The election process got underway in Uttar Pradesh on Thursday with notification for the first phase of Assembly polls which will be a litmus test for Union Minister Beni Prasad Verma and National Commission for Scheduled Caste Chairman PL Punia.
In a 14-page letter to Mayawati, Ramesh cited the instances of alleged irregularities and corruption in implementation of the scheme in Balrampur, Gonda, Mahoba, Sonbhadra, Kushinagar, Mirzapur and Sant Kabir Nagar.
There will be total of 51 seats going to polls spread across 7 states in the fifth phase.
Polling for the first phase of the high voltage Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections for 55 seats in 10 districts would be held on Wednesday that will decide the fate of two ministers, 31 members of Legislative Assembly and 15 former ministers.
'Testing is a very good strategy if only symptomatic people are transmitting the disease.' 'Here asymptomatic people, with minimum, trivial symptoms, are transmitting too.' 'Testing, treating, tracing contacts and quarantining them -- yes, it will work up to a certain extent.' 'But more important is physical distancing, hand hygiene, cough etiquette and cocooning, protecting with reverse quarantining the most vulnerable people, senior citizens, people with other major medical problems.' 'To me, that makes much more sense.'
The mercury on Monday slid further in many parts of north India, claiming eight more lives in Uttar Pradesh, even as Delhiites got some respite from the bone-chilling cold with the day temperature rising by over four degrees.
The toll in the current spell of cold wave in north India on Wednesday climbed to 195 with 38 more deaths even as chilly conditions further eased with rise in maximum temperature in the region.
With the 'bhoomi pujan' for a temple at the spot where many devout Hindus believe Lord Ram was born, priests are enlivened with the hope that their Badhi Devkaali Mandir too will get footfalls from far and wide.
After covering several kilometres on foot along with their families, the labourers, who reached Charbagh bus station in Lucknow on Saturday and Sunday, said there was no point staying in Delhi as they have exhausted their funds and it would be better for them to return to their homes.
Undeterred by the ban imposed by the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party government in Uttar Pradesh, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad on Friday said that it will go ahead with its proposed 'Sankalp Diwas' to take a resolve to launch an agitation for rebuilding the Ram temple in Ayodhya.
The districts going to polls in this phase are Balrampur, Gonda, Faizabad, Ambedkar Nagar, Bahraich, Shravasti, Basti, Siddharth Nagar, Sant Kabir Nagar, Amethi and Sultanpur.
According to survey Gonda in UP is India's most dirtiest city.
The Special Investigating Team probing the murder of rationalist and Left leader Govind Pansare suspects role of two more Sanatan Sanstha members, who are absconding in connection with the 2009 Madgaon blast, in the case, police sources said on Monday.
The toll in Uttar Pradesh floods on Monday mounted to 41, with reports of 13 more deaths in the state where over 1,000 villages were affected by the flood waters of several rivers flowing above the danger mark.
The death toll from flood-related incidents rose to 63 today in Uttar Pradesh with the situation remaining grim in several areas, even as most parts of the northern region experienced dry weather with mercury rising by a few notches.
With Vishwa Hindu Parishad adamant in going ahead with its planned yatra from Ayodhya from Sunday, the Faizabad district administration on Friday issued arrest warrants against its 70 leaders amid heavy deployment of police force in the twin towns.
The toll in Uttar Pradesh floods on Monday increased to 48, with reports of 20 more deaths in the state where several rivers were flowing above danger mark posing threat to more than 1,000 villages.
Shops, schools and other commercial establishments were closed in parts of Bihar, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab but the shutdown call by anti-reservation bodies had little impact elsewhere in the country.
The Lok Sabha election will be held in 7 phases, beginning on April 11, 2019 and ending on May 19, 2019.
At least 21 persons have died and thousands were marooned in villages across eight districts of Uttar Pradesh where release of water from dams in Nepal have caused major floods, even as large parts of the state were heading towards a drought-like situation due to scanty monsoon rain.
'Many are coming hungry and thirsty.' 'Some told us they were stopped from filling water at roadside village handpumps because villagers told them 'tum Carona ho'.'
Officials of the Transport Department, bus drivers and conductors were contacted on Friday night to help the people who were stranded in Noida, Ghaziabad, Bulandshahar and Aligarh, among other places, he said.
Around 1,500 villages across Uttar Pradesh are trying to struggle to stay afloat after flood fury hit them hard due to the release of overflowing water from dams in Nepal last Sunday.
The Samajwadi Party on Thursday justified the Uttar Pradesh government's decision to ban a proposed yatra by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad to garner support for the construction of the RamTemple at a disputed site in Ayodhya.
'Ek ghante ke andar humare paas 78,000 calls aaye.' '78,000!'
Taking serious note of the rampant corruption in the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act in Uttar Pradesh, the Lucknow bench of Allahabad high court on Friday ordered a Central Bureau of Investogation probe into the alleged large scale financial bungling brought to its notice through a public interest litigation, moved by local journalist Sachchidanand Gupta .
Locals of Ramnathi in North Goa district where the Sanatan Sanstha is headquartered, have demanded a ban on the right-wing outfit and urged the state government to ensure that its ashram is shifted out of their village failing which they would intensify their agitation against them and their 'sadhaks' (seekers).
The sky turned cloudy around 4:30pm and gusty winds swept the national capital.
Since the historic judgment of the apex court that paved the way for the construction of a Ram temple by a trust at the disputed site in Ayodhya, and ruled that an alternative five-acre plot must be found for a mosque in the Hindu holy town, a large number of devotees have been flocking to Ayodhya, several among them making their maiden visit to the city.
The bodies were so badly charred that doctors found it difficult to determine the gender of the victims.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad was on Monday refused permission by the Uttar Pradesh government to organise a yatra from Ayodhya to push for the construction of a Ram Temple at the disputed site, just days after it asked Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav to work as a bridge between Hindus and Muslims on the issue.
Union Minister Beni Prasad Verma has kicked up another controversy by stating that nothing was wrong in spending Rs 2 to 4 crores on media as he was only "investing money to get good returns" in terms of publicity.
Former Union minister Beni Prasad Verma on Friday quit the Congress and rejoined the Samajwadi Party, a move which is likely to shore up the SP's prospects in the 2017 assembly polls.
The twin towns of Ayodhya and Faizabad were on the edge on Saturday as tension mounted on the eve of VHP's yatra with the UP government cracking down on the saffron outfit arresting some of its leaders and over 350 activists.
The Samajwadi Party government went overboard in deploying nearly 10,000 policemen to patrol the streets of Ayodhya to prevent the VHP from carrying out its 84-kosi parikrama, reports Sharat Pradhan
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad on Sunday inaugurated its controversial yatra from Ayodhya amidst a massive crackdown launched by the Uttar Pradesh administration which has arrested senior VHP leaders Ashok Singhal and Praveen Togadia, and over 500 people.
A number of royals have thrown their hat in the ring in the high-voltage Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.
Authorities alerted people to avoid staying outdoors and L-G ordered to halt all civil construction activities across the city till Sunday.
As the dust finally settles on the outcome of the Lok Sabha elections 2019 and Bharatiya Janata Party along with its NDA allies emerges as the clear winner, here is a list of who won in each of the 7 phases of elections.