Voting for the seventh and final round will be held on March 7 for Varanasi and its eight adjoining districts.
Rediff Labs uses a mathematic model to analyse the 2012 UP election results and develop a Sentiment Meter for the 2017 electoral battle.
Perhaps unwittingly, young Samajwadi chief minister Akhilesh Yadav has forgotten that it was the media campaign against Mayawati's undemocratic and despotic ways that helped him to romp home with a clear majority. Sharat Pradhan reports
The election campaign in Uttar Pradesh -- the most important election of the year -- is on.
Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav will face Union Minister SP Singh Baghel on Karhal seat of Mainpuri where both of them filed nominations on Monday.
Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav died in Medanta hospital of Gurugram on Monday. He was 82.
Two months after a 22-year-old Dalit woman went missing from Unnao, her decomposed body was recovered from a vacant plot near an ashram constructed by a former minister in Samajwadi Party government Fateh Bahadur Singh, police said on Friday.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has announced financial assistance of Rs 2 lakh to the kin of each of the deceased and Rs 50,000 to the injured.
'In an alliance, you are forced to overlook loyal workers.' 'It sends a negative message and workers turn against the party.' 'I have forbidden this alliance.'
The seat sharing formula reached between the BSP and SP is not on the basis of who emerged stronger in the previous election.
While flaying the Mayawati government for rising incidence of rape and murder in Uttar Pradesh, Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav declared in Siddharth Nagar on Sunday that if his party were to be voted to power, he would ensure government jobs to every rape victim.
Leaders of several like-minded opposition parties are likely to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Karnataka chief minister-designate Siddaramaiah and deputy chief minister D K Shivakumar on Saturday in Bengaluru.
"It is not where the party president says something and the next day the exact opposite of what he had said happens. This gives out a bad image of party because it affects political credibility of the party," Singh told PTI in an interview.
The issue of division of Uttar Pradesh had been lying dormant till now with major political parties including the BSP preferring silence so far.
According to the findings of the CSDS-Lokniti survey, the BJP saw a marginal increase in its support among the Muslim voters as compared to the 2017 assembly elections.
With the Yogi Adityanath government taking credit for cracking down on criminals and making it an election issue, political parties are now having a rethink on aligning with those who have a criminal background but also enjoy influence in their areas.
Out of the 403 seats up for grabs, the BSP had prepared a final list comprising 97 Muslim candidates (12 more than 2012), 87 Dalits and 106 other backwards castes, besides earmarking 113 seats for upper castes -- Brahmins 66, Kshatriyas 36 and others 11.
Till 5 pm, Agra recorded 56.61 per cent polling, Aligarh 57.25 per cent, Baghpat 61.35 per cent, Bulandshahr 60,52 per cent, Gautam Buddh Nagar 54.77 per cent, Ghaziabad 54.77 per cent, Hapur 60.50 per cent, Mathura 58.51 per cent, Meerut 58.52 cent, Muzaffarnagar 62.14 per cent and Shamli 61.78 per cent, an EC report said.
'It's the same problem with all six of us. Behenji (Mayawati) is not to be blamed, but the coordinators have acted in a manner which has depressed us and we thought what is the use of remaining with such a party'
Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati termed PM's programme 'ridiculous and a betrayal of national sentiments'.
For the first time, Akhilesh is leading the SP almost single-handed into a major election, but he is not the only one running the show Shikha Shalini reports.
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.
Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav was on Tuesday not allowed to unveil the statue of Ram Manohar Lohia in Lucknow following which he had a scuffle with the police personnel.
With Bollywood connections of Amar Singh not a secret, the SP could well take a lead in bringing stars during the electioneering.
Sources said the opposition parties would look to avoid the prickly leadership question as of now and emphasise on building a common ground.
The 36-year-old businessman had died after being allegedly assaulted by the police at a Gorakhpur hotel which they had raided on Monday night.
Ahmed Patel, who was undergoing treatment at a Gurugram hospital after testing positive for COVID-19, breathed his last after multi-organ failure in the wee hours of Wednesday, his son Faisal confirmed.
'Outside the core voter base of upper caste Hindus, there is a large section unhappy with the performance of the BJP.'
SP president Akhilesh Yadav and ally RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary are unlikely to participate in the Yatra due to "preoccupation" with their party programmes, their party leaders said.
Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati and other senior politicians on Sunday cast their votes in the third phase of Uttar Pradesh elections and claimed that their parties will form the next government.
'The BJP is racing against its opponents by putting a chain on their legs.'
Smarting under poll debacle, the Bahujan Samaj Party on Sunday expressed fears about return of 'goondaraj' in Uttar Pradesh and said it would not contest the upcoming local body polls, apprehending that the ruling Samajwadi Party might target its candidates.
"We particularly want Bajrang Bali because he is linked to my own Dalit caste," Mayawati said.
UP Power Minister Shrikant Sharma stirred up a hornet's nest with his tweet terming the Congress president a 'coward and impotent'.
Projecting a united face on the eve of vice presidential poll, all constituents of United Progressive Alliance and those supporting it from outside including arch rivals Mulayam Singh Yadav and Mayawati attended a lunch hosted by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.
He said the BJP is leaving a "culture", which may be used against it in the future.
Meanwhile, the Congress said that that it is ready to go it alone in Uttar Pradesh in the Lok Sabha election.
Mayawati added that the BSP's relationship with the SP is never going to end and she will try to ensure that their relationship stays intact.
SP chief spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary said Akhilesh will not participate in the yatra, nor will any other leader from the party.
'The Congress in the past backed the demand, but will not support it now since the SP opposes any division of UP.'
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