Uttar Pradesh

Akhilesh Yadav has resigned from the Azamgarh Lok Sabha seat while Azam Khan has given up his Rampur Lok Sabha seat. Akhilesh will now retain his Karhal assembly seat and Azam Khan will keep his Rampur seat. The decision to retain the assembly seats by these two leaders is a clear indication that the SP will continue to fight the BJP on its home turf.

Appearing before the court, the former Minister stated that she had earlier filed divorce petition against her husband in 2012 and the court had issued notice to her husband for filing his reply. Meanwhile, she contested the Assembly election from Sarojini Nagar seat in 2017 and became an MLA. Thereafter, she became a Minister also and her divorce petition was dismissed in 2018 as she could not appear before the court.

Ashok Dubey, a senior RSS functionary, said that the plan for 'shakhas' at all villages could be completed by 2024 itself. The Lok Sabha polls are due in 2024 and the RSS will complete 100 years in 2025. The RSS' rural expansion plan will hold the BJP in good stead ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, according to Dubey. RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat is currently in Uttar Pradesh. He visited Gorakhpur where he had a meeting with CM Yogi Adityanath.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah and the party Vice President Raghuvar Das will be observers at the meeting. According to party sources, after Yogi Adityanath is formally elected as leader of the legislature party, he will formally stake his claim to form government at Raj Bhawan and Governor Anandiben Patel will then invite him to form government.

Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president, K. Sudhakaran has once asked party leaders to refrain from attending CPI-M seminar to be held in April. Sudhakaran said that the state party has issued a ban on party leaders participating in the national level seminar to be organised by the CPI-M as part of its National Conference at Kannur and if anyone violates that they would have to face party action.

In what can be termed as the first after-shock of Uttar Pradesh Assembly poll results, the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) state president Masood Ahmed has resigned from the party, accusing the top leadership of selling tickets to candidates for the recently-concluded elections.

An office-bearer of Uttar Pradesh BJP said that the swearing-in ceremony of Adityanath as the next Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh is likely to be held on March 25 evening. "Earlier, there was a plan to hold the swearing-in ceremony on March 21 but the date has been changed. Preparation for the grand swearing-in ceremony for the second term of Yogi Adityanath is in full swing at Ekana stadium in the state capital on March 25," he said.

After the poll loss, Congress general secretary in charge Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has met the party leaders for three days in a row to devise strategy to revive the party in Uttar Pradesh ahead of Lok Sabha polls. The Congress could manage only over 2 per cent votes and two seats in the Uttar Pradesh polls and the task ahead is tough so Priyanka Gandhi has tried to prepare a blue print for it, sources said.

Even before the din over the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections subsides, political parties are gearing up for the legislative council elections. Nominations for the legislative council elections to be held across 36 seats began on Tuesday. The voting will be held on April 9 and the counting of votes will take place on April 12. At present, the Samajwadi Party has a majority in the legislative council.

The first phase of polls was considered tough for the BJP, mainly because of farmers' agitation and Jat anger. Besides, this was the first time that Jats and Muslims were voting together after the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots. Jayant Chaudhary was also riding high on the wave of sympathy since this was the first election after his father Ajit Singh's demise.