The results, while bringing the Congress back to power in this state, also end the rule of the 66-year-old BJP stalwart, who has earned several monikers during his 15-year-long tenure -- Doctor saheb being a trained Ayurvedic medical practitioner, chaur wale baba for his popular rice scheme and the 'Mobile Wale Baba' for giving free smartphones to 50 lakh women and students.
With almost all opposition parties too backing the 'Bharat bandh' and many announcing parallel protests in support of the farmers, the Centre has issued an advisory directing the states and Union Territories to tighten security and ensure peace is maintained.
Continuing his attack on the Congress, he said efforts to stop the 'leakage' could have been made earlier as well but there was no intention and will power.
Rediff.com's Swarupa Dutt speaks to the mother of the Unnao rape survivor who met with a near-fatal road accident on Sunday.
'Uttar Pradesh, our largest state by population and the most powerful, is also the worst governed.'
'Get lost from here, you scoundrel. Nobody in this administration will help you,' the CM shouted at me.
'This is possibly a long drawn battle and if the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party are together in this long battle, a new political picture will emerge in the country.' 'In this battle if we have to sacrifice or give up anything, we are ready.' 'We have to remain cautious against the BJP's attempts to break our unity.' 'We want this alliance to stay.'
Noting that Lok Sabha elections are around the corner and only one session of Parliament remains, he asked the government to bring an ordinance.
'Akhileshji has to protect his political turf and if it means confronting his father, snapping ties with him and forming another party, so be it.'
From corruption to communalism, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's Rs 70 lakh Hublot watch to United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi's foreign origin, the electoral potboiler had it all.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged people to vote in large numbers. "Today, there are bypolls taking place in various places across India. I urge those voting in these seats to vote in large numbers and strengthen the festival of democracy," he said in a tweet.
The two constables were arrested and dismissed from the job and a first information report was registered in the matter on the basis of a complaint by Sana Khan.
Will N Chandrababu Naidu's son Lokesh be able to manage the old guard the way his father did?
'His selection is to honour the sentiment of the communal majoritarianism, satisfy the upper caste and continue the process of Hindutva.'
Counting of votes is underway in assembly byelection to 58 seats in 11 states including Madhya Pradesh where the results will decide the fate of the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government.
'The coronation of Yogi Adityanath as the surprise chief minister should set at rest all speculation over the nature of the UP mandate,' says Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
Leaders across political parties condemned the attack.
Singh said his priority would be ensuring unbiased policing.
'Just as a wave brought the BJP into power; an anti wave will blow them away.'
Thousands of homeowners across housing projects owned by Jaypee Infratech and the Amrapali Group are running out of options. Jaypee Infratech and Amrapali are among the 12 big corporate loan defaulters against which the RBI has ordered initiation of insolvency proceedings.
'The strange thing about the Karnataka election is that the BJP looks more like the Congress of the past and vice versa.' 'Siddaramaiah has been able to out think the BJP almost every single day on every single issue.'
Statistics show the BSP has always gained from pre-poll alliances, reflecting in the party winning more seats in subsequent elections and largely retaining the vote share too. Virendra Singh Rawat reports.
Rahul Gandhi has taken a break from his ongoing 'Navsarjan Yatra' in Gujarat to meet the families of victims of the explosion.
Besides the SAD, the SP, the AIADMK and the TRS supported the idea; while the AAP, the TDP, the JD-S, the AIFB, the DMK, the TMC, the GFP and Left parties opposed it.
The Jan Raksha Yatra from Payyannur will travel through the state before ending in Thiruvananthapuram on October 17.
Of the 27 named, at least four are workers and functionaries of right-wing organisations, including the Bajrang Dal, officials said.
'Which path should Muslims take politically as they have been completely marginalised?'
Earlier, the Allahabad HC rapped the Uttar Pradesh government saying the law and order machinery and officials were directly under the MLA's influence.
'We worked hard, brought a very positive manifesto saying this is what we have done and this is what we will do.' 'But people liked something else.' 'They didn't like expressways, they want a bullet train.' 'I have realised that in a democracy, the poor doesn't know what they want.'
The Congress has been reduced from 440 seats in the Lok Sabha to 44 seats due its 'arrogance' but it is still not ready to introspect or correct itself, he said.
The election campaign finally ended on Friday, May 17. Arindam Majumder reveals what he discovered on the election front on a long rail journey.
PM said Kovind will make an 'exceptional President'.
In a year of the Yogi Adityanath regime in Uttar Pradesh, the state has witnessed 1,500 police encounter in which 58 criminals have been killed. On July 2, the Supreme Court sought a reply from the UP government on the issue of police encounter killings after advocate Sanjay Parekh appearing for the People's Union for Civil Liberties pointed out that gross human rights violations were being carried out through these killings under the Adityanath rule. Speaking to Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com, PUCL's advocate Sanjay Parekh said that police encounters are not permissible in a democracy.
'These people are not concerned about Hindu, Muslim, Sikh or Christian -- they are only concerned about being in power,' Akhilesh Yadav tells Rediff.com's Archana Masih in his first interview after the election results.
The BJP's manifesto for UP elections promised many things. But, given the state's precarious financial position, fulfilling these promises is likely to prove tricky, says Ishan Bakshi.
Akhilesh said people feel that they have been misled (by the BJP) for forming the government.
'The Godse controversy may have helped Kamal Haasan reach out to a larger audience, both inside the state and outside, coming as it does when the main campaign for elections 19 is over and only those in the four assembly bypoll constituencies are drudging along,' says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, vice president Rahul Gandhi, Left parties and CMs of various states congratulated Kovind.
'The CM was in Gorakhpur when this attempt to murder took place on my brother.' 'I waited for two days to see what action the police takes, but after 48 hours, the police has not even questioned Paswan.'
'For short-term gain, the BJP makes extraordinary promises, they take extraordinary decisions, but in the long term it is going to impact both them and the country.'
