oppn parties As Central UP Votes Today, The Overall Picture Is Still Unclear

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  • Allahabad HC said that the UP Police is acting as law unto themselves as they detained a person unlawfully even before his arrest
  • Kolkata witnesses traffic snarls on the first day of the Durga Puja festival as revellers start pnadal-hopping
  • Neha Bora was subsequently released and Dipke is to appear before a magistrate today at noon
  • Delhi Police detained Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke, Neha Bora of AISA, student leaders and supporters ahead of a rally in Connaught Place demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar's resignation. The protest followed the detention and jailing of two CJP leaders earlier in the week over demonstrations at Jantar Mantar
  • The Reserve Bank of India is considering further monetary tightening to counter capital outflows and increase the cost of betting against the rupee, according to bankers and analysts cited by Reuters. The measures follow recent rate increases and steps to drain liquidity as pressure on the currency and inflation concerns persist
  • India directed oil marketing companies to stop diverting sugar-based feedstocks for ethanol production in the 2026–27 supply year, according to a new tender issued on Friday. The companies have invited bids for 11 billion litres of ethanol made from alternatives including corn and broken rice, amid concerns about domestic sugar supplies and prices
  • Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said India's trade imbalance with China was growing sharply and attributed the problem partly to restrictions on Indian goods and services entering the Chinese market. China subsequently said it was ready to work with India to address mutual economic and trade concerns; India's trade deficit with China reached $69 billion in the first half of FY2026–27, up 27% year-on-year
  • Indian equity benchmarks extended their recovery on Friday, with the Sensex rising 413.66 points to close at 74,729.27 and the Nifty 50 gaining 148.80 points to settle at 23,146.15. Information technology shares, including Tech Mahindra, Infosys and TCS, helped lift the indices
  • India defeated Zimbabwe by four wickets in the opening women's T20 International in Raipur, taking a 1–0 lead in the three-match series. Deepti Sharma and Niki Prasad combined in an 82-run stand after India's top order collapsed, helping the hosts chase down Zimbabwe's total of 114 for five
  • Indian wrestler Komal won bronze in the women's 59 kg category at the Under-23 World Wrestling Championships in Las Vegas, defeating Kazakhstan's Viktoriia Khusainova 7–2. Fellow Indian Amruta Pujari advanced to the women's 72 kg final after recording two pinfall victories
  • Indian shuttler Jagsher Singh Khangurra secured a bronze medal at the BWF World Junior Badminton Championships in Cairo
  • The Supreme Court of India upheld the Bombay High Court's decision quashing the 2020 write-off of ₹8,415 crore in additional tier-1 bonds issued by Yes Bank (Yes Bank). The court ruled that the bank's administrator lacked the authority to extinguish the bonds under the final reconstruction scheme, strengthening bondholders' claims
  • The Supreme Court issued notices to the Election Commission of India, Delhi Police and opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav, in separate petitions concerning electoral-roll revision and protests held in Delhi on October 10–12. The court also directed the preservation of CCTV footage linked to allegations of police excesses
  • The Supreme Court ruled that a person converting from Hinduism to Islam cannot automatically claim backward-class reservation benefits in the new religious community solely on the basis of their previous caste status. The judgment upheld the Madras High Court's decision striking down a 2024 Tamil Nadu government order that permitted such certification for specified communities
  • The Election Commission of India ordered a Special Summary Revision of electoral rolls in 14 states and three Union Territories, using January 1, 2027, as the qualifying date for voter eligibility. The draft rolls are scheduled for publication on November 12, claims and objections will be accepted until December 11, and the final rolls are due on January 4, 2027
Delhi HC refuses to ban CJP's Tiranga rally at Central Park in Connaught Place today /////// Police says will control and regulate it /////// NDMC closes the park for the public on Friday and Saturday
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As Central UP Votes Today, The Overall Picture Is Still Unclear

By Linus Garg
First publised on 2022-02-27 05:10:43

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Linus tackles things head-on. He takes sides in his analysis and it fits excellently with our editorial policy. No 'maybe's' and 'allegedly' for him, only things in black and white.

As central UP votes for 61 seats in 11 districts in the 5th phase of polling today with only two phases remaining, it is still not clear which way the wind is blowing and who will emerge victorious. There is a strange reluctance on part of the voters to open up about their preference this time. Normally, when this kind of situation is witnessed, it results in the voters throwing out the incumbent government.

But the opinion polls had all shown that although the Samajvadi Party (SP)-led alliance had created a huge buzz and was fast emerging as the main challenger to the BJP, they had predicted that the surge was not enough to unseat the Yogi government and the BJP is expected to return to power but with a vastly reduced majority. In Central UP, the BJP is expected to walk away with nearly 45 of the 61 seats.

The SP had done all it could before the elections to dent BJPs fortune. In western UP it had successfully used the Jat and farmer anger against the BJP to its advantage by allying with Jayant Choudhary and other smaller outfits. In eastern UP, it had punctured the BJP dreams of getting support from OBCs (its main strength since 2014) by snaring away some important OBC leaders. The crowds at SP rallies continued to swell with each passing day and the BJP was on the defensive.

But as polling goes on, experts are not sure what effect the SP pre-poll machinations are going to have on voting patterns. It is sure that unlike previous years, Muslim vote is likely to solidly rally behind SP as the Congress is nowhere in the picture while the BSP is not putting much effort in its campaign this time. Also, the Muslims do not want to 'waste' their vote and see SP as the party most likely to challenge the BJP. But it is still not clear which way the Jats and the OBCs will vote, making this one of the most unpredictable elections in UPs history.

For the BJP, it would be important for the upper caste Hindus to rally behind it. It would also be important for it to retain the OBC and Dalit votes. But that support is not visible on the ground. BJP's overplay of Hindutva and temple politics might not gel with the OBCs and Dalits. There is huge anti-incumbency against the Yogi Adityanath government and the BJP caste arithmetic has also gone awry this time. But the party is strong in booth-level management and has committed voters who will come out and vote for it. Hence, it is safe to predict that although the BJP will lose both vote share and seats, it might still return to power in UP. 

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