An average voter turnout of 20 per cent was recorded in the first four hours of voting in the bypolls to 15 assembly seats spread across Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Kerala and Uttarakhand on Wednesday amid an incident of stone pelting in a village in UP's Meerapur and allegations of police personnel deterring voters from casting their ballot.
With the recovery of more bodies, the death toll in riot-hit Muzaffarnagar and adjoining areas touched 47 while the curfew was eased in the city for the fourth consecutive day.
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The Samajwadi Party on Sunday backed the withdrawal of case against accused in Muzaffarnagar riots, saying it was "trying to give justice to the victims".
There is a possibility of an outbreak of epidemics in relief camps, where thousands of riot-hit victims have taken shelter following last month's communal violence in Muzaffarnagar, a team of doctors said after a survey of the areas.
A controversy has been sparked with the Bharatiya Janata Party deciding to felicitate its MLAs Sangeet Som and Suresh Rana, accused of inciting communal violence in Muzaffarnagar, at Narendra Modi's rally in Agra on Thursday.
Hounded by biting cold and urgings by senior district officials, as many as 483 riot-hit families camping in Loi village on Tuesday left for "safer places".
This has invited sharp reaction from the Opposition, with the Samajwadi Party saying that the BJP was afraid of its defeat in Milkipur due to which it moved the court for "stalling" polls on the assembly seat.
Amid a raging controversy over Rahul Gandhi's statement that Pakistani intelligence agencies had contacted Muslim youths in riot-hit Muzaffarnagar as part of their sinister designs, the Uttar Pradesh government on Friday denied having any such input from intelligence bureau.
A local court on Wednesday issued arrest warrants against 16 politicians of the the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party, besides senior community leaders for allegedly inciting violence through inflammatory speeches in Muzaffarnagar.
Stoking controversy, Bharatiya Janata Party Lok Sabha candidate and one of the members of Legislative Assembly booked in Muzaffarnagar riots cases Hukum Singh said on Thursday he would oppose riot refugees from voting in his constituency Kairana as they were living "illegally" on government land.
Agitated over arrest of its MLA for his alleged role in Muzaffarnagar riots, Bahujan Samaj Party on Sunday lashed out at the ruling Samajwadi Party, accusing it of adopting a "pick and choose" approach by targeting political rivals and protecting its own leaders.
Chirag Paswan said he believes two classes of people -- rich and poor -- exist in the society and persons of different castes and religions fall in both categories.
Despite this setback, Pandey emphasised that discussions regarding ticket distribution are ongoing and solutions will be found through timely communication.
The communal clashes in Muzaffarnagar and adjoining areas claimed 49 lives and displaced over 40,000 people.
The Uttar Pradesh police are busy trying to cover up the gang rape of a helpless seven-year-old girl in a village of Muzaffarnagar district.
After sitting over the warrant against legislators accused of inciting the Muzaffarnagar riots, the Akhilesh Yadav government finally got into the act and arrested Bhartiya Janata Party MLA Suresh Rana in Lucknow on Friday evening.
Taking exception to Uttar Pradesh government's proposed move to withdraw cases against Muslim leaders in Muzaffarnagar riots, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday asked Governor B L Joshi to press the government to withdraw all cases, including those lodged against its leaders, in connection with the violence.
In the couple of hours that you spend in the riot-hit city you find it is not the BJP that is asking for the votes of an excited section of Hindus, but it is the people who are clinging to Narendra Modi. Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt reports on the sentiment on the ground in Muzaffarnagar, whose Hindu-Muslim fracture is a long way from being mended.
A 23-year-old teacher was allegedly raped by a youth at a village in Muzaffarnagar which was videographed by two of his associates and all of them blackmailed her, police said.
Two clerics from Harayana arrested last month for their suspected links to the Lashkar-e-Tayiba, and another operative, had allegedly visited the Muzaffarnagar relief camps in Uttar Pradesh and sought to recruit men to their module, a television news channel reported on Tuesday.
Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, a Muslim body, has raised objections to a recent fashion show held in a local college where participants walked down the ramp wearing burqas.
While refraining from naming any one of them, he said, "I will disclose their names once the investigation is complete," he said.
Additional District and Sessions Judge Himashu Bhatnagar also imposed a fine of Rs 2,12,000 on each of the seven accused -- Muzammil, Mujassim, Furkan, Nadeem, Janangir, Afzal and Ikbal -- for killing Gaurav and Sachin on August 27, 2013 and rioting.
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"The kind of incident which happened yesterday (Wednesday) can definitely be attributed to lapses on part of the police due to which some people dared to do this (violence). We will take strong action," Devraj Nagar, state Director General of Police told media persons.
Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Ajit Singh, BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad and two BJP MPs were on Monday detained by the police after they attempted to enter UP to visit violence-hit Muzaffarnagar district.
Thirty three family members of victims of recent riots in the district were given government jobs by the district authorities in Muzaffarnagar on Sunday.
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi claimed in a rally in Indore that Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence was trying to recruit disgruntled riot-affected youngsters to carry out its nefarious plans. Vicky Nanjappa finds out the truth behind his statement
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The Hyderabad Lok Sabha member termed as "bogus" the list of 346 families who are alleged to have "fled" Kairana in Uttar Pradesh, adding that it suited the interests of both the BJP and the Samajwadi Party to create a "drama" over the issue.
The police on Monday said that 33 children have gone missing in Muzaffaranagar district since 2007 and only six of them have been found.
Several Muslim organisations on Wednesday demanded dismissal of Samajwadi Party government in Uttar Pradesh and imposition of President's rule in the state, saying Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has failed to contain communal violence in Muzaffarnagar and surrounding areas.
The police on Friday arrested two persons for their alleged involvement in the Muzaffarnagar acid attack case in which four sisters, all of whom are teachers, were severely injured.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday met ministers from the state at his residence in Lucknow to discuss the upcoming assembly bypolls in 10 constituencies.
The apex court was hearing a PIL filed by Tushar Gandhi, the great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, seeking speedy investigation in the student slapping case.
The bail plea of Ali Mohammad would come up for hearing on June 27 in the court of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, his lawyer V K Tyagi said.
In comments that could stoke a controversy, Congress leader Rashid Alvi on Thursday said that communal riots in Muzaffarnagar have left Gujarat far behind.
Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Sunday asked the victims of Muzaffarnagar riots living in relief camps here to go back to their homes, saying those engineering communal riots want them to remain in the camps as such a situation "benefits" them.
The BJP got the benefit of a split in Muslim votes in some seats of western UP, and its candidates registered wins from Muzaffarnagar, Kairana, Meerut, Bulandshahr, Baghpat and Aligarh Lok Sabha seats.
