Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], June 6 (ANI): President Ram Nath Kovind attended a special joint session of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly on Monday.

Lucknow Mar 30 PTI Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party-Lohia leader Shivpal Singh Yadav was sworn in as an MLA on Wednesday amid speculation that he delayed the oath-taking to indicate a strained relationship with Samajwadi party president Akhilesh Yadav Three other MLAs too took oath on the occasion Shivpal Yadav had contested the Assembly elections from Jaswantnagar seat of Etawah on the symbol of the Samajwadi Party headed by his nephew Akhilesh Yadav He had on Tuesday skipped a meeting here between Akhilesh Yadav and SP allies Earlier he did not attend the oath ceremony in the state Assembly When contacted Assembly officials did not say anything about his taking oath late The three other MLA who took oath on Wednesday were Fateh Bahadur Singh from Caimpiyarganj Gorakhpur Surendra Maithani from Govindnagar Kanpur and Ashish Kumar Singh from Bilgram-Mallawa Hardoi Six MLAs including senior SP leader Azam Khan and Kairana legislator Nahid Hasan are yet to take oath After remaining at loggerheads since 2017 Akhilesh Yadav and Shivpal Yadav had decided to mend fences just before the recently concluded state Assembly elections Their estrangement had resulted in Shivpal Yadav launching his own party before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections In the just-concluded Assembly polls the two had put up a united front PTI NAV RDK RDK

Lucknow Mar 28 PTI Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Leader of the Opposition Akhilesh Yadav on Monday took oath as members of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly starting a new innings of political rivalry in the state As Leader of the House Adityanath was first to take oath followed by Yadav Adityanath won the recent state polls from the Gorakhpur Urban seat and Yadav from Karhal Pro-tem speaker Ramapati Shastri administered oath to the newly elected members Adityanath welcomed all the newly elected MLAs and expressed hope that they would discharge their duties in accordance with the tradition and decorum of the house I hope all the members will cooperate in the smooth running of the assembly for taking up issues of development of the state he told reporters while entering the assembly Yadav told reporters that his party would play the role of a responsible opposition As Adityanath entered the house members welcomed him with Jai Shri Ram and Bharat Mata ki Jai chants Before occupying his seat Adityanath went to the opposition side and greeted Yadav and other members Similarly when Yadav sporting a trademark red cap arrived in the house legislators from both the treasury and opposition benches greeted him Senior minister Surya Pratap Shahi and others went up to Yadav to extend their greetings Displaying courtesy Yadav met the chief minister and others on the treasury benches while going to take oath Adityanath took oath amid frenzied chants of Jai Shri Ram by his party legislators whereas the SP members raised Jai Samajwad slogans during Yadavs turn After the two bigwigs senior BJP MLA Satish Mahana took oath Deputy Chief Minister Brijesh Pathak was next to do so Speculations are rife about Mahana becoming the new Speaker of the UP Assembly Subsequently ministers and other members went to the podium to take oath as members of the 18th Legislative Assembly After fiercely fought seven-phase assembly elections Adityanath and Yadav the former being months elder to the latter would be face-to-face in the house The BJP-led NDA secured two-thirds majority winning 273 seats in the 403-member House while the SP-headed opposition alliance managed to get 125 seats Unlike in the first term of the BJP government when Adityanath and Akhilesh were MLC and MP respectively both contested the elections this time and were elected MLAs With the crucial 2024 parliamentary elections and many other poll battles in hand before the state goes for the next big fight in 2027 the two leaders would be guiding their sides to further strengthen their positions The 48-year-old Yadav who was the chief minister of UP from 2012-17 is serving as the opposition leader for the first time His father Mulayam Singh Yadav who had been the chief minister thrice also served as the opposition leader as many times -- in 1985 1995 and 2007 Reports suggested that Akhilesh Yadavs absence from the state politics being MP from Azamgarh had not gone well for his party in the February-March assembly polls After his election to the assembly Yadav quit as MP With the BSP and the Congress being decimated in the polls the future poll battle in the politically important state appears to be bipolar between the BJP and the SP PTI AR SNS SMN

