While issuing a notice, the apex court pulled up both the Samajwadi Party-led state government and Azam Khan for their unwarranted comments.
Bypolls to one Lok Sabha and four assembly seats across four states will be held on May 10 along with the Karnataka assembly polls, the Election Commission announced on Wednesday.
The bypolls were conducted for two Assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh, one each in Meghalaya and Odisha and the Jalandhar Lok Sabha constituency in Punjab.
Officials said most of the preparations are complete and the counting will start at 8 am on Saturday.
In contrast to the inertia in the SP camp, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party showed no complacency in the run-up to the polls this month.
In what is being described as unprecedented, five ministers of the newly established Akhilesh Yadav -- Uttar Pradesh government were sworn in for the second time because of certain 'errors' that occurred during the swearing-in ceremony on March 15, when a 48-member ministry was installed in Lucknow.
Mohammed Nabi's superb all-round show helped Afghanistan beat Pakistan for the first time in T20 Internationals in Sharjah on Friday.
Former spinner Saqlain Mushtaq was named interim head coach following the resignation of Misbah ul-Haq.
The Rampur assembly seat in Uttar Pradesh which fell vacant following the disqualification of SP leader Mohammad Azam Khan is one of the five seats going for the bypolls.
The police also said that an initial probe has suggested that the banned terrorist group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria is behind the suicide attack that injured over 100 people in Khar, the capital of Bajaur tribal district.
Swami Prasad Maurya, who recently stirred controversy over his remarks on Ramcharitmanas, and veteran leader Azam Khan are also among the 14 national general secretaries.
"The court of Additional Sessions Judge/First MP-MLA Court Durgesh also imposed a fine of Rs 5 lakh on Mukhtar and Rs 1 lakh on Afzal," ADGC Criminal Neeraj Srivastava said.
A win for SP could provide some consolation for Akhilesh Yadav after the defeat in the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections early this year and the loss of Azamgarh and Rampur Lok Sabha seats to the BJP in June bypolls.
Elections in a democracy have their own sanctity and their process cannot be stalled, the Supreme Court said on Wednesday, after a lawyer alleged that voters of Rampur Sadar assembly constituency in Uttar Pradesh were beaten up by the police and forced to confine themselves to their homes during the bypoll held on December 5.
Rescue officials on Tuesday recovered the severed head of the suspected suicide bomber who they believe blew himself up inside a mosque packed with worshippers during the afternoon prayers on Monday in the high-security zone in Pakistan's restive northwestern Peshawar city.
Rampur Sadar and Khatauli in Uttar Pradesh, Padampur in Odisha, Sardarshahar in Rajasthan, Kurhani in Bihar and Bhanupratappur in Chhattisgarh are the assembly seats where the bypolls are being held.
They were all fielded by the Samajwadi Party and its alliance partners.
The Congress and the Left parties have not only extended support to the Samajwadi Party candidate but are also campaigning for him, in accordance with the spirit of the new opposition togetherness ahead of next year's general election.
Thursday was the day results from the Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh assembly elections and by-elections in Bihar, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh were out, so what were some of our leaders up to?
'It is not just about numbers. Sometimes coalitions and alliances have symbolic value.'
The explosion took place at 4 pm at the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl workers' convention in Khar, the capital of Bajaur tribal district.
Police in Pakistan's restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province said on Monday that an initial probe has suggested that the banned terrorist group Islamic State is behind the suicide attack on a political convention of a hardline Islamist party that killed at least 46 people and injured over 100.
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.
The player draft for the much-awaited Global T20 Canada 2023 was held in a hybrid-form in Mumbai.
Pakistan head coach Misbah-ul-Haq and bowling coach Waqar Younis have stepped down from their respective roles, the country's cricket board (PCB) said on Monday.
There was no immediate reaction from the PSPL on the inclusion of Shivpal Singh Yadav's name in the SP's list of campaigners.
Leg-spinner Shah's selection was subject to the 35-year-old clearing a fitness test, chief selector Mohammad Wasim said in a statement.
Aditi Phadnis picks five key seats in the three states where assembly elections are being held today.
The SP's Uttar Pradesh president Naresh Uttam will, however, continue to remain in his position.
Justice B V Nagarathna, however, said such statements can be vicariously attributed to the government in case a minister makes disparaging statements in his "official capacity".
Counting began at 8 am under multi-tier security cover. At first, postal ballots will be counted and then EVMs opened.
Stressing that the Apna Dal-S stands for social justice, Union minister Anupriya Patel on Monday dissociated her party from "Hindutva and all those issues" and said it is ideologically different from the Bharatiya Janata Party.
The Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party on Wednesday termed the list of candidates released by its alliance partner Samajwadi Party for the Uttar Pradesh legislative council elections as "disappointing".
The SP leader had created a controversy after he made objectionable remarks against Rama Devi when she was presiding over the debate on the triple talaq bill this Thursday in the Lok Sabha.
With the BJP denying a renomination to Naqvi to the Upper House, and no Rajya Sabha renomination either for Sayyed Zafar Islam or MJ Akbar -- both of whom are also completing their tenures soon -- the party now has no Muslim member of Parliament from either House.
As many as 586 candidates are in the fray in this phase with the seats spread across Saharanpur, Bijnor, Moradabad, Sambhal, Rampur, Amroha, Budaun, Bareilly and Shahjahanpur.
The blast occurred in the mosque in the Police Lines area around 1.40 pm when a suicide bomber present in the front row during the Zuhr (afternoon) prayers blew himself up, security officials said.
'My passion is dancing and music. What is wrong with that?'
'In every five-star hotel where the BJP is ruling, cow meat is sold. Narendra Modi isn't angry about these things... Muslims are ready to go to this extent for the nation, just give us a chance. Do recognise our love for the country and don't call us traitors. It's an abuse to us... They say people who do not support Modi must go to Pakistan. But what action is taken against people who propagate this?' The destruction of Muslims will destroy India. The progress of Muslims will make India a successful country.' Controversial Samajwadi Party leader and Uttar Pradesh Minister Azam Khan raises some stark questions in this exclusive interview to Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com
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