A look at the latest developments on Assembly elections from the five states:

  1. The Congress on Sunday released its third list of eight candidates for next month’s Punjab Assembly elections. State Chief Minister Charanjit Channi will contest from Bhadaur constituency. On January 15, the party had announced Channi’s candidature from Chamkaur Sahib, a seat from where he is the sitting MLA and which he has been representing since 2007. The Congress also fielded former Patiala mayor Vishnu Sharma from the Patiala assembly seat against its former leader Amarinder Singh.
  2. The Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday announced candidates for all the 60 seats for the Manipur Assembly elections. Chief Minister N Biren Singh will contest from the Heingang seat. State minister Thangom Biswajit Singh will fight from Thongju seat. The BJP has also fielded retired civil servants Kh Raghumani Singh, Yengkhom Surchandra Singh and Dinganglung Gangme.
  3. Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut alleged that the nominations of six to seven of his party candidates for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections were rejected “illegally”, reported PTI. He alleged that district magistrates misused their powers and rejected the nominations “under pressure” so as to not allow the party from setting foot in the state. Raut said he will approach the Election Commission on the matter.
  4. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party was one short of hitting a century in giving tickets to candidates with criminal history.
  5. Rangnath Mishra, the former education minister in the Bahujan Samaj Party government in Uttar Pradesh, returned to the Bharatiya Janata Party after 17 years, reported the Hindustan Times. The switch came amid speculation that the BJP will field either Mishra or one of his family members from the Bhadohi Assembly seat.