Campaigning for May 13 elections in 96 Lok Sabha constituencies across 10 states and Union territories including all seats in Andhra Pradesh, where assembly elections are also being held concurrently, and Telangana concluded on Saturday evening.
The decision of Mulayam not to dispute the numerical strength claimed by Akhilesh enabled the Election Commission deliver the final verdict in the case after a single hearing.
The best-case scenario is that the BJP will top out at around 50 seats in UP -- a drop of 12 from the 62 it had won in 2019. Taken in tandem with Maharashtra and Karnataka, this is what is likely to put paid to the BJP's ambitions of a third term for Modi, argues Prem Panicker.
He also pointed out the high sums earned by the coaching centres leading to the commercialisation of education.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the NDA won 64 seats -- 62 bagged by the BJP and two by Apna Dal.
States like Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Gujarat, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh had on Friday announced similar incentives.
"I appeal to the party members to stand with Netaji Mulayam Singh. Whatever is happening is very unfortunate," he said.
As Election 2024 hurtles towards result day in a medley of mangalsutra, mujra, mutton, machli and other barbs, these may sound like character names from Hindi comics of yore. Instead, these are the mocking, sometimes vicious monikers given by political rivals to each other.
'It is possible that Akhilesh has set his sights on 2022.' 'By then, his present day enemies will be more or less a spent force while he himself will still have a clean image and, at 49, will be regarded as young.'
Panel chairman Thakur is believed to have informed Dev that the issue was not on the agenda for the meeting.
The Samajwadi Party is headed for yet another father-son showdown.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has decided to cut short his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in Uttar Pradesh by skipping western part of the state and saving five days, a party leader said on Monday while citing board exams.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, and Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar supremo Sharad Pawar were among the famous faces who queued up at the polling booths on Tuesday to caste their votes in the third phase of the Lok Sabha elections.
'If Muslims who are 20 percent of UP's population feel the SP has no future they will go with the BSP. Even if 10 percent Muslim vote goes to the BSP every equation will change.'
'There was a strong undercurrent of deprivation, and also frustration against misuse of power and authority.' 'This election was an opportunity for the manifestation of this discontentment.'
"Those named in the FIR should go to jail. The government should take immediate action and the matter should be probed by a sitting judge of the high court. There are videos clips, statements of eyewitnesses, the statement (of minister) in which he is threatening. As he (accused Ashish Mishra) is the son of the MoS, action has note been taken yet," he said.
The suspense over whether Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will contest the polls from Amethi and Raebareli respectively continued.
Making his first appearance at an election rally, Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav on Thursday sought votes for his son Akhilesh Yadav, promising that his party will fulfil the aspirations of the people.
Although Mulayam Singh has made public his preference for Akhilesh as his successor, younger son Prateek's presence in the rival camp hasn't gone unnoticed.
The Congress on Tuesday suffered a major upset in Himachal Pradesh at the hands of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the Rajya Sabha elections which were marred by cross-voting in all the three states though it won three seats in Karnataka while the saffron party pocketed an extra seat in Uttar Pradesh.
Mulayam said the new chief minister will be chosen by the Samajwadi Party.
Among the keenly watched contests are those involving former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav (Kannauj, UP) and Union ministers Giriraj Singh (Begusarai, Bihar), Nityanand Rai (Ujiarpur, Bihar) and Raosaheb Danve (Jalna, Maharashtra).
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said his party would oppose the Centre's move to bring a bill in Parliament to amend the 1995 law governing Waqf boards, and accused the BJP of trying to snatch the rights of Muslims.
The 77-year-old former Congress president is set to enter the Upper House for the first time from Rajasthan.
Insiders said Akhilesh's warring uncle Shivpal Yadav and Rajya Sabha member Amar Singh were not present at father-son meeting.
Kishori Lal Sharma, a close aide of the Gandhi family, has been fielded from the Amethi Lok Sabha seat, the party said in a statement.
Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak said on Tuesday night that all the eight candidates of the Bharatiya Janata Party have won in the Rajya Sabha elections from the state.
From putting up a decent performance in the last Lok Sabha polls in Uttar Pradesh winning 10 seats stitching an alliance with arch rival Samajwadi Party, Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party drew a blank in the current general elections, dealing a severe blow to its reputation of representing the voice of Dalits in the state.
Lok Sabha constituencies that sprung a surprise in the 2024 polls.
The Opposition on Tuesday termed the Union Budget as a 'kursi bachao budget' driven by political compulsions and claimed that it ignored opposition-ruled states in a bid to 'appease' Bharatiya Janata Party's allies.
Outside CM's residence, high drama was witnessed with youth supporters of Akhilesh assembling in large numbers to vent their fury.
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.
Since the Mahabharata the Yadavs have been known for infighting. And the 2017 UP election proved yet another example of that, says Nazarwala.
MF Husain's biographer and artist Akhilesh Singh reveals to rediff.com's Abhishek Mande fascinating aspects of the legend's personality.
'Just today a shopkeeper I went to was saying how bad business is. He must have been a BJP supporter.' 'He finally said, "It's a good thing there's an NDA government, not a BJP government, 'they' had become too big for their boots,".'
The bill to amend the law governing Waqf boards proposes far-reaching changes in the Wakf Act, 1995, including ensuring the representation of Muslim women and non-Muslims in such bodies.
Nirahua, a Bhojpuri star and the BJP's candidate, is drawing huge crowds in his road shows and meetings after he entered the poll fray against Yadav, but voters with caste and local equations appear favourable for the senior Yadav.
Pandey, a minister in Akhilesh Yadav's cabinet, was expelled by SP state unit chief Shivpal Yadav over the allegation that he attacked party MLC Ashu Malik.
Members from the Jayant Chaudhary's Rashtriya Lok Dal too were part of the group, their participation seen as another indication that the party is all set to switch sides from the SP to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
Triggering speculation in political circles, Akhilesh paid a sudden visit to the Raj Bhawan when he was in the middle of a meeting with party legislators and seniors to finalise details of his proposed 'rath yatra' from November 3.
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