-The Hindu The decimation of BSP has hurt the SP chief the most in polls, say observers For somebody who threw the kitchen sink at the Bharatiya Janta Party during the election campaign, it has been a humbling loss for Samajwadi Party president akhilesh yadav in Uttar Pradesh. Observers said everybody knew that nobody could defeat the BJP on the Hindutva pitch but Mr. Yadav got a ‘godsend opportunity’ in the form of...

-The Telegraph akhilesh yadav is trying to win over segments of these communities, and the extent of his success in the effort may decide his fate on March 10 Ghazipur (on UP-Delhi border), Mirzapur: Ramashankar Yadav, a retired block development officer chatting with fellow villagers at a tea shop in the Madhuban market, looks up suspiciously. “I hope you aren’t from the godi (lapdog) media?” he asks, referring to media outlets seen widely...

-TheWire.in/ National Herald Jawid Laiq, who has accurately predicted poll outcomes since 1977 based on his conversations with boatmen at the Sangam in Prayagraj (Allahabad), this time asked UP transport drivers to pick winners One of Uttar Pradesh’s busiest bus terminals is at Noida’s Sector 35, where every few minutes a state transport bus either arrives, leaves or stops to fill up on CNG. Surendra Singh (45), driver of an Uttar Pradesh state...

-The Hindu Handbook sees prejudices and ignorance or deliberate misinformation campaign on the exercise The Registrar General of India (RGI) anticipates “organised movement” against the decennial Census exercise such as agitation for inclusion of Other Backward Classes (OBC) and court cases against the collection of data for the National Population Register (NPR). The concern is documented in the Census of India 2021 Handbook for Principal/District Census Officers and Charge Officers that has been...

-The Telegraph For the better-off upper castes, it has acquired the context of the safety of their sisters and daughters Bareilly, Rampur: Sitting outside a small medicine-cum-stationery shop at Khirka village in Bareilly district, Rakesh Gangwar, Ramdas Kashyap and Puranlal Gangwar unhesitatingly declare their support for the “phool” (lotus). Each lists the reasons almost in the same order, as though they had prepared beforehand for the question.   The top reason for all three —...