Lok Sabha polls 2023: Akhilesh to unveil Kanshi Ram statue with an eye on Dalit voters

Akhilesh, going by the advice of his party MLC Swami Prasad Maurya and other Dalit leaders, will also address a public rally to mark the occasion on April 3. LUCKNOW: In a bid to wooDalit votersahead of the 2024 general elections, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav will unveilthe statue of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) founder president late Kanshi Ram in Rae Bareli on April 3. The SP has started working on the strategy, which has been laid out for accomplishing Mission 2024 by going beyond its core Muslim-Yadav (M-Y) combination and making inroads into the BSPs traditional Dalit vote bank. Akhilesh, going by the advice of his party MLC Swami Prasad Maurya and other Dalit leaders, will also address a public rally to mark the occasion. Akhilesh has been accusing BSP chief Mayawati of working as BJPs B team by fielding its candidates as decided by the ruling party. Significantly, in the 2022 Assembly polls, Samajwadi Party, which managed to take its tally from 47 to 111 with 32.06% votes, had received the support of just 31 per cent of Dalits including 10 per cent of Jatavs. On the other hand, BSP, which could win just one assembly seat, received 75 per cent of the Dalit votes, including 47 per cent of Jatavs. However, the overall vote percentage of the BSP declined by 9.35 percent and came down to 12.88 per cent from 22.23 per cent in 2017. However, while the silver lining for the BSP was the consolidation of SCs in its favour, SP got the overwhelming support of Muslims (76%) and Yadavs (73%) like never before in 2022. SP and BSP have tied up twice in Uttar Pradesh. Their first alliance had come through in 1993 when SP founder president Mulayam Sigh Yadav and BSP founder president Kanshi Ram came together to stop BJP from returning to power after the demolition of the disputed structure in Ayodhya on December 6, 1992, following which Kalyan Singh's government was dislodged. While the BJP was confident of returning to power riding on the back of the emotional temple wave, the SP-BSP alliance foiled BJP's dreams of coming to power. Mulayam continued as CM for the second time in 1993 with the help of Kanshi Ram but could not complete the term due to the withdrawal of Support by the BSP following the infamous Guest House episode, wherein, the then BSP general secretary Mayawati was manhandled by the SP workers in UP State Guest House in June 1995. The second time, the two regional satraps joined hands again to stop the saffron juggernaut in 2019 but the caste arithmetic failed to work in favour of the grand alliance and the BJP won 62 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats on its own. While BSP won 10, SP was relegated to just five seats losing even its bastions like Badaun, Firozabad and Kannauj. Just after the 2019 general elections, SP and BSP parted ways blaming each other for the failure of the grand alliance. As per the political experts, both the SP and BSP are eyeing each others vote banks. while BSP is focusing on its traditional core base comprising a Muslim-Dalit combination while looking to woo SP's Muslim vote bank, SP is trying to make forays into the Dalit constituency of BSP. The April 3 programme of Akhilesh Yadav is being witnessed as an attempt in that direction. Of late, Akhilesh Yadav had been harping on the ideals of Ram Manohar Lohia and DrBR Ambedkar. Now the SP chief is expanding his reach of narrative by making Kanshi Ram a part of it, says JP Shukla, a prominent political commentator. He adds that the new narrative of the Samajwadi Party has been set by the BSP turncoats like Swami Prasad Maurya, Ram Achal Rajbhar, Lalji Verma, Indrajit Saroj and RK Chaudhury.

Youth filming Reels in Ganga River, drowned while taking holy dip in Bulandshahr

A young man from Firozabad drowned after stepping in the Ganges while filming a social media reel. The footage of a drowning man went viral. The devotee had travelled from Firozabad to Rajghat to bathe in the Ganga. The Divers began searching for the young man, but he has yet to be found.

UP government issues draft notification withreservation for OBC, SC in mayoral seats

