In the event of a triangular contest the winning party will need about 40 per cent of the votes polled. And it is here that the votes of the numerically smaller communities will come into play.
The BJP and its allies now rule over 70 per cent of the country's population, marking an unprecedented saffron footprint.
The UP government transferred the district magistrate and the senior superintendent of police of Mathura following the violence in the district that left 29 dead.
The elections in this phase are seen as a big test for the Bharatiya Janata Party
The move, said UP minister Siddharth Nath Singh, will help highlight Indian culture at international level.
Noting that Lok Sabha elections are around the corner and only one session of Parliament remains, he asked the government to bring an ordinance.
The Samajwadi Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party are using communal violence to polarise the voters in the state with an eye on the 2014 general elections, reports Sharat Pradhan
Is Stalin positioning himself as a central figure in the anti-Bharatiya Janata Party, anti-Narendra Modi formation?
Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com gives the lowdown on the constituencies going to polls in the first phase on April 11.
The UP chief minister also attacked the Congress, saying the party furthered the interests of a family, promoted casteism, regionalism and kept the country in limbo for 50 years.
Retired Allahabad HC Justice Sanjay Mishra was sworn in as the new Lokayukta of UP bringing to an end a bitter year-long feud between Raj Bhawan and the state government.
The saffron party is assured of victory in eight of the ten seats in UP going by its dominant numbers in the state assembly.
Mayawati is now gearing up for a fresh start for the 2019 general election. Unconfirmed reports from the BSP camp suggest she has already reached out to arch-rival Akhilesh Yadav, reports Sahil Makkar.
A senior Samajwadi Party leader was caught on camera boasting before a rally that he was responsible of the suspension of Indian Administrative Service officer Durga Shakti Nagal, who campaigned against the sand mafia.
'The similarities between the blockbusting Avengers: Endgame and Election 2019 cannot be starker. So who plays who?' asks Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
The SP candidates in these seats include Mulayam Singh Yadav's daughter-in-law Aparna Yadav and three ministers, one of whom was recently sacked.
Participating in the debate on the triple talaq bill on Thursday, Khan made certain observations on a ruling party member.
On May 2, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will step into Bihar and challenge the Nitish-Lalu order in the state.
Paramilitary force personnel and state police force will be deployed and drone cameras will be used to ensure security on Friday.
In a move which could embarrass the Uttar Pradesh government, state Transport minister Durga Prasad Yadav has embarked on a week-long study tour to Brazil with family in tow.
The law minister said 20 Muslim countries in the world, including Pakistan and Malaysia, have banned the triple talaq. "Why can't a secular India do it?" he asked.
Legislators from Bahujan Samaj Party, Bharatiya Janata Party, Rashtriya Lok Dal, Apna Dal jumped into the Well of the House with placards and banners even before the assembly proceedings started.
Banerjee said she was doing so after consulting leaders of major opposition parties and following 'a favourable court order'.
Congress and SP tussle over 10 assembly seats in Amethi and Rae Bareli.
Gandhi attacked Modi and the BJP while latching on to the bribery allegation made by Narendra Patel, an activist of the Hardik Patel-led Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti.
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Thursday registered a case to probe the alleged gangrape and killing of two teenaged cousins in Uttar Pradesh's Badaun nearly two weeks ago.
'Like 2014, 2017 was also Modi's election.' 'Every voter you met, apart from those who are BJP cadres, everybody said they would vote for Modi, not the BJP.' 'The one and only factor is the Modi juggernaut. He is the one who turned the tide.' 'The wave which he created in 2014, and to maintain it for three years, is a huge task in itself.'
'In an alliance, you are forced to overlook loyal workers.' 'It sends a negative message and workers turn against the party.' 'I have forbidden this alliance.'
On the eve of the final phase of the Uttar Pradesh elections, Rediff.com's Aslam Hunani reviews the political landscape in the epicentre and beyond.
Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati on Saturday said that those seen at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's roadshow in Varanasi were "mere spectators" brought in from other states and districts in Uttar Pradesh where voting had already taken place.
Claiming that neither the Congress nor the Bharatiya Janata Party would gain majority in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav on Monday said the Third Front would form the government at the Centre and his party would "play a key role".
Attacking Lalu Prasad for going to the Muzaffarnagar riot relief camps a few days after Rahul Gandhi's visit, Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav on Tuesday said the Rashtriya Janata Dal leader was a sycophant who was "licking the feet" of Congress leaders.
'Karpoori Thakur must be remembered by people today who are tired of witnessing fractious politics where corruption, bigotry, hatred and violence seems to have become distressingly recurrent,' says Mohammad Sajjad.
Chief Project Manager H C Tiwari and three others were suspended.
'How can the BJP give Muslim candidates tickets if they don't have any good Muslim candidates?'
The Congress party is thinking of ways to counter the BJP in Lok Sabha constituencies is it unlikely to win, reports Renu Mittal.
'That the commandments to officialdom were issued by a BJP functionary and not a minister is a reflection of the Yogi government's work style.'
Listing out key initiatives, Adityanath said his government would launch a systematic drive to help retrieve 1,000 hectares of land in the grip of land mafia for years.
But he doesn't want to shut the door completely on the Yadav family as that could create problems for him in 2019.
The development came on a day Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah arrived on a three-day visit to the state capital.
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