Asaduddin Owaisi's AIMIM, which is going to contest next year's Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls on the promise of creating leadership among Muslims, has created unease in the political parties that so far considered the members of the minority community as their core "vote bank".
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.
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.
As the Uttar Pradesh assembly election battle hits new lows, Rediff.com's Aslam Hunani walks you through all you need to know about the fifth phase of polling on February 27.
In Uttar Pradesh, the death toll due to lightning strikes rose to 42.
A 69-year-old man was allegedly beaten to death in police custody at Sonwa police station in Uttar Pradesh's Shravasti district, a well-known Buddhist centre along the UP-Nepal border, on Monday night.
Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi's 24 hour-long 'secret' mission in Uttar Pradesh kept everyone on tenterhooks until he finally flew back to New Delhi from Lucknow on Thursday evening.
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.
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.
Over 80 cattle lost their lives and over 600 houses were damaged in rain-related incidents.
Hundreds of people set ablaze houses in Katramafi Barga village following rumours that a cow had been slaughtered.
'The BJP's all-India plans can be expected to become clearer around 2022-2023, particularly if -- as some anticipate -- the senior Congress leadership cracks, broadly as between the Nehru-Gandhi loyalists and those who may be termed 'pro-changers',' observes Arun Bhatnagar, a retired IAS officer.
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 districts going to polls in this phase are Balrampur, Gonda, Faizabad, Ambedkar Nagar, Bahraich, Shravasti, Basti, Siddharth Nagar, Sant Kabir Nagar, Amethi and Sultanpur.
This classification of districts is to be followed by states and union terrotories till a week post May 3, when the second phase of lockdown will end, for containment operations.
Over 26 people have lost their lives country in the aftermath of the 7.9 magnitude earthquake in Nepal.
Fresh tremors were on Sunday felt in various parts of India, including the national capital Delhi, even as the death toll in Saturday's earthquake climbed to 62.
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