In the morning, he offered prayers at the Dashashwamedh Ghat and the Kaal Bhairav temple in Varanasi.
While conditions have improved over the last decade in western UP, there are still unfulfilled needs.
Gandhi, who is seeking a second-straight term from Wayanad in Kerala, in a video appeal said this election is to save democracy and the Constitution.
The Muslim card played heavily by the Congress party will be at test on Tuesday, when the 67-state assembly constituencies go to poll during Phase VI of the seven-phased Uttar Pradesh election.
Voting for the seventh and final round will be held on March 7 for Varanasi and its eight adjoining districts.
This phase will cover 57 constituencies spread over 10 districts, including Bareilly, Moradabad and parts of Kanpur divisions.
Official sources said the CRPF commandos will be deployed for the security of Owaisi round-the-clock.
Heatwave conditions have been prevailing in Odisha since April 15 and the Gangetic West Bengal since April 17, according to the MeT department.
The first of the two-phase urban local body polls in Uttar Pradesh will take place on Thursday, a major poll battle in the politically crucial state ahead of the 2024 parliamentary elections.
The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the proposal for 'one nation, one Election' as recommended by the Kovind panel, Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Wednesday.
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.
Several political parties had approached the EC to postpone the polls in the state in view of Ravidas Jayanti on February 16.
Air quality index (AQI) soared past 350 level in parts of Delhi on Thursday and experts cautioned that as weather turns colder it may breach the 400-mark ceiling and enter the 'severe' zone soon, notwithstanding the incidents of stubble burnings which have nosedived from 17,529 in 2020 to 4,262 this year.
The seats held by the non-BJP parties in the state are Bijnor, Amroha, Moradabad, Sambhal, Raebareli, Ghosi, Lalganj, Jaunpur, Ambedkarnagar, Ghazipur, Shravasti, Mainpuri, Saharanpur and Nagina. Of these, Raebareli is held by Sonia Gandhi of the Congress.
The third phase of Lok Sabha elections scheduled for Tuesday will see the maximum number of seats going to the polls in a single phase -- 117 across 15 states and Union Territories. It will also be a test for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party which will aim to defend the maximum number of seats at 62. This time the BJP will be tested in its bastion Gujarat -- where polling will be held for all the 26 Lok Sabha seats in the state -- apart from Karanataka, Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh, where the party had done well in 2014. Here are some of the big political leaders' who await their fate on Tuesday.
Mayawati, a former Uttar Pradesh chief minister, said she is hopeful her nephew will emerge as a "mature" leader.
Moveable assets accounted for 46 per cent of the wealth of the 10 richest candidates in the first phase of the 2024 elections.
Of the 114 constituencies going to polls in the first two phases in Uttar Pradesh elections, 41 are red alert constituencies -- they have three or more candidates with criminal records. According to the record of the candidates analysed by the Association for Democratic reforms, 36 per cent of the constituencies in the first two phases of UP polls are red alert ones. Of the 41 red alert constituencies, 28 have three candidates with declared criminal cases.
This visit by the prime minister comes weeks ahead of the 'pran pratishtha' or consecration ceremony of the Ram temple.
The third phase will see the maximum number of seats going to the polls in this election spread across 12 states and 2 Union territories.
The elections will be conducted in seven stages.
Eighty-nine Lok Sabha seats spread over seven states and two Union Territories will go to polls in the seventh phase on Wednesday.
During the first phase of the Vande Bharat mission, Air India and its subsidiary Air India Express are scheduled to operate a total 64 flights between May 7 and May 14 to bring 14,800 Indians from 12 countries on a payment basis.
In keeping with the first phase poll in Uttar Pradesh, the voter turnout on Saturday once again crossed 60 per cent during the second round of the seven-phased polling in the country's most populous state.
The BSP boss has left no stone unturned in running down Narendra Modi, particularly in the context of Muslims and OBCs. A large chunk of the 'most backwards' among the OBCs had been part of her vote bank. What also made her anxious were reports of a sudden shift of a section of Dalits from the BSP to Modi.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi would have got a tough fight in Varanasi had Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra contested against him as Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) candidate, feel party workers from the temple town.
Five BJP MLAs and Apna Dal (Sonelal) legislator Amar Singh Chaudhary also joined the SP in the presence of Akhilesh Yadav.
In the third phase of the Lok Sabha election on April 23, 116 seats spread across 13 states and two Union Territories, will go to the polls.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday accused the Congress again of planning to redistribute people's property if it is voted to power, but stopped short of saying that the wealth would go to Muslims.
After becoming active over the rice-growing Indo-Gangetic plains, the southwest monsoon might witness weak phase for the next 3-4 days over the already rain-deficient region. So far, the main deficit states are Uttar Pradesh (-42 per cent), Bihar (-36 per cent), Jharkhand (-48 per cent), and West Bengal (-24 per cent). According to private weather forecasting agency Skymet, rains in west UP, Punjab, Haryana, Bihar, and Jharkhand are expected to be weak in the next 3-4 days before again picking pace.
The Commission, under Justice (retd) Ritu Raj Awasthi, would recommend an amendment to the Constitution to add the "new chapter or part" on simultaneous elections, the sources said.
If the fiscal deficit target of 4.9% of GDP has to be met for 2024-2025, which the government must in view of the uncertainties and challenges emerging both domestically and globally, the finance ministry may see in the composition of the current year's capex a sliver of hope, notes A K Bhattacharya.
Polling for 58 assembly seats spread across 11 districts in the western part of the state began in the morning.
Heatwave conditions are expected over northwest India during the next five days, with Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Delhi predicted to bear the maximum impact, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Thursday.
Over 1.57 crore voters were likely to decide the fate of 705 candidates including state Minister Ujjwal Raman Singh, Bharatiya Janata Party state chief Kesri Nath Tripathi and All India Mahila Congress president Reeta Bahuguna Joshi.
There are 218,442 voters over 100 years on the electoral rolls.
Voting was held on Sunday on 117 assembly seats in Punjab and 59 assembly constituencies spread across 16 districts of Uttar Pradesh.
According to the police, a Special Task Force team retaliated when the gangster, recently released from prison on bail, opened fire at them after being cornered. His car had crashed into a pole.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party won the mayoral elections in 10 of the 17 municipal corporations in Uttar Pradesh, results for which were announced on Saturday, virtually adding a third engine to its "double-engine" government.
The ministry also said that the cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country has crossed 15.22 crore.
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