Increasingly seen as the 'bellwether' for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the assembly election results will not only decide as to who will rule UP but show which way the wind is blowing ahead of the Lok Sabha elections two years hence.
Could a grand alliance between the Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and Congress -- built along the lines of the successful Bihar mahagatbandhan of 2015 -- have changed the outcome of the Uttar Pradesh election?
Sacking Ajay Mishra would further antagonise Brahmins in UP already upset with Yogi's government.
Gandhi said he has respect for BSP patriarch Kanshi Ram for articulating the Dalit voice of Uttar Pradesh, even though the Congress had suffered during that phase.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi slammed the UP government over the incident 'Another proof of 'goondaraj' (hooliganism) in UP. When police is not safe how can people be?. My condolences are with family of martyrs and I wish speedy recovery of injured,' he said in a tweet.
The murder of Atiq and his brother and the police encounter with his son have raised many questions about the propriety of how crime is tackled by the Yogi government. But Yogi knows he has the support of the people who are fed up with crime holding the state to ransom for decades, asserts Ramesh Menon.
The Samajwadi Party is unwilling to cede ground to the BJP, especially in Amethi, since the Congress is too weak to counter the BJP's well-oiled election machinery.
Campaigning came to an end on Saturday for the single-day election in Uttarakhand and Goa, two states known for political volatility where the Bharatiya Janata Party is attempting to retain power, and for the second phase of assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh on February 14.
The daughter-in-law of BSP Rajya Sabha member Narendra Kashyap was on Wednesday found dead inside the bathroom of their house in Sanjay Nagar in mysterious circumstances.
AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Monday brainstormed with senior Congress leaders from Uttar Pradesh on the preparations for next year's assembly polls, as the party resolved to hit the streets against the Bharatiya Janata Party government over issues such as unemployment, price rise and law and order.
On the eve of the sixth and penultimate phase of the marathon Uttar Pradesh elections, Rediff.com's Aslam Hunani reports on what's at stake.
Gandhi met Pawar within hours of the BJP's defeat in the Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha bypolls in Uttar Pradesh.
After spending over two years in a Punjab prison, gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari was brought back to Banda jail early on Wednesday morning.
BSP MLA Shekhar Tiwari and his two associates--Manoj Tyagi and another surnamed Bhatia--forcibly entered the house of engineer M K Gupta at Gail Vihar Colony in Diviapur police circle in Auraiya on Tuesday night and started beating him up severely, according to a report lodged with the police by his wife Shashi Gupta.
Bahujan Samaj Party MP Dhananjay Singh and his wife Jagriti, arrested in connection with the murder of their maid, were on Monday remanded to four-day judicial custody by a court after the Delhi Police said they are waiting for some reports and will confront the accused with them later.
'If they harp on it again, they will begin to lose votes.' 'They have not lost this time, but they will lose next time.' 'Your committed votes will never be enough to guarantee victory for you.'
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday said he might not campaign for the by-elections to a couple of assembly segments in the state where his current ally Rashtriya Janata Dal is locked in a straight contest with his former alliance partner Bharatiya Janata Party.
Political analysts say that with 32 per cent vote share, the BJP would still be ahead of what BSP had polled in 2007 or SP in 2012.
'The BJP has taken too much of credit for sweeping urban local elections.' 'It is true in the mayor segment. But in the smaller cities, semi-urban and rural areas, the BJP has done badly and so have the other parties.' 'Nobody can claim they have swept the elections.' 'What Mayawati failed miserably to do in the assembly election, she has managed to gain that in this election.'
Unprecedented security arrangements have been made for the Bahujan Samaj Party workers' national convention, which will be held on August 9 in Lucknow.Over 5,000 policemen will be deployed across the 42 - acre Rama Bai Ambedkar Maidan, where Chief Minister Mayawati held her first mammoth rally, after assuming power for the fourth time last year. The authorities have decided to tighten security measures after serial blasts recently rocked Ahmedabad and Bengaluru.
Asserting that Uttar Pradesh has undergone a complete transformation under his government, chief minister Yogi Adityanath said on Sunday that there have been no riots since 2017, strict action has been taken against the mafia and the state is in the frontline of implementing welfare schemes, ensuring the ease of doing business and fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.
The party, however, has retained state president Naresh Uttam.
Newly-appointed chief ministerial candidate Sheila Dikshit and state chief Raj Babbar came out all guns blazing against the SP, BSP and BJP.
The Bahujan Samaj Party will not contest by-elections for 12 seats in Uttar Pradesh, which would fall vacant due to the legislators being elected as members of Parliament, party supremo Mayawati said on Friday.
Accusing successive governments under Bahujan Samaj Party, Samajwadi Party and Bharatiya Janata Party in Uttar Pradesh of plundering public money, Rahul Gandhi on Saturday hit out at these parties for "lacking vision" for the state's development and their "mistrust" of Centre's "pro-poor" policies.
The issue of division of Uttar Pradesh had been lying dormant till now with major political parties including the BSP preferring silence so far.
He said the BJP is leaving a "culture", which may be used against it in the future.
Bahujan Samaj Party MP from Uttar Pradesh Dhananjay Singh and his wife Jagriti were on Tuesday arrested in connection with the murder of their 35-year-old maid and "mercilessly" torturing another minor domestic help with sticks and rods.
Gleaning lessons from Amit Shah's compendium of Chanakya-isms, the Samajwadi Party is keeping its operations low-key and working on an inclusive strategy.
CM Yogi Adityanath said the BJP was getting widespread support from the people.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath who went on a whirlwind tour of the state to ensure the victory of his party candidates, described it as a "historic win". He attributed the victory to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision and BJP chief Amit Shah's guidance.
Umesh Pal's family thanked Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and the police.
'The unusual aspect of this election is that this time there is a triangular fight.' 'Previously, the fight used to be between two parties.'
The Bahujan Samaj party on Tuesday demanded dismissal of the Samajwadi Party government in Uttar Pradesh over the deteriorating law and order situation and staged a walkout in the Rajya Sabha.
Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati on Friday said the Election Commission should take suo moto cognisance of the manner in which Bharatiya Janata Party prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi filed his nomination from Varanasi at the time when the sixth phase of polling was being held all over the country, including Uttar Pradesh.
Nearly 1,500 akansha petis (boxes of aspirations) have been placed in colleges for students to reveal what they expect from a BJP government. While demonetisation figured high in villages, BJP strategist Siddharth Sikka says city youth were "more concerned" about law and order and sanitation.
Among the seven seats which witnessed a stiff contest between the BJP and the regional parties, the saffron party held three and the Congress two, while the Shiv Sena and the RJD had one each.
73 constituencies will vote on Saturday.
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.
Gangster-politician Atiq Ahmad on Wednesday claimed that he was being harassed in the Sabarmati Central Jail in Gujarat.
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