Uttar Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer Umesh Sinha tells Sheela Bhatt that although the Election Commission has ensured a peaceful environment ahead of the assembly election, misuse of money power continues to be a concern.
All four persons, including state minister Sabitri Mitra's son-in-law Samadip Sarkar alias Tinku, accused of beating up Election Commission personnel in Malda's Manikchak area were arrested on Friday.
The priest informed that seven rooms of the CM's residence were 'purified'.
Under attack, Sibal claimed he did not represent the Sunni Waqf Board in the Ayodhya case in the SC.
'Modi has kept some loopholes in case they lose, saying it was not his election.' 'The fight will be Modi of 2014 vs Modi of 2019.' 'The BJP has realised that keeping the temple issue alive is more important than building the temple itself in terms of votes.'
Bharatiya Janata Party Vice-President Kalraj Mishra, who is one of the front-runners for the chief ministership of Uttar Pradesh if some miraculous results give his party the mandate, has ruled out Uma Bharti occupying the post in the state.
Neerja Chowdhury on why Uttar Pradesh has a significance all its own when it comes to politics.
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.
The fate of 720 candidates will be decided by 2.28 crore voters
Akhilesh Yadav doesn't need Bollywood stars to power his campaign for the UP election when he has a charming campaigner like his missus.
Many in the BJP believe that postponing the UP elections even by a month will allow the negative perception against demonetisation to dissipate.
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.
'Modi and his team have read the message from the ground.' 'People have started questioning what they have achieved by putting Modi in power.'
Kicking up a controversy, Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Suresh Rana said that curfew will be imposed in Kairana, Deoband and Moradabad if he is elected again in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls next month.
'It is very interesting that the RSS is sending sadhus to Una.' 'They will again talk about Hindu unity to woo the Dalits.'
Speculation has been rife that the Gandhi or his sister Priyanka could be projected as the Congress face in UP.
She said poor people and farmers have been badly hit by high denomination rupee ban decision.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati on Monday traded barbs with her party dubbed as 'Behenji Sampatti Party' and she punning on his initials calling him 'Mr Negative Dalit Man'.
Polling in Phase II of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections consists of 67 constituencies spread across 11 districts.
UP CM Akhilesh Yadav and his uncle Shivpal Yadav fired barbs at each other at an event to celebrate the SP's silver jubilee, barely two days after putting up a united show.
The mid-sized ministerial reshuffle will not lead to better governance and has only kept the window open for another reshuffle after the UP election, says Sheela Bhatt.
The lively lot of politicians at the helm of India's most important political province.
'Praise me, condemn me, but do not ignore me. Given that the Congress party has a whole army of office-bearers, a vast majority of Indians would find it hard to name even a couple of them. But you can bet that they will readily recall the name of one general secretary: Digvijay Singh. Fame and notoriety being two sides of the same coin for present-day politicians, Singh would not mind being abused by the 'aam aadmi' so long as he enjoys a fair recall value.'
Syed Firdaus Ashraf lists 10 instances when the BJP didn't pull its punches.
'Just as a wave brought the BJP into power; an anti wave will blow them away.'
'Some BJP old timers have remarked that the BJP is now driven by its own high command, the way the Congress was under Mrs Gandhi, says Subir Roy.
Insiders said Akhilesh's warring uncle Shivpal Yadav and Rajya Sabha member Amar Singh were not present at father-son meeting.
The party's most outspoken female member will be its face in the UP elections, writes Aditi Phadnis.
The back-to-back statements of three Indira Gandhi loyalists -- R K Dhawan, Vasant Sathe and C K Jafar Sherief (the former questioning the advisors of Rahul Gandhi and the direction of his politics and the other two wanting Priyanka Gandhi to come into the mainstream of Congress politics) -- is being seen as a reflection of the concern gripping the senior guard in the Congress over the functioning of the party as well as the fate of the upcoming UP elections.
Broader market outperformed the frontline indices and also hit their respective all-time highs
Nandi had defeated, by a margin of more than 14,000 votes, Keshri Nath Tripathi who was a five-time MLA, and had served thrice as the Uttar Pradesh assembly speaker and was the BJP's state unit president at that time.
The marathon meeting, spread over two sessions and kept under wraps, came a day after top leaders of socialist-leaning parties attended SP's silver jubilee meet here -- a move seen as an attempt by Mulayam to forge an alliance ahead of the assembly polls hardly a few months away.
'Unfortunately, the judges chose not to address the issue of whether Hindutva is an appeal to religion.' 'From the moment the judgment is delivered, it is the law of the land.'
The Congress forget Modi has demigod status in Gujarat and there is no way he can be defeated in the state, argues Syed Firdaus Ashraf.
'This coming general election is not going to be about manifestoes.'
Nazarwala, who predicted a triple century for the BJP in the UP elections, lists the challenges that await the new chief minister.
In the wake of recent resignation of Union Minister Najma Heptulla due to the undeclared age bar of 75 years for ministers put by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, now speculations are rife in Ahmedabad on the fate of Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel, who will touch the line in November.
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.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Rahul Gandhi and BSP supremo Mayawati will descend on Varanasi on Saturday making it their battleground ahead of the last phase of Uttar Pradesh polls, a schedule that has put the administration on its toes.
Since the Mahabharata the Yadavs have been known for infighting. And the 2017 UP election proved yet another example of that, says Nazarwala.
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