The incident has triggered protests by party workers who fought a pitched battle with the police.
Asked about reports about candidature of actor Amitabh Bachchan for the post of President, Amar Singh said he or Samajwadi Party never announced that Amitabh would be the candidate for the post.
Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party chief Om Prakash Rajbhar, Rashtriya Lok Dal's Anil Kumar and two Bharatiya Janata Party leaders were sworn in on Tuesday as Yogi Adityanath expanded his council of ministers, weeks ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.
Seen by political watchers as the favourite to retain power for a third straight term, the Bharatiya Janata Party has set itself an ambitious target of winning 370 Lok Sabha seats, a goal aimed as much at projecting its strength as at diminishing the opposition in popular imagination.
Earlier on Wednesday, the district court ruled that a priest can perform prayers before the idols in a cellar of the Gyanvapi Masjid, a significant development in the legal battle over the mosque adjacent to the Kashi Vishwanath temple.
The notable names in the BJP's first list include Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Varanasi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh from Lucknow, Hema Malini from Mathura, Ajay Mishra Teni from Kheri, Smriti Irani from Amethi, Lallu Singh from Faizabad (Ayodhya) and Mahendra Nath Pandey from Chandauli among others.
More than 48 lakh candidates appeared in the examination conducted on February 17 and 18 across the state.
All political parties put together received more than Rs 12,000 crore till last fiscal since the introduction of the now-annulled electoral bond scheme in 2018, of which the ruling BJP got nearly 55 per cent or Rs 6,565 crore, according to the data available with Election Commission and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).
With Samajwadi Party cosying up to the Congress, its leaders have been invited for the fourth UPA anniversary celebrations scheduled here on May 22. In a clear message that it was warming up to the Congress, SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav had recently lashed out at BSP leader Mayawati for being 'ungrateful' to the United Progressive Allaince government by criticising it. He added that Congress 'charity' had only helped her become the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh again.
Close on the heels of the disqualification of Samajwadi Party MP Jai Prakash Rawat, the Lok Sabha speaker on Monday disqualified another MP of the party S P Singh Baghel from the membership of the House under the anti-defection law. The two MPs had defied party whip by voting against the United Progresssive Alliance government in the trust vote in Lok Sabha on July 22.
If the BJP gets only 200 seats and wants to remain in power, Modi will have to make way -- either for a proxy of his choice, or for an internal rival, predicts Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
Babbar, who had of late launched a vitriolic attack against party General Secretary Amar Singh, was suspended from the parliamentary party on Tuesday.
"SP National General Secretary Ram Gopal Yadav has written a letter to Khan informing him about Mulayam Yadav's decision to revoke his suspension," party sources said in Lucknow.
Besides the picture of Akhilesh Yadav, the poster also carries the picture of party state spokesperson Fakhrul Hasan 'Chand', who earlier in July on the birthday of the SP chief had put up a similar banner outside the SP office.
A video had surfaced on social media which purportedly showed SP leader Mukesh Siddharth making the controversial statement.
Yadav asserted that he has always maintained that seat distribution should be decided considering which alliance partner is the strongest in a particular state.
According to insiders, their lack of enthusiasm is showing on the ground. There is nothing to suggest that their enthusiasm will return in the final four phases of polling, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Fielding a strong joint opposition candidate from Varanasi in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections was among the proposals discussed at the fourth meeting of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), sources said.
rivals Congress, JMM and TMC and Samajwadi Party.
On Tuesday, 49 opposition MPs were suspended for the remaining part of the session for disrupting proceedings, taking the total tally of suspended MPs in Lok Sabha to 95.
He also said there are leaders who stand firm in their ideology but their number is gradually declining.
The Congress is hopeful of soon finalising the Lok Sabha poll seat-sharing arrangements with the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) allies Aam Aadmi Party and Trinamool Congress, sources said on Friday, days after the principal opposition party arrived at an understanding with the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh.
An eighth BJP candidate on Thursday filed his nomination for the Rajya Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh, setting the stage for a contest with the Samajwadi Party on February 27.
However, the national party count has gone down to six from 14 in over seven decades.
The sources said the opposition leaders would now plan joint rallies that were put on hold due to the assembly elections.
When asked what transpired at the informal meeting of the alliance leaders in the evening, the Delhi chief minister said his party sought seat-sharing discussions for all the states.
Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi, BJP chief J P Nadda and new party entrant Ashok Chavan and Union ministers Ashwini Vaishnaw and L Murugan were among the 41 candidates elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha on Tuesday while Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh will witness polling on February 27.
MP-MLA court magistrate Shobit Bansal awarded the three the maximum seven-year sentence.
Rubbishing the anti-rape bill, Samajwadi Party said that it will oppose its recommendations in Parliament and at the all-party meeting.
Former UP Chief Minister and Bahujan Samaj Party president Mayawati on Tuesday lashed out at Samjawadi government's decision to rename Manyavar Kanshiramji Urdu-Farsi University, saying it was a "politically vindictive act".
The stranglehold of Mulayam's family on the party is at the centre of the debate.
Ruling Samajwadi Party appeared to be headed for a split on Sunday as Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and his party supremo and father Mulayam Singh were engaged in an open face-off, sacking each other's loyalists Shivpal Yadav and Ramgopal Yadav.
Amid suspense over Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA)'s prime ministerial face for the 2024 general elections, Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar on Wednesday said the 1977 Lok Sabha polls were fought by the opposition without projecting Morarji Desai as the PM candidate.
How he hopes to retain his fort is anyone's guess, says Nazarwala, the man who called right the 2007 and 2012 UP elections.
'Nine years ago, I had met Akhilesh at a function in Mumbai. Since then, our friendship has continued.'
Sachin Ahlawat, allegedly involved in the violence in Mahav village of Bulandshahr's Sayana area after rumour of alleged cow slaughter, has been appointed BJP's 'mandal president' of BB Nagar.
Rai also asserted that the Congress will win the upcoming Assembly elections in all five states.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has announced financial assistance of Rs 2 lakh to the kin of each of the deceased and Rs 50,000 to the injured.
It will contest 25 of the 66 seats in the region, in Maharashtra.
Opposition parties Nationalist Congress Party and Samajwadi Party on Wednesday demanded reservation for OBCs in the women's reservation bill and questioned the reason for calling a special session when the bill cannot be implemented before census and delimitation.
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