Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath attributed the impressive show by his party to the "alert voters" who he said rejected the 'mahagathbandhan' (grand alliance) of opposition parties.
Additionally, the Lower House will have 442 candidates, who have assets running into the crores. Vicky Nanjappa reports.
The JD-U appears unwilling to become the BJP's second-string. A senior leader said, "If the BJP demands that the 2014 polls be made the yardstick for seat-sharing in 2019, we will insist the results of the last assembly polls become the criterion for the next state election." Radhika Ramaseshan reports.
Of the 40 Lok Sabha seats in the state, BJP will contest 20, while the JD-U, LJP and RLSP will contest 12, five and two seats respectively.
The nodal officer for EVMs in Varanasi, a returning officer (RO) in Sonbhadra district and an additional election officer in Bareilly district have been pulled out from election duties, a day ahead of the counting of votes in UP.
While the BJP and the Congress have always supported the bill, opposition by other parties and demands from some for quota for backward classes within the women's quota have been key sticking points.
In order to pacify the dissidents, the party's central leadership had to replace Bandi Sanjay Kumar with Union Minister G Kishan Reddy as state president of the BJP.
The manifesto also vowed to carry out caste-based census in 2020-21.
But the Congress said its leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will attend the event.
Gehlot said the CAA is against the Constitution and divides people in the name of religion.
Voicing concern over the Muzaffarnagar violence, Rashtriya Lok Dal leader and Union Minister Ajit Singh on Tuesday said it may spread to other states and become unmanageable" if not controlled by "strict action".
There was no immediate response from the Aam Aadmi Party over the matter.
The closed-door discussions between Kishor and Pawar at the latter's residence lasted for about one-and-a-half hours, sources said.
The Samajwadi Party stormed to the power with 224 of the 403 assembly seats.
Chowdhury said that the visiting MPs will present their observations on Manipur in Parliament.
As per the report, out of 612 candidates, 168 (27 per cent) are crorepatis.
Formal talks over a seat-sharing formula among the National Democratic Alliance constituents are yet to begin and JD-U leaders, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the BJP should take the lead to ensure that it was done quickly to avoid any serious differences near the polls.
The party, however, did not announce as whether it would merge with any other party or become part of some other alliance.
Beti ho to Rohini Acharya jaisi," Giriraj tweeted in Hindi.
The opposition on Tuesday termed as an 'election jumla' the women's reservation bill brought by the government with many leaders raising questions over the proposed legislation, contending it doesn't account for reservation for OBC communities and that it will be effective at the earliest by the 2029 Lok Sabha polls.
'There is no law and order in Bihar.' 'Criminals do as per their will.'
The 19 MLAs were sent notices Tuesday by the Speaker after the Congress complained that they had defied a party whip to attend two Congress Legislature Party meetings.
Signalling both change and continuity, India's new government, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a third consecutive term, got into work gear on Tuesday with cabinet ministers and ministers of state filing into their respective offices to assume charge.
The Rashtriya Janata Dal leader also said, "This is not the first meeting of opposition leaders nor is it going to be the last. Leaders of different hues have agreed to meet and they will all raise issues that they feel strongly about. There is no problem with that."
Jailed Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad and Janata Dal-United leader Jagdish Sharma have been disqualified as Lok Sabha members following their conviction in the fodder scam.
With several political stalwarts of Uttar Pradesh no longer on the scene, it will be keenly watched how their children lead at the hustings this time without their formidable presence.
Lalu claimed that the BJP wants to disturb communal harmony in society to hide the real issues that people are facing.
It is likely that small parties would be given very few seats to contest, but these parties believe that they would be able to swing the result in favour of bigger alliance partners by transferring their vote bank.
