pollsThe Congress has accused the ruling BJP of attempting to divert attention from the various problems plaguing Uttar Pradesh by going in for the election for the post of deputy speakerVoting began around 1145 am and will continue till 3 pm Results will be formally announced after thatAgarwal who was elected as a legislator on a Samajwadi Party SP ticket but then cozied up to the ruling BJP is all set to be the deputy speaker of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly with the support of the saffron partyA miffed SP which has fielded Verma as its official candidate for the contest had on Sunday hit out at the BJP accusing it of trying to sabotage democracy and asserted that the post should traditionally go to the opposition partyAgarwals victory is just a matter of time given the overwhelming majority the BJP enjoys in the HouseAt present the saffron party has 304 MLAs in the 403-member UP legislative assembly while the Samajwadi Party has 49BJP-ally Apna Dal Sonelal has nine MLAsAfter the polling Uttar Pradesh will get its first deputy speaker of the legislative assembly after a gap of over 14 yearsAs per tradition an MLA from the principal opposition party is made the deputy speaker of the assembly The last deputy speaker of the UP legislative assembly was the BJPs Rajesh Agarwal who was elected unopposed in 2004 PTI NAV SAB SNS IJT

Lucknow Oct 17 PTI Nitin Agarwal who was elected as a legislator on the Samajwadi Party ticket but then cozied up to the ruling BJP is all set to be the deputy speaker of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly with the support of the saffron party A miffed Samajwadi Party which has fielded Narendra Verma as its official candidate for the contest that is taking place just months ahead of the 2022 assembly polls hit out at the BJP accusing it of trying to sabotage democracy and asserted that the post should traditionally go to the opposition party After the election on Monday Uttar Pradesh will get its first Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Assembly after a gap of over 14 years In the 2017 assembly polls the BJP had won 304 seats in the 403-member UP Legislative Assembly and its majority in the House will ensure Agarwals victory According to sources Samajwadi Party had moved the Speaker seeking disqualification of Nitin Agarwal from the Assembly 5-6 months and around 15-20 days back the Speaker rejected the petition Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and UP BJP chief Swatantra Dev Singh were present during the filing of nomination on Sunday by Nitin Agarwal whose father Naresh Agarwal had quit the SP and joined the BJP in 2018 The BJP has followed all parliamentary traditions The post is generally reserved for the principal opposition party You SP were not able to give a candidate and when a candidate came it was Nitin Agarwal and we are supporting him We have come here to give respect to the parliamentary traditions Adityanath later told reporters Reacting to the oppositions criticism Parliamentary Affairs Minister Suresh Khanna said Nitin Agarwal became an MLA on an SP ticket and even today is an SP MLA All the parliamentary traditions were followed And if there are two candidates in the fray there will be voting he said Nitin Agarwal wore a blue patka bearing the Jai Shri Ram slogan at the time of filing his nomination His father and former UP ministerNaresh Agarwal was also present I have submitted four sets of nomination papers Those who have proposed my name are Congress MLA from Harchandpur RakeshPratap Singh BSP MLA from Purva Anil Singh Cabinet ministers Suresh Khanna Swami Prasad Maurya and Ashutosh Tandon ministerChhatrapal Singh and MLA Rajpal Verma Nitin Agarwal told PTI After filing the nomination papers the MLA told PTI that he has not formally joined the BJP Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav attacked the BJP over Agarwals nomination Which party does the candidate put up by the BJP belong to What can be expected of a government which inaugurates already inaugurated projects and lays the foundation stone of the projects for which the foundation stone has already been laid he asked SP nominee Narendra Verma also accused the BJP of twisting parliamentary traditions and said the post shouldgo to the opposition I am the SP candidate and the post of deputy speaker as per traditions goes to the principal opposition party Hence it should go tous He Nitin is my younger brother He won on a Samajwadi Party ticket and after winning the polls he started working against the SPthe BJP is breaking and twisting the parliamentary traditions We do not expectanything from the ruling party he said Verma a Kurmi leader was accompanied by Leader of Opposition in UP Assembly Ram Gobind Chaudhary and rebel BSP MLAs during the filing of nominations at the UP Vidhan Bhavan on Sunday Chaudhary claimed that the Samajwadi Party wanted a Dalit ora backward as the deputy speaker but the BJP did not want so and hence no election was held in four-and-half years No meeting was held in this regard but with Assembly elections approaching the BJP suddenly made SP MLA NitinAgarwal its