The gangster-politician was booked in 65 criminal cases ranging from murder to extortion and was elected an MLA five times on the tickets of different political parties.
The development is being seen as a blow to the opposition Congress which was planning to forge a grand alliance in Chhattisgrah to unseat the ruling BJP.
Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati on Saturday said that those seen at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's roadshow in Varanasi were "mere spectators" brought in from other states and districts in Uttar Pradesh where voting had already taken place.
Mayawati said that the BSP and the SP would not ally with the Congress party in the upcoming elections.
In a letter to the prime minister, Ali also demanded that he be provided enhanced security in view of an "escalation of threats" against him.
Muslims constitute 20% of UP's electorate. Currently, Muslim voters are divided between Akhilesh's SP and Mayawati's BSP. What will tilt the balance? Can Muslims back the winning party? Mohammad Sajjad explains the mysteries of UP's Muslim politics.
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.
Three of the fence-sitters rule fairly large states Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Odisha that together send 63 members to Lok Sabha -- where the Congress or other opposition parties have been pushed to the margins.
'Commentators have said that dealing with allies as equals will make Modi more sensitive.' 'Remember that the people Modi is dealing with are equally autocratic in their own lairs.' 'Further, Modi always has handy the threat of dissolving Parliament and calling for fresh polls.' 'Most of his own party, and certainly his allies and opponents having blown their budgets of efforts and resources in the just concluded elections, have no stomach for this.' 'They are all greatly looking forward to the loaves and fishes of office on offer.' 'That gives Modi an unbeatable advantage in any push-comes-to-shove situation,' explains Shreekant Sambrani.
The Supreme Court had last month ruled that any appeal for votes on the ground of 'religion, race, caste, community or language' amounted to 'corrupt practice' under the electoral law.
Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra on Thursday pleaded innocence to the 'cash-for-query' allegation levelled against her and told a parliamentary committee that the charge is motivated by animus of advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai after she broke off her personal relations with him, sources said.
In a major jolt to the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party, its national general secretary Naresh Agarwal and two sitting legislators from Hardoi joined the Samajwadi Party on Friday. "I am resigning from the Rajya Sabha and the post of BSP national general secretary," Agarwal said while addressing a gathering at a function at the SP headquarters in Lucknow. Besides Naresh, his son Nitin Agarwal and Rajeshwari -- both BSP MLAs from Hardoi -- also joined the SP.
Agrahari said the case against the eight men was filed at the complaint of Umesh Pal's wife Jaya Pal.
'The water crisis is so obvious that people see no point begging for it from politicians.'
Bahujan Samaj Party National General Secretary Satish Chandra Mishra on Sunday said his party symbol elephant haunts Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in his dreams as the BSP was all set to "reach" the national capital soon.
Former external affairs minister K Natwar Singh was on Tuesday expelled by the Bahujan Samaj Party for indulging in anti-party activities and was accused of indiscipline and lack of faith in the Bahujan samaj movement, four months after he joined Uttar Pradesh's ruling party. Announcing the expulsion, BSP national general secretary Satish Chandra Misra said it was found that Singh had joined the BSP after leaving Congress in August with some "ulterior motives."
'Can we force somebody to contest and fight an election when they don't want to contest an election?'
Mulayam Singh Yadav's son took exception to certain remarks made by a BSP member against his father.
Hits street with demonstrations across 75 UP districts
BSP candidate Virendra Singh defeated SP's Anil Rajbhar, son of Ramjit Rajbhar, whose death necessitated the bypoll, by 3,510 votes.
No one will want President's rule imposed in the state and the BJP run the government through the remote control.
Both the parties had been banking heavily on the internal feud in the first family of the state
"Some BSP MPs on the instructions of their leadership tried to misbehave with me, I just resisted it. Ask BSP whose members who don't know the democratic ways. I will file a written complaint against him for such a shameful and unparliamentary behaviour and demand action from the Special Privileges Committee," he told media persons when asked about the scuffle in the House on Wednesday.
In Phase 6, indications are that the BJP, which is defending 40 seats, will lose in double digits and gain in single digits. Not good, if you are the ruling party scrambling to earn a working majority, with just one phase left to go, argues Prem Panicker.
The ruling Bahujan Samaj Party has won the by-elections to all five constituencies, two Lok Sabha and three Vidhan Sabha seats, which went to polls on April 12. BSP candidate Bhismshankar alias Kushal Tiwari won the Khalilababad Lok Sabha seat by a margin of over 64,000 votes, trouncing his nearest rival Bhalchandra Yadav of SP. BSP nominee Akbar Ahmad Dampi won the Azamgarh Lok Sabha seat defeating his nearest rival Ramakant Yadav of BJP by a margin of over 53,000 votes.
BSP is the first party in the state to release names of candidates for the forthcoming assembly polls. The list of 62 candidates from 31 districts included three women and one Muslim. Party sources said the BSP would try to repeat its success story in Uttar Pradesh. For the purpose, the party has roped in members of different castes, particularly Brahmins and Thakurs of the upper caste.
'It will be a grand alliance where they could get the Muslims, Dalits and Yadavs in one camp and pose a serious challenge to whatever the BJP might conjure up in the run-up to the 2019 election.'
Bahujan Samaj Party MLA Krishna Kumar Singh, who had joined the Samajwadi Party, was on Monday disqualified from the Uttar Pradesh assembly by the Speaker, the fourth party MLA to face action under the anti-defection law.
Amid a political crisis in the wake of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam pulling out of United Progressive Alliance, Bahujan Samaj Party on Wednesday said it will continue to support the government from outside but will not join it. "We will not be part of the government. We did not join it earlier and even now, we will not be part of it. We will continue to support it from outside," BSP supremo Mayawati told reporters outside Parliament House.
Modi's remarks at an election rally in Mirzapur in the backward eastern region of Uttar Pradesh came amid war of words on supply of electricity in the state.
The Lok Sabha Secretariat on Thursday revoked the disqualification of Bahujan Samaj Party leader Afzal Ansari as a member of the Lower House after the Supreme Court conditionally suspended his conviction in a Gangsters Act case.
Out of the 25 seats, five seats each are reserved for Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes.
Mayawati said it became necessary for her to make the announcement as the Congress and some other parties, as part of a "conspiracy", are allegedly trying to create an impression that they would be forging an alliance with the BSP.
'Can you imagine that Surat's voters won't have any say now in exercising their fundamental right to choose a candidate of their own choice? This is what the BJP has reduced India's democracy to.' 'With this ugly act, in one stroke, the BJP has disenfranchised the voters of Surat.'
While people voted in a fifth round that will set the tone as this election rounds into the straight, and while Modi on the stump chews the cud of personal grievances and hackneyed promises that have long since passed their use-by date, there is a rogue wave rising -- what damage it will do, we will know 16 days from today, observes Prem Panicker.
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.
Ali also said he was hopeful that action would be taken by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla against Bidhuri in line with the traditions of the Lower House and the Constitution.
The committee headed by Bharatiya Janata Party MP Vinod Kumar Sonkar is meeting later on Thursday to adopt its draft report in what is likely to be hotly contested by opposition members of the panel.
'The tragedy with Indian Muslims is that they do politics from the heart, not from the head.'
"Will wait and watch for results, as of now not thinking of alliance with anyone," BSP sources told ANI.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances