We had asked our readers to share their views and reactions to the Election Commission's recent directive to the Uttar Pradesh government. The EC had asked the state administration to cover all statues of Chief Minister Mayawati and elephants -- the symbol of Bahujan Samaj Party -- across the state. Here are some responses by our readers:
With numbers on its side -- the ruling NDA has about half the votes of the electoral college -- and the possible support of fence-sitters like the BJD, the AIADMK and the YSRCP, the NDA candidate will likely sail through the contest.
The Crime Branch of the Criminal Investigation Department, which was entrusted with the probe into the sensational case, took BSP MLA Jitendra Singh 'Babloo' and UP State Ganna Sansthan chairman Intezar Abdi 'Bobby' into custody late Thursday night.
Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati on Wednesday kept up the suspense on continuance of outside support to the United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre, saying a decision on the issue will be taken soon. She also asked party cadres to be ready for snap polls which "can take place any time" in view of the "instability" at the Centre.
The Election Commission on Saturday night transferred Uttar Pradesh Director General of Police Brij Lal and Principal Secretary (Home) Kunwar Fateh Bahadur after major opposition parties accused the two officials of working as "agents" of the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party. BSP slammed the EC's decision, claiming the removal of Lal and Bahadur would "shatter the sense of security among Dalits and the downtrodden that they would be able to exercise their franchise in a free manner
Taking on the Bharatiya Janata Party over the induction of tainted former Bahujan Samaj Party minister Babu Singh Kushwaha, Rahul Gandhi on Saturday claimed that he wanted to join the Congress after being sacked by Chief Minister Mayawati, but the party closed the doors on him. Addressing election meetings in Gorapkhpur, the All India Congress Committee general secretary also said the BJP has inducted a person who is part of the "corruption race" in the state.
The Election Commission on Saturday said that statues of Chief Minister Mayawati and elephants, the Bahujan Samaj Party's poll symbol, installed at a number of places in Uttar Pradesh would be covered during the state assembly elections. "The commission has decided that statues of the CM and elephants will be draped," Chief Election Commissioner S Y Qureshi told reporters.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday made it clear that the Central Bureau of Investigation has not been prohibited from probing the disproportionate assets case against Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati and issued notices to the Centre, CBI and the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister on a plea to review its verdict that quashed the DA case.
Predicting an early Lok Sabha election, Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati on Tuesday called upon her supporters to get into the poll gear and start working towards expanding the party base to ride on to power at the Centre.
Prominent Bhartiya Janata Party leaders on Friday came out openly against their party leadership's decision to induct tainted and ousted Bahujan Samaj Party minister Babu Singh Kushwaha into the party fold.
"Joining of Kushwaha against whom there are serious allegations of corruption, which are being probed by CBI in BJP raises suspicion. It seems that there was a financial deal of crores for his inclusion in the BJP...this should be probed by CBI", Singh told reporters.
Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati is all set to sound the bugle for the 2012 political battle from Lucknow on Tuesday, which also marks the sixth death anniversary of her mentor and party founder Kanshi Ram.
Not everyone in the BJP is happy with the tainted ex-minister entering the party. BJP MP from Gorakhpur, Yogi Adityanath, blamed the BJP leadership for bringing Kushwaha into the party. Sharat Pradhan reports.
State BJP president Surya Pratap Shahi has alleged that the raids on Babu Singh Kushwaha were guided by the central government.
Yet another minister in the Uttar Pradesh government, on Monday, was sacked by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati. The UP CM has been on a firing spree since the past ten days. The number of sacked UP ministers went up to 11 on Monday.
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.
Mukherjee, along with Parliamentary Affairs Minister PK Bansal and Human Resources Development Minister Kapil Sibal, held meetings with BSP leader Satish C Mishra and RJD chief Lalu Prasad as the debate was underway in the Rajya Sabha in effort to woo them
A person cannot be entitled to Y or Z category security merely on the ground of being a former minister, the Supreme Court observed on Wednesday while declining to entertain the plea of a Bahujan Samaj Party leader from Uttar Pradesh. "If you, as a matter of fact, are not entitled under the rule for security you cannot be given security. This can't be given at the expense of the state exchequer," a bench comprising justices Gyan Sudha Misra and Madan B Lokur said.
