The Election Commission on Saturday asked the Uttar Pradesh government to uncover statues of Chief Minister Mayawati and of elephants, the Bahujan Samaj Party's poll symbol, in the state. "The EC secretary has written a letter to the UP chief secretary stating that the statues draped following its January 7 order should be uncovered forthwith," said UP Chief Electoral Officer Umesh Sinha.
According to party sources, one of the main reasons for her confidence is that she distributed tickets on merit basis, reports Onkar Singh
Mayawati thinks she has a winner if a candidate can bring in votes from his own caste to go with her Schedule Caste vote bank.
Commenting on the seat sharing in the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), Samajwadi Party president and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday said in Ballia that a decision will be made as soon as Surya Uttarayan occurs.
'...It is important for you to take a stand.' 'It is a sin to remain silent when the basic structure of the Constitution is being attacked.'
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:
The Supreme Court on Monday rejected Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati's plea for quashing a PIL filed against her in the Taj corridor scandal which involved construction of a massive shopping mall and recreational centres near the world famous monument.
A day after the Uttar Pradesh Lokayukta recommended his dismissal on charges of owning disproportionate assets, Chief Minister Mayawati on Wednesday sacked Secondary Education Minister Rangnath Misra and Labour Minister Badshah Singh, who too is under the scanner of the anti-graft ombudsmen. Cracking the whip, the chief minister has also ordered a vigilance inquiry against the two ministers. Both the ministers have been asked to fight the graft cases in court.
After the 1,200-acre special economic zone at Noida and the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group's gas-based power plant at Dadri, Lanco Kundapalli's 1,000-Mw Anpara C power project in Sonebhadra district of Uttar Pradesh has come under the scanner
In a veiled reference to reports that Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi had rescued 15,000 Gujaratis from Uttarakhand, former Uttar Pradesh CM Mayawati on Sunday said the Bahujan Samaj Party condemns a political party whose leader seeks to become a prime ministerial candidate but talks about saving people only from his own state.
Recently, the Uttar Pradesh chief minister had managed to split the Congress.
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.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Mayawati, on Wednesday announced a financial assistance of Rs 5 crore for the national hockey players and also offered to sponsor the team for the next two years.
Last week, a panel of judges headed by the Chief Justice of India ordered that Karnan be transferred to the Calcutta high court. The junior judge reacted that he would fight the order and asked the Chief Justice of India to "not interfere" with his jurisdiction, and also stayed his own transfer order.
Of the 34 SC reserved seats that went to the polls, the BJP won 22 and the Congress 11.
Reacting to the statement, Uttar Pradesh BJP chief Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary said "insulting the Sanatan Dharma again and again" has become the habit of the Samajwadi Party and its leaders.
The National Election Watch has put out a report pertaining the chief ministers of the five states going to polls -- Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur.
Favouring reservation for Muslims, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Sunday said that 27 per cent Other Backward Class quota should be increased by making constitutional amendment to include backward Muslims in it. "The Bahujan Samaj Party government favours quota for Muslims. The Centre should amend the constitution and increase 27 per cent quota of OBCs to include muslims in it. Our party will support it," Mayawati said addressing a rally in Lucknow.
Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav announced a state-wide 'jail bharo' agitation on Wednesday against Mayawati government in Uttar Pradesh and asked the Centre to "mend" its policies, but was silent on the issue of withdrawing support from the Congress-led UPA. "The 'jail bharo' agitation will not be symbolic. You all will have to go to jail...I will court arrest in Lucknow," Yadav said at the inaugural session of the party's Special National Conference in Agra.
The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court on Tuesday ordered the detention and arrest of Uttar Pradesh Principal Home Secretary R M Srivastava for not complying with a court order for providing special security to a former minister in the Mayawati government.
In a quiet move, the Mayawati government has decided to give away bulk of its hotels and tourist bungalows on long-term lease to private players.
Under attack by the opposition over rape incidents in Uttar Pradesh, Chief Minister Mayawati has called a high-level meet of state officials on June 27 and also announced amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code for harsher provisions for the guilty.
Its passage, argues Sharat Pradhan, will only give rise to more bitterness and sharper social conflict, overcoming which might be easier said than done.
Poll-bound Delhi will witness star-studded election rallies on Sunday, organised by the Bharatiya Janata Party's ally Shiromani Akali Dal, the Congress and the Bahujan Samaj Party, which are trying their best to ensure impressive turnouts.Congress president Sonia Gandhi will sound the election bugle from Mangolpuri in outer Delhi while Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and BSP chief Mayawati will address a rally in Trilokpuri in east Delhi.
CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat on Wednesday met BSP supremo and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati at her official residence in Lucknow and is understood to have discussed the country's political situation with her.
After blaming the Centre for the drought as well as the floods in the state, the Mayawati-led Uttar Pradesh government has now held the United Progressive Alliance-led government responsible for the spread of various diseases in the state.UP Health Minister Anant Kumar Misra on Tuesday blamed the Centre for the spread of encephalitis, malaria, measles and other vector-borne diseases, which were threatening to turn into an epidemic.
The Enforcement Directorate on Monday detected cash deposits totalling over Rs.104 crore in an account belonging to the Bahujan Samaj Party and Rs 1.43 crore in an account belonging to party Supremo Mayawati's brother Anand in a branch of United Bank of India in New Delhi, sources in the Enforcement Directorate said.
The Central Bureau of Investigation has decided not to challenge the Supreme Court orders, through a review petition, quashing the alleged disproportionate assets case against former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati.
Police on Wednesday arrested a man accused of urinating on a tribal youth in Madhya Pradesh's Sidhi district, an official said.
Unfazed by the failure of efforts to pull down the United Progressive Alliance government that may have pitchforked her into national centrestage, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Saturday said that nobody could stop her from becoming prime minister.
Reacting sharply to the political and economic resolutions passed in the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee convention at Kanpur, she said the Centre has not taken any decision regarding the Rs 80,000 crore package demanded for removal of economic backwardness of the Purvanchal and Bundelkhand areas of the state. "It shows how Congress was serious regarding the problems of the state," she said.
Balwinder Singh alleged that no relative, including Ram's mother, was being allowed to meet the former party chief.
The CBI had registered FIR against Mayawati on October 5, 2003, allegedly on the direction of the apex court, which had ordered the agency to investigate Taj Heritage Corridor Scam. The Bahujan Samaj Party chief contended that the FIR lodged against her was illegal as no sanction was taken from the state and the agency had misinterpreted the apex court order, which only directed investigation into the Taj Corridor case.
Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati on Sunday said that her party has given maximum number of tickets to Muslims and they should vote unitedly in favour of her party to save the country from the "fascist forces and dynasty rule".
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.
UP Chief Minister Mayawati can go ahead with construction activities in the Ambedkar Park in Lucknow with the Supreme Court ,on Monday , lifting curbs imposed by the Allahabad High Court
The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to hear in open court a plea for review of its judgment, which had quashed the disproportionate assets case against former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati.