The provisional list issued by the state authorities pertains to reserved seats for mayors across 17 municipal corporations of the state, chairpersons of municipal councils and nagar panchayats. LUCKNOW: Two days after the Supreme Court of India approved the report of the Backward Commission recommending quota provisions for OBC in Urban Civic bodies of Uttar Pradesh and giving a nod to the state government to go ahead with the Urban Local body polls, Yogi Adityanath issued a draft notification giving the provisional list of reserved seats for mayors of municipal corporations, and chairpersons of municipal councils and nagar panchayats for the three-tier urban elections here on Thursday. While sharing the details, UP Urban Development Minister AK Sharma said, The draft notification has been issued for the reserved seats. Objections have been sought on the list within seven days till April 6, 2023 . The provisional list issued by the state authorities pertains to reserved seats for mayors across 17 municipal corporations of the state, chairpersons of municipal councils and nagar panchayats. At present, there are 762 urban local bodies including 17 municipal corporations, 200 Nagar Palika Parishads and 545 Nagar Panchayats. The total population of these 762 urban local bodies is 4.85 crore. Meanwhile, proceeding towards holding the urban civic polls in the state, Yogi cabinet had on Wednesday approved an ordinance for the amendment of the Uttar Pradesh Municipal Corporation Act and the Nagar Palika Act, and it was sent to Governor Anandiben Patel for her assent which was given by her on Thursday. A senior state government official confirmed that the Governor gave her assent to the ordinance. The official added that the amendment to the Municipal Corporation and Nagar Palika Act was necessary after the recommendations of a dedicated Backward Commission constituted to look into the backwardness of areas in the state for reservation. Notably, on March 27, the Supreme Court had directed the State Election Commission to issue a notification within two days for holding the urban local body polls in Uttar Pradesh with the provision of OBC reservation. Nine of the 17 mayoral seats have been reserved for members of different categories. While Agra has been reserved for SC (woman), Jhansi for SC, Shahjahanpur and Firozabad OBC (women), Saharanpur and Meerut for OBC, besides Lucknow, Kanpur and Ghaziabad for women, according to the draft notification. The rest of eight mayoral seats of Varanasi, Prayagraj, Aligarh, Bareilly, Moradabad, Gorakhpur, Ayodhya and Mathura-Vrindavan would go unreserved, the minister said. Earlier, a draft notification regarding the provision of quota for OBCs was issued by the state government on December 5, last year. However, it was challenged in the Allahabad High Court which then ordered the UP government to go ahead with the urban civic polls without OBC quota. The High Court had claimed that the criteria of the UP government for recommending quota for OBC was not in consonance with the norm of triple test formula laid by the Supreme Court. A five-member commission headed by Justice (retired) Ram Avatar Singh was formed on December 28. It submitted its report to Chief Minister Adityanath on March 9 and it was accepted by the Cabinet on March 10.

UP govt announces list of mayoral seats reserved for OBCs and SCs in local body polls

The Yogi cabinet had approved an ordinance for the amendment of the act. It was sent to Governor Anandiben Patel for her assent which was given on Thursday. LUCKNOW: Two days after the Supreme Court approved the report of the Backward Commission recommending quota provisions for OBCs and SCs in urban civic bodies of Uttar Pradesh and giving a nod to the state government to go ahead with the urban local body polls, CM Yogi Adityanath issued a draft notification giving the provisional list of reserved seats for mayors of municipal corporations and chairpersons of municipal councils and nagar panchayats for the three-tier urban elections here on Thursday. While sharing the details, UP Urban Development Minister AK Sharma said, The draft notification has been issued for the reserved seats. Objections have been sought on the list within seven days till April 6, 2023. The provisional list issued by the state authorities pertains to reserved seats for mayors across 17 municipal corporations of the state, chairpersons of municipal councils and nagar panchayats. At present, there are 762 urban local bodies including 17 municipal corporations, 200 Nagar Palika Parishads and 545 Nagar Panchayats. The total population of these 762 urban local bodies is 4.85 crore. ALSO READ | UP CM Yogi Adityanath hails SC nod to conduct civic polls with OBC reservation Meanwhile, proceeding towards holding the urban civic polls in the state, the Yogi cabinet had on Wednesday approved an ordinance for the amendment of the Uttar Pradesh Municipal Corporation Act and the Nagar Palika Act, and it was sent to Governor Anandiben Patel for her assent which was given by her on Thursday. A senior state government official confirmed that the Governor gave her assent to the ordinance. The official added that the amendment to the Municipal Corporation and Nagar Palika Act was necessary after the recommendations of a dedicated Backward Commission constituted to look into the backwardness of areas in the state for reservation. On March 27, the Supreme Court had directed the State Election Commission to issue a notification within two days for holding the urban local body polls in Uttar Pradesh with the provision of OBC reservation. Nine of the 17 mayoral seats have been reserved for members of different categories. Agra has been reserved for SC (woman), Jhansi for SC, Shahjahanpur and Firozabad OBC (women), Saharanpur and Meerut for OBC, besides Lucknow, Kanpur and Ghaziabad for women, according to the draft notification. The other eight mayoral seats of Varanasi, Prayagraj, Aligarh, Bareilly, Moradabad, Gorakhpur, Ayodhya and Mathura-Vrindavan would go unreserved, the minister said. Earlier, a draft notification regarding the provision of quota for OBCs was issued by the state government on December 5, last year. However, it was challenged in the Allahabad High Court which then ordered the UP government to go ahead with the urban civic polls without OBC quota. The High Court had claimed that the criteria of the UP government for recommending quota for OBC was not in consonance with the norm of triple test formula laid by the Supreme Court. A five-member commission headed by Justice (retired) Ram Avatar Singh was formed on December 28. It submitted its report to Chief Minister Adityanath on March 9 and it was accepted by the Cabinet on March 10.

Kabaad se jugaad' in Firozabad

Kabaad se jugaad' in Firozabad