BJP sources suggest that the upcoming elections will likely revolve around the renewed enthusiasm for the temple unless another theme with religious and nationalist undertones emerges.
As BJP leaders went all out to project the event as a moment of national pride, some leaders were directly critical of the ceremony with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, belonging to the Communist Party of India-Marxist, slamming the state's role in the Ram Temple consecration, saying the line that demarcates religion and state seems to be 'getting thinner and thinner'.
The FIR, in which 15-20 unnamed people were also mentioned, was registered at the Gurubuxganj police station in Rae Bareli.
The girl tried to immolate herself near the chief minister's residence in Lucknow on Sunday.
Maurya had the right to give his own independent explanation different from explanations of many scholars but he cannot use such language which may disturb the religious feelings of a community, the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court said.
The AIMIM chief questioned whether the public will have any faith in the Constitution and law and order of the country after this incident.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed jailed former MP and alleged gangster Atiq Ahmad's plea seeking protection during his custody with the Uttar Pradesh police in the Umesh Pal murder case.
Three Congress MLAs -- Hardeep Singh Dang, Bisahulal Singh and Raghuraj Kansana -- are reportedly still untraceable.
Lakhimpur Kheri had been one of the key attack points of the Opposition parties such as the Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and Congress against the BJP in the run up to the polls.
Eight Union ministers, two former chief ministers and one ex-governor are among those who are set to test their electoral fate in the first phase of elections on April 19 when 102 seats across 21 states and Union territories will go to polls.
The decision was taken back on Wednesday after directions from higher officials, Varanasi Samart City project PRO Shakhambhari Nandan said.
However, two Bahujan Samaj Party and one Samajwadi Party MLA who support the government skipped the CLP meeting, he added.
According to media reports, Singh made objectionable remarks on Mayawati over an infamous episode when the BSP chief was reportedly assaulted by Samajwadi Party workers at a guest house in Lucknow in 1995 that triggered decades of animosity between the two parties.
'The tragedy with Indian Muslims is that they do politics from the heart, not from the head.'
At present, there are 18 Bahujan Samaj Party MLAs in the 403-member Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly.
With uncertainty looming over the Maha Vikas Aghadi government's stability in the wake of Shiv Sena minister Eknath Shinde camping in Gujarat with some party MLAs, the stand of 29 legislators from smaller parties and Independents is likely to be crucial.
Prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) have been issued in all districts of Uttar Pradesh to prevent any untoward incident.
While the Samajwadi Party largely banks on its Muslim-Yadav support base, the Bharatiya Janata Party is trying to counter it with the Modi-Yogi combo in the state assembly polls.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday cruised to a two-thirds majority in Madhya Pradesh assembly, winning as many as 163 of the 230 seats in the House, leaving the Congress a distant second at 66.
Cricketer Yusuf Pathan will contest from the Baharampur Lok Sabha seat, whereas Kirti Aazd will fight from the Bardhaman-Durgapur constituency.
Even though MLAs are required to show their ballot to respective party whips before casting their vote, all parties have ensured their MLAs are housed in five star hotels closer to the Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha where voting will take place on June 10.
Nandi had defeated, by a margin of more than 14,000 votes, Keshri Nath Tripathi who was a five-time MLA, and had served thrice as the Uttar Pradesh assembly speaker and was the BJP's state unit president at that time.
While people voted in a fifth round that will set the tone as this election rounds into the straight, and while Modi on the stump chews the cud of personal grievances and hackneyed promises that have long since passed their use-by date, there is a rogue wave rising -- what damage it will do, we will know 16 days from today, observes Prem Panicker.
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.
Mulayam's last rites will be performed with full state honours in Saifai near Etawah in Uttar Pradesh
Yadav struck deals with the Bahujan Samaj Party, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress whenever needed to form or save the governments led by him in Uttar Pradesh.
Mukhtar Ansari's Quami Ekta Dal's merger with the Samajwadi Party last year had triggered turmoil in that party.
Counting began at 8 am under multi-tier security cover. At first, postal ballots will be counted and then EVMs opened.
'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'
Informing about his decision, Maurya said in a tweet in Hindi, 'Due to the attitude of gross neglect towards Dalits, backwards, farmers, unemployed youth and small and medium-sized traders, I am resigning from the council of ministers of Yogi (Adityanath) of UP.'
'His biggest contribution as defence minister was to change the rules of bringing martyred soldiers' bodies home.'
The results for bypolls to seven assembly seats in six states will be declared on Friday in what is being seen as a major test for the opposition's Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance against the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance ahead of the polls in five states later this year and Lok Sabha elections in 2024.
Ahead of the day-long Opposition meeting on Friday, Samvad Bhavan, Rajkiye Atithisala and Sadaquat Ashram have got a facelift.
Equating the imposition of the Emergency with dacoity, he said, "Generally, dacoity is carried out around midnight. Similarly, this dacoity of democracy in the country also took place around midnight."
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.
When the BSP formed a government in Uttar Pradesh in 2007, it had bagged 206 seats and a vote share of 30.43 per cent.
Officials said most of the preparations are complete and the counting will start at 8 am on Saturday.
Counting of votes for the bypolls in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Tripura, Andhra Pradesh and Jharkhand will be taken up on Sunday.
The crowd at the mosque was larger than usual, unsurprisingly because it happened to be the last "Jumma" (Friday) of the holy month of Ramzan.