Chief ministers and other senior leaders made last-minute appeals to voters for their support in Mokama and Gopalganj of Bihar, Adampur of Haryana, Manugoda of Telangana, Gola Gorakhnath of Uttar Pradesh and Dhamnagar of Odisha.
Some of our leaders were busybusy over the weekend.
Priyanka Gandhi addressed 209 rallies and roadshows, the maximum by any top leader during the UP election campaign, followed closely by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath who spoke at 203 poll events.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah told Uttar Pradesh Bharatiya Janata Party leaders and workers here on Friday that they must focus on polling booths if they want the party to win the coming assembly polls.
The Bharatiya Janata Party faces an uphill task of repeating its performance of the last assembly election of winning 53 out of 58 constituencies in western Uttar Pradesh where polling will be held in the first phase on February 10.
Modi was on his first visit to Ayodhya after he laid the foundation stone of a Ram temple at the once disputed Ram Janmabhoomi site on August 5, 2020.
Voting for the seventh and final round will be held on March 7 for Varanasi and its eight adjoining districts.
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.
Right now there are five Hindus occupying the top job in the world. Rishi Sunak will be the sixth.
'Akhilesh did politics like Rabi and Kharif crop which come once a year. Politics is not seasonal, you have to harvest your field all through the year and only then you get a good crop' Political analyst lists 12 reasons why Akhilesh Yadav lost the UP elections.
The Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991 provides for maintaining the 'religious character' of holy structures as it existed on August 15, 1947.
'There is a famous saying here that 'the way to Delhi passes through Lucknow'.' 'If the BJP loses UP in 2022, Modi's premiership in 2024 will be in doldrums.'
"There are clearly two sides. On one side, there is an organisation of patriots in the form of BJP and on the other side, tukde-tukde gang have come together under the leadership of the Congress. It is for the people of Karnataka to decide now whether they are with the patriots or those who support people who want to divide this country," he added.
The prime minister said he was also grateful to his opponents who fought against him. At the same time he lamented there was a sense of political untouchability, adding Bharatiya Janata Party workers were being killed for their ideology in West Bengal, Tripura and Kerala.
Modi launched the membership drive of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party from his Lok Sabha constituency of Varanasi on Saturday, noting that it will further connect people from all walks of life with the saffron party.
Addressing a function after laying the foundation stone of the Uttar Pradesh State Institute of Forensic Sciences in Lucknow, Shah said Bharatiya Janata Party governments work for the development of the poorest people.
'If Mayawati had performed better, then the BJP would have had a much tougher time to win UP.' 'The present gap in number of seats between the BJP and SP would have got reduced.'
'If the civil code has to be put on hold, what card can the BJP play if it finds the going tough in the run-up to the general election of 2024?' asks Amulya Ganguli.
Hitting back at the Shiv Sena, Maharashtra Bharatiya Janata Party leader Devendra Fadnavis on Monday said the Uddhav Thackeray-led outfit's Hindutva is merely on paper and finds mention just in speeches, while it was his party men who faced bullets and lathis during the Ram Janmabhoomi movement.
The apex court will hear the matter amidst an important development with a Varanasi court on Monday directed the district administration there to seal the spot of the survey inside the complex where allegedly 'Shivling' has been found by the surveying team.
The poll results will depend much on whether the caste and community coalition worked out by Akhilesh can withstand the onslaught of the Hindutva forces who have increased their efforts to polarise the electorate on communal lines.
Dwivedi, son of BJP's district unit president of Allahabad Ramraksha Dwivedi, had reportedly announced a reward of Rs 1 crore for chopping off the tongue of Owaisi and called the AIMIM chief a 'traitor' who has no right to live in India.
I hope that this will help improve policing in UP, the SHO said.
'That would be very bad for them and suicidal for both the Gandhis and the Congress party.'
The prime minister's tough talk assumed significance in view of protests against the CAA in various parts of the country.
Krishna chants gained more currency when Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav invoked the deity.
The SP's bid to dent the BJP's formidable social equation is playing out in a big way in the Poorvanchal or eastern region of Uttar Pradesh as the ruling party is working overtime to keep its caste equation unharmed.
"It's my destiny to serve Maa Ganga," Prime Minister designate Narendra Modi told Varanasi after an hour-long ceremony on the banks of the scared river.
After eggs, ink was thrown at Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal while he was undertaking a road show in Varanasi on Tuesday following his visit to the Kal Bhairav and Kashi Vishwanath temples.
After the historic win of Bhartiya Janta Partyin Uttar Pradesh elections on Saturday, the talk about the face of chief minister candidate is the next question.
Indian comic book character Chacha Chaudhary has been declared as the mascot of the government's Namami Gange Programme with an aim of bringing behavioural change among children towards the Ganga and other rivers.
He also received the country's first container cargo transported on inland waterways from Kolkata.
"Am overjoyed that BJP has received unprecedented support from all sections of society. Huge support from the youth is gladdening," Modi said while commenting on the poll results in a series of tweets.
The BJP has many ruthless leaders with super-sharp political minds. But none has all this and Yogi's charisma and personal ambition, observes Shekhar Gupta.
'There are too many competent people better suited and poised to take on Modi. The Gandhis are not among them,' argues Harishchandra.
'Outside the core voter base of upper caste Hindus, there is a large section unhappy with the performance of the BJP.'
Sources in various parties suggest that two lakh votes of the Patel community, locally known as OBC kurmi, for which mother-daughter led Apna Dal (S) and Apna Dal (K) are competing and over one lakh of OBC Rajbhars would be crucial in deciding the outcome of the assembly seats in Varanasi.
In a major embarrassment to Mayawati government in Uttar Pradesh, the Allahabad High Court on Thursday set aside notifications issued for acquisition of more than 100 hectares of land in Gautam Buddh Nagar district for "planned industrial development" in Greater Noida.
As the Prime Minister hit the campaign trail in his Lok Sabha constituency, the Bharatiya Janata Party in Varanasi on Saturday charged the administration with "selectively" pulling down its posters in the name of implementing the poll code.
'Both Modi and Yogi are contesting this election together.' 'Both bring their individual strengths to BJP in UP.'
