Political observers lauded the SP's choices in fielding several non-Yadav and Scheduled Caste candidates, the party's alliance with the Congress, and Rahul Gandhi's campaign around the danger to the Constitution if the BJP won a big majority.
According to an official release, the voting percentage is likely to go up when reports from all polling stations are obtained, as polling was scheduled until 6 pm in many constituencies.
According to the officer, the accused has confessed to the killings and said that he had an affair with the teacher's wife for 18 months which went sour later, leading to him shooting the family.
Was Ram Rahim's release on parole for the 10th time since his conviction in 2017 timed to coincide with the Haryana assembly elections? It does seem so when one considers he has been released mostly when there was an election in Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan. Listing the times that Ram Rahim has been out on parole.
Bypolls will be held on Wednesday in 31 assembly seats spread across 10 states and Kerala's Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency, from where Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is making her electoral debut. Though these bye-elections are not going to have any bearing on the governments, they are seen as a big test for the Congress and the INDIA bloc which failed to put up a united show in the recent Haryana assembly polls. Most of these seats fell vacant after the sitting MLAs contested the Lok Sabha elections and won while in some constituencies, the bypolls are being held due to death of the representatives. The Wayanad seat was vacated by Rahul Gandhi, who also won from the Rae Bareli parliamentary constituency which he kept. Voting will be held in seven seats in Rajasthan, six in West Bengal, five in Assam, four seats in Bihar, three in Karnataka, two seats in Madhya Pradesh, and one seat each in Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Kerala and Meghalaya. Votes will be counted on November 23.
Five BJP MLAs and Apna Dal (Sonelal) legislator Amar Singh Chaudhary also joined the SP in the presence of Akhilesh Yadav.
The counting began at 8 am to decide the fate of the candidates contesting the polls, among whom all eyes will be on Dimple Yadav, Mulayam Singh Yadav's elder daughter-in-law and the wife of Akhilesh Yadav, who is contesting from the Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat, necessitated by the demise of Samajwadi Party veteran Mulayam Singh Yadav in October.
This was only the eighth time in Test cricket history that a match was abandoned without a ball being bowled.
The constitution of a committee by the Centre to explore the feasibility of "one nation, one election" has opened up the possibility of Lok Sabha polls being advanced so that they could be held with a string of state assembly polls.
The police also mentioned that the accused had done recce of Baba Siddiqui's house and office premises and were in Mumbai for one and a half to two months and were keeping an eye on him.
"You are seeing my face everywhere," the Congress leader added while addressing a press conference to release the party's 'youth manifesto' along with her brother and former president Rahul Gandhi.
Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra on Thursday said all political parties in Uttar Pradesh want the Assembly elections to be held according to schedule while ensuring Covid protocol.
Axar Patel made an expected comeback to the side for the first two Tests against England.
The commission is busy collecting information on holidays and other festivals in the state before announcing the poll schedule sometime next month, sources said.
The Supreme Court on Monday imposed an interim stay on directives passed by the Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand governments that eateries along the Kanwar Yatra route must display names of owners.
Terrorists opened fire at a popular tourist spot near Kashmir's Pahalgam town on Tuesday afternoon, killing 26 people, mostly holidayers from other states, in what is the deadliest attack in the Valley since the Pulwama strike in 2019.
The yatra goes on till the first week of August and sees thousands of Shiva devotees called kanwariyas' travelling mostly on foot from neighbouring states, including Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Delhi to collect water from the Ganges in Haridwar.
Opposition parties in India, led by the Congress, have demanded a detailed discussion in Parliament on alleged discrepancies in voter lists. Rahul Gandhi raised the issue in the Lok Sabha, highlighting concerns about the integrity of the electoral process. The opposition alleges large-scale duplication of EPIC numbers, which they claim undermines voter integrity and the electoral process. They have also pointed out instances of inflated voter lists in states like Maharashtra and Haryana. The Election Commission has acknowledged discrepancies but maintains that these are not widespread and that corrective measures are being taken. The opposition, however, insists on a comprehensive discussion on the matter to ensure the integrity of elections in India.
However, the RLD leader gave a terse response. 'Invite those +700 farmer families which you have destroyed, not me,' he tweeted in Hindi.
The SP chief said no MLAs or ministers quitting the BJP will be taken into his party anymore.
According to sources, the party has formed a committee comprising BJP's Rajya Sabha chief whip Shiv Pratap Shukla, party leader Abhijat Mishra, former national secretary and Gujarat MP Ram Bhai Mokariya and Mahesh Sharma to reach out to Brahmin members of the community.
The Hyderabad MP had earlier announced thatthe AIMIM will contest 100 seats in Uttar Pradesh polls scheduled early next year.
Praveen Kumar expressed his sentiments without naming anyone, saying he would have been happier if other Paris Paralympics medallists had also been honored.
However, in 950 booths, voting will end at 4 pm, though people standing in the queue at that time will be able to exercise their franchise.
The decision to schedule/postpone the UP election will be taken by Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra and Election Commissioners Rajiv Kumar and Anup Chandra Pandey.
His remarks come amid BJP ministers and legislators quitting the party in UP ahead of the crucial Assembly polls in the state.
An approximate voter turnout of 59.06 per cent was recorded in the sixth phase of the Lok Sabha elections on Saturday in 58 constituencies across six states and two Union territories with the polling percentage in the Jangal Mahal region of West Bengal touching 78.19.
'Prime Minister Narendra Modi should have called his MLAs and ministers and said 'this should not happen in India. Manipur is not a part of any banana republic, I will not allow this to happen, talk it out, what is the problem'
Maurya resigned as the party's national general secretary on February 13, accusing the leadership of discriminating against him and not defending him over his controversial statements on the Ramcharitmanas and the Ayodhya temple consecration ceremony.
Pandey's retirement comes days before the Election Commission is to announce the schedule for the Lok Sabha polls.
If the Congress is contesting fewer seats than ever before, the BJP is set to contest its highest-ever number of Lok Sabha seats.
Yadav took to social media and shared video clips and pictures of the deployment of security personnel, including police and rapid action force, with barricades near his house here, a stone's throw away from the Samajwadi Party headquarters.
Attacking the Samajwadi Party, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said it supported rioters and the mafia, and fielded criminals in western Uttar Pradesh for the assembly elections.
The much-delayed decadal census exercise and the work to update the National Population Register (NPR) are likely to begin early 2025 and the data will be declared by 2026, thus changing future census cycles completely, official sources said.
'In Western UP, last time a lot of Dalits voted for the BJP.' 'This time, there is a rethink among Dalits about the extent of their support for the BJP.'
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.
For the second successive day, not a single ball could be bowled at the Shaheed Vijay Singh Pathik Sports complex in Greater Noida putting the venue under scanner and making it an international embarrassment.
The Group of Ministers (GoM) on goods and services tax (GST) rate rationalisation, which convened in Goa on Wednesday, reviewed the GST rates for over 100 items, including textiles, handloom goods, agricultural products, fertilisers, and educational materials. However, no consensus was reached on any of the items, with further discussions scheduled for next month in Delhi.
BJP's central leadership has thrown its weight behind Yogi Adityanath, putting a stop to murmurs against the state government months ahead of the assembly polls.
The high court had on March 9 asked the Uttar Pradesh government not to install such posters "without having the authority of law".