Lucknow Mar 28 PTI Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday took oath as member of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative AssemblyAfter Adityanath Akhilesh Yadav who has been named as the Leader of the Opposition took oath as MLAWhile Adityanath won the recent state polls from the Gorakhpur Urban seat Yadav was elected as an MLA from the Karhal assembly constituencyPro-tem speaker Ramapati Shastri administered oath to members in the House PTI AR SNS DV DV

Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], March 27 (ANI): Uttar Pradesh's new Assembly Speaker will be elected at 3 pm on March 29, as per an official statement by the Assembly Secretariat.

Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], March 27 (ANI): Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati on Sunday chaired a meeting with party leaders to review the BSP's humiliating defeat in the recently concluded Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.

Lucknow Mar 26 PTI Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav was appointed the leader of opposition in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly on Saturday hours after he was unanimously elected as the leader of the SP legislature party Yadav who won from Karhal in Mainpuri in his maiden assembly contest and chose to quit his Lok Sabha membership to focus on the state politics will come face-to-face with his principal opponent and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in the Assembly for the first time as he looks at future electoral battles In a statement Principal Secretary of the UP Assembly Pradip Kumar Dubey announced Yadavs appointment as the leader of opposition with effect from March 26 Earlier in the day Uttar Pradesh SP chief Naresh Uttam had announced Yadavs election as the leader of the legislature party Under Yadavs leadership the SP will raise various issues concerning people in the assembly counter any false claims made by the state government and oppose its wrong policies Uttam said In a related development while the SP legislature party meeting was underway Yadavs uncle Shivpal Singh Yadav who has been elected MLA from his traditional Jaswant Nagar seat in Etawah on an SP ticket told reporters that he has not been invited to attend it I have no information about the meeting I tried to contact SP leaders but I have not got any information about it Under these circumstances it will not be correct for me to go to the legislature party meeting Shivpal Singh Yadav said I have always said that I will fulfil whatever responsibility I am given but I was not called for the legislature party meeting though I am an MLA from Samajwadi Party he added Asked about Shivpal Singh Yadav not being invited Naresh Uttam clarified Only Samajwadi Party MLAs were called for todays meeting On March 28 a meeting of MLAs of the alliance partners irrespective of whether they had contested on bicycle SP symbol or their party symbols will be held Shivpal Singh has a party of his own and is an alliance partner and MLAs of all the alliance partners are being called for the meeting on March 28 Akhilesh Yadav will consult them and peoples issues will be raised in the house after discussion and in agreement with the alliance partners Uttam said Uttam said that during the meeting the newly elected MLAs lauded the leadership of Akhilesh Yadav The MLAs have given their blessings to Akhilesh-ji to raise various issues faced by people in the Assembly and forcefully oppose false claims and wrong policies of the government In the past too the BJP government had from time to time misled the people and cheated them and therefore the BJP has got lesser number of seats than last time The people showed confidence in Akhilesh Yadav-ji and voted to make him the chief minister but with the misuse of power and official machinery names of large numbers of SP supporters were removed from the voters list which is a black spot on democracy he alleged He also accused the BJP of using its money power in the elections Akhilesh Yadav defeated BJP MP S P Singh Baghel to win the Karhal seat by around 60000-odd votes in his first assembly contest In 2012 when he became the chief minister he had opted to become a member of the legislative council The SP-led alliance has 125 members in the 403-member assembly including six MLAs of ally Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party and eight of the Rashtriya Lok Dal In 2017 the SP had won 47 seats PTI SAB SMN

Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], March 20 (ANI): The Uttar Pradesh chief of the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) Masood Ahmed on Saturday resigned from the party, alleging that tickets in UP Assembly elections were "sold" and issues of Dalits and minorities were neglected".

Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], March 10 (ANI): The counting of votes for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections in 403 constituencies began on Thursday at 8 am.

Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], March 1 (ANI): With 676 candidates in the fray in the sixth phase of Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath tops the chart of the prominent faces of this phase.