The ruling Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday retained the Handia assembly seat by defeating its Bahujan Samaj Party rival by a comprehensive margin of more than 26,000 votes.
The Constitution (116th Amendment) Bill was defeated in the Lok Sabha by a determined Opposition, helped by the absence of parties supporting the government from outside like the Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and the Rashtriya Janata Dal
With the announcement of the dates of the forthcoming assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Manipur, Goa and Uttrakhand, political parties have sharpened their attacks on their rivals in order to score a political advantage and attract voters to their fold. Bharatiya Janata party leader Rajnath Singh claimed that Congress party's presence in UP polls would be insignificant.
The new Lokpal Bill was on Thursday at the centre of a fresh controversy before its introduction in the Lok Sabha, with the Rashtriya Janata Dal, Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen members protesting exclusion of minorities from the anti-graft bench of the proposed ombudsman.
Mayawati's eventful tenure in Uttar Pradesh seems to be heading for a change in the upcoming assembly elections, expected to be held in February-March next year.
Newly appointed Union civil aviation minister and Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Ajit Singh on Sunday said his alliance with the Congress has now provided a "clear-cut alternative" to the people of Uttar Pradesh against the "oppressive" Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party government.
After her attempts attract Brahmins and Dalits, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Bahujan Samaj Party president Mayawati is now all set to woo Muslims, Kshatriyas and Vaishyas.
Don-turned-Bahujan Samaj Party member of Parliament Dhananjay Singh was arrested in Lucknow on Sunday evening in connection with his alleged involvement in a double murder case.
On being asked if she would choose to withdraw her party's support to the Congress-led Union government, Mayawati said, "I have convened a huge rally of the party in Lucknow on October 9, which will be followed by a meeting of our party national executive on the following day. There we will take a final call on the question of continuing our support to the UPA government."
The Criminal Investigation Department of the Uttar Pradesh government on Thursday filed a chargesheet against Bahujan Samaj Party member of Legislative Assembly Purshottam Naresh Dwivedi for allegedly raping a 17-year-old Dalit girl.
Samajwadi Party and Shiv Sena on Thursday thwarted an attempt in the Rajya Sabha to take up for passage the contentious Bill providing for quota in promotion for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes in government jobs.
The Bahujan Samaj Party on Monday expelled former Family Welfare Minister Babu Singh Kushwaha, once a close confidant of Mayawati who was removed from her cabinet in the wake of the killing of two chief medical officers and the National Rural Health Mission scam.
'This is not the first time I have refused to stand for this particular song and this will not be the last time,' Lok Sabha MP Shafiqur Rahman Barq tells Rediff.com's A Ganesh Nadar. 'I have no problems with Jana Gana Mana.'
Making a veiled attack on the Mayawati government, Congress General Rahul Gandhi said an "elephant" in Lucknow was eating away all the money sent by the Centre for the poor in Uttar Pradesh.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Thursday issued orders for the arrest of Bahujan Samaj Party member of Parliament Purshottam Naresh Dwivedi and his three aides after the Crime Branch submitted its preliminary report confirming that they gang raped a 17-year-old Dalit girl in Banda, about 180 km from Lucknow.
A Bahujan Samaj Party member on Wednesday left the Lok Sabha as the national song was being played to mark the sine die adjournment of the Budget Session of Parliament, prompting an angry rebuke from Speaker Meira Kumar.
The Uttar Pradesh assembly on Monday passed Chief Minister Mayawati's proposal to split the state in four parts, by voice vote.
The ruling Bahujan Samaj Party has finalised its list of candidates for a number of places for the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections slated to be held in 2012.
Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati on Tuesday said her party was supportive of the black money issue raised by yoga guru Ramdev but she did not agree with the way he allowed National Democratic Alliance leaders to make speeches from his platform against other political parties.
Even as Samajwadi Party Chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and his son Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav both preferred not to react to their bete noire Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati's threat to thrash SP goons, Mulayam's brother and multiple portfolio minister Shivpal Yadav has decided to do a tit for tat.