candidate after four and half years he said The last deputy speaker of the UP Legislative Assembly was the BJPs Rajesh Agarwal who was elected unopposed in 2004 Rajesh Agarwal told PTI that the role of the Deputy Speaker is to conduct the proceedings of the House in the absence of the Speaker A three-time SP MLA from Hardoi Nitin Agarwal said if elected as the deputy speaker of the assembly he will discharge his duties in accordance with the Constitution The governments priority is that everything should be transparent My priority as a deputy speaker will be to ensure the same hesaid UPs law minister Brajesh Pathak when asked about the reasons for the election said it is was the demand of the MLAs Principal Secretary of UP Vidhan Sabha Pradeep Dubey said only the two candidates have filed nomination papers and the voting will take place on Monday Naresh Agarwal took a swipe at the SP and said that it will follow the tradition of witnessing defeats The preceding governments should have appointed deputy speakers but they did not do so as they did not believe in this Constitutional post I must thank the chief minister and the government that they believe in the Constitution and this Constitutional post he said after his son filed the nomination On the timing of the election he said Why should there be any questionmark on the intention of the state government Also there is no rule that the deputy speaker should be elected along with the Speaker of theLegislative Assembly Whenever the Speaker feels it appropriate the deputy speaker can be elected Dismissing suggestions that the BJP government with this move was trying to reach out to a community which was unhappy with the party Agarwal said The government has done a lot for all thesections of the society This government does not believe in appeasement and represents everybody and does not do appeasement politics On allegations by the opposition that the BJP is trying to sabotage democracy parliamentary affairs minister Khanna said These allegations are being levelled for a long time and there is no strength in them What is sabotage I dont think so It is within the purview of the rules and regulations of the House PTI NAV RT RT RT

Lucknow Oct 17 PTI Samajwadi Party MLA Nitin Agarwal filed his nomination on Sunday for the Deputy Speakers post in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly with the ruling BJP indicating that it will support him The only other candidate in Mondays deputy speaker election is Narendra Verma who called himself the official nominee of the opposition SP After the polling Uttar Pradesh will get its first Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Assembly after a gap of over 14 years a development taking place ahead of the 2022 assembly polls Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and UP BJP chief Swatantra Dev Singh were present at the time of filing of nomination by Nitin Agarwal Nitin Agarwal wore a blue-coloured patka bearing Jai Shri Ram at the time of his nomination His father and former UP minister Naresh Agarwal was also present I have submitted four sets of nomination papers Those who have proposed my name are Congress MLA from Harchandpur Rakesh Pratap Singh BSP MLA from Purva Anil Singh Cabinet ministers Suresh Khanna Swami Prasad Maurya and Ashutosh Tandon minister Chhatrapal Singh and MLA Rajpal Verma Nitin Agarwal told PTI After filing the nomination papers the MLA told PTI that he is yet to formally join the BJP On the other hand SP nominee Narendra Verma accused the BJP of twisting the parliamentary traditions and said the post should go to the opposition I am the SP candidate and the post of deputy speaker as per traditions goes to the principal opposition party Hence it should go to us He Nitin is my younger brother He won on a Samajwadi Party ticket and after winning the polls he started working against the SP Tradition wise this post should go to the opposition but the BJP is breaking and twisting the parliamentary traditions We do not expect anything from the ruling party he said Verma was accompanied by Leader of Opposition in UP Assembly Ram Gobind Chaudhary and rebel BSP MLAs The two candidates filed their nomination papers at the UP Vidhan Bhavan on Sunday As per traditions an MLA of the principal opposition party is made the Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Assembly The last Deputy Speaker of UP Legislative Assembly was the BJPs Rajesh Agarwal who was elected unopposed in 2004 A three-time SP MLA from Hardoi Nitin Agarwal said if elected as the deputy speaker of the assembly he will discharge his duties as per provisions of the Constitution The governments priority is that everything should be transparent My priority as a deputy speaker will be to ensure the same he said Principal Secretary of UP Vidhan Sabha Pradeep Dubey said voting will take place on Monday The BJPs ally Apna Dal Sonelal has 9 MLAs while the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party has 4 MLAs There are three independent MLAs while there are two unattached MLAs The Rashtriya Lok Dal and the Nirbal Indian Shoshit Hamara Apna Dal have one MLA each PTI NAV SNE