The brothers were booked under the UP Gangsters Act in connection with the murder of the then BJP MLA from Ghazipur, Krishnanad Rai, on November 29, 2005 and the kidnapping-murder of Varanasi-based trader Nand Kishore Rungta in 1997.
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.
The BSP, which fielded nearly 100 Muslim candidates, won only four out of the 77 assembly seats dominated by Muslim voters.
Muslims have been given tickets in 36 of the 100 seats.
Despite this setback, Pandey emphasised that discussions regarding ticket distribution are ongoing and solutions will be found through timely communication.
Anil Singh, the Unnao MLA, said, "I am with Maharaj-ji (Adityanath)."
Ajay Kumar Lallu said the party has emerged as the main challenger to the "oppressive" UP government and the 'winds of change' were blowing in the state.
"We don't agree with the ideology of the Congress. But we will support it to keep the BJP out of power," Mayawati said.
Defections have become the order of the day in Uttar Pradesh. And on Saturday suspended ruling Bahujan Samaj Party member of Legislative Assembly Guddu Pandit switched loyalties to the Samajwadi Party.
Opportunistic face of SP has come before the people: Yogi Adityanth.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi would have got a tough fight in Varanasi had Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra contested against him as Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) candidate, feel party workers from the temple town.
The share of candidates who were successful among the BJP was 56.5% in 2019. It was 5% for the Congress.
He was billed as the next big thing in Dalit politics in Uttar Pradesh and a challenge for the Bahujan Samaj Party but Mayawati's party is least impressed by the exploits of Chandrasekhar Azad 'Ravan' let alone consider him a threat.
The BSP leader stuck to her remarks and told reporters after the protest that she stands by what she has said.
The response was tepid in other parts of the country even as several INDIA bloc parties as well as other non-BJP outfits extended their support to the bandh.
Polling for the sixth phase of the Lok Sabha elections will take place on Saturday, May 25, 2024, with 58 seats seats going to the polls across 8 states.
The BSP is depending on votes from Dalits and minorities to make inroads into Congress and JD-S vote banks. The party is confident of coming in third place, saying that would be a satisfactory result for its first foray into Karnataka politics.
A Samajwadi Party MLA and a Bharatiya Janata Party leader too joined Mayawati's party, BSP General Secretary Naseemuddin Siddiqui told a press conference in Lucknow.
Congress leaders, on their part, are confident that the mobilisation of voters away from the BJP will gain more momentum in the state elections, scheduled for October 1, in the absence of national issues and the 'Modi factor'.
In another jolt to the Bahujan Samaj Party, Mayawati's once trusted lieutenant and former minister R K Chaudhary on Thursday quit the party accusing her of "auctioning" tickets to contest assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh.
Considering that the three assailants who shot Atiq Ahmed and his brother posed as journalists, the commission suggested the media "observe certain restraints while covering such incidents".
Voting for the bypolls in Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Tamil Nadu were held on Wednesday.
Two-term Bahujan Samaj Party MP Brajesh Pathak on Monday joined the Bharatiya Janata Party expressing faith in its "developmental" agenda for poll-bound Uttar Pradesh, a day after attending Mayawati's rally in Agra.
The Bahujan Samajwadi Party expelled jailed Member of Legislative Assembly Mukhtar Ansari, who is facing 30 criminal cases including murder and kidnapping, and his brother former Member of Parliament Afzal Ansari from the party for their alleged continued involvement in criminal activities on Friday.
Hemant V Shivsaran/Rediff.com does a deep dive and lists the winners with the highest and lowest margins in the recent Lok Sabha elections.
Azad was taken into custody by police on Tuesday for violating the model code of conduct.
On the eve of the counting of votes in Rajasthan, both the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress have started reaching out to independent candidates, including rebels, and smaller parties.
Opposition parties on Wednesday opposed the 'one nation, one election' proposal by calling it impractical and a 'cheap stunt' by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
The train hit the cylinder before coming to a screeching halt on Sunday morning. Due to being hit by the train, the cylinder was thrown away from the tracks, they said.
Traffic was thrown out of gear in the city as BSP workers, raising slogans and carrying placards, thronged the area.
Apart from the 18 members of the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA), including the Bharatiya Janata Party, seven non-National Democratic Alliance parties will attend the ceremony, going by their stated position on the issue which has snowballed into another political flashpoint between the ruling and opposition camps.
The meeting comes a day after Danish Ali faced verbal abuse from BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri in Lok Sabha.
Madhya Pradesh assembly polls have recorded a voter turnout of 77.15 per cent, which is 1.52 per cent higher than in 2018, as per the latest data released by the Election Commission of India.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday declared 13 candidates from Uttar Pradesh for the Lok Sabha polls including actor Arun Govil, who played Lord Ram in popular TV serial Ramayan, from Meerut, while replacing sitting MP Varun Gandhi from Pilibhit with state minister Jitin Prasada.
As controversy raged over Yati Narsinghanand's objectionable remarks against Prophet Muhammad, his supporters on Sunday alleged that the Dasna temple head priest is being illegally kept in detention by police, which denied the claim.
In a major jolt to the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party, its national general secretary Naresh Agarwal and two sitting legislators from Hardoi joined the Samajwadi Party on Friday. "I am resigning from the Rajya Sabha and the post of BSP national general secretary," Agarwal said while addressing a gathering at a function at the SP headquarters in Lucknow. Besides Naresh, his son Nitin Agarwal and Rajeshwari -- both BSP MLAs from Hardoi -- also joined the SP.
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.
Muslims constitute 20% of UP's electorate. Currently, Muslim voters are divided between Akhilesh's SP and Mayawati's BSP. What will tilt the balance? Can Muslims back the winning party? Mohammad Sajjad explains the mysteries of UP's Muslim politics.
All India Congress Committee general secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh Ghulam Nabi Azad said the party would not react immediately and would come out with a detailed reaction in Lucknow on Sunday.
The electoral exercise, the first since the Lok Sabha elections, will decide the fate of many veterans and some debutantes including Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu's wife Kamlesh Thakur.
