The Election Commission has added a new column in candidates' election expenditure returns to submit information on money spent on digital campaigning in the upcoming polls in five states.
Priyanka Gandhi addressed 209 rallies and roadshows, the maximum by any top leader during the UP election campaign, followed closely by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath who spoke at 203 poll events.
The election campaign in Uttar Pradesh -- the most important election of the year -- is on.
A defamation case has been filed against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in Uttar Pradesh's Prabudhnagar district by a Shiv Sena activist for his alleged derogatory remarks against people of the state at a rally.
Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi was issued summons on Tuesday by a local court on a petition filed by a city-based lawyer objecting to certain reported "defamatory, derogatory" remarks made by him about the natives of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar at an election rally nearly two years back.
The party is using the two year occasion to launch its election campaign in the state, which was key to them reaching simple majority in the Lok Sabha in 2014.
The Congress president inaugurated a photo exhibition commemorating the birth centenary of Indira Gandhi, with more than 200 pictures depicting various events from her life at the historic Swaraj Bhavan where the former prime minister was born.
'If the BJP wins UP and one or two other states, it could get emboldened and press ahead with its reckless agenda, as well as its divisive agenda.' 'If the BJP fails to form the government in UP and suffers a setback in Punjab and maybe one other state, it could go either way: It could become more reckless or pull back, pause and take stock, moderate its position.'
'Politics is about caste in Eastern UP and religion in Western UP.' Rediff.com's Archana Masih gets a sense of the fault lines in this election's most volatile region -- that can make or break the future of political parties in UP.
'The ruling provides a Constitutional template, it draws boundaries, and there is this expectation that henceforth political parties will not make crude appeals to religion for electoral gains.'
'Where they lose, you never ask why they failed there, like in Bihar and Punjab.' 'You are stuck on the UP victory, thinking they have the mandate to rule for all times to come.' 'The BJP has 282 MPs, but can I honestly say that the BJP is the party for everyone?'
'Narendra Modi is single-handedly changing the formula to win elections. With money, human resources, mobile technology, the Internet, advance planning and tremendous confidence, he has spread his image more in UP villages than in urban areas.' Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt reports from Lucknow on how Team Modi is changing the rules of the election game.
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