Riding on the Narendra Modi wave, a consolidation of the non-Yadav OBC and non-Jatav Dalit castes along with its traditional upper-caste vote bank, and a bitter division in the Muslim vote, the BJP rode to power in Uttar Pradesh in 2017 with a whopping 40% vote share and 312 seats, a feat not achieved by any party for over two decades. Read the full story here.

Allies Samajwadi Party and Rashtriya Lok Dal issued their first list of candidates for the February-March Uttar Pradesh assembly polls on Thursday in their bid to unseat the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The list consists of 29 names, of which 10 are from the SP and the remaining 19 from the RLD. Some more names are expected to be announced within the next few days for the first two rounds of the seven-phase elections. Read the full story here.

“Resignations are not a big deal in Uttar Pradesh. BJP is getting support from everywhere in the state. People will bless us and BJP will be successful in forming govt in UP, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur,” says Union Minister Narendra Singh Tomar.

The Shiv Sena is upset at being given a cold shoulder by the Congress over its proposal to repeat the Maharashtra coalition experiment in the Goa Assembly elections. Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Thursday said the political situation it Goa is such that the Congress cannot go beyond single digit if it contests the assembly polls in the coastal state on its own.

Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) Working President K.T. Rama Rao on Thursday said that his party will soon take a call on campaigning for the Samajwadi Party in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. “We will take a call soon after consultations,” he replied in response to a tweet during the live #AskKTR session.

KTR, as Rama Rao is popularly known, stated that the current trend in Uttar Pradesh is towards Samajwadi Party. He said this when asked about how he sees the mass exodus from BJP as three ministers and six MLAs left the party in the last two days.

NCP president Sharad Pawar on Thursday said BJP leaders confidently predicted till 15 days back that their party will come back to power in Uttar Pradesh, but now not a single day passes without the news of some or the other leader quitting the saffron outfit. His remarks come amid BJP ministers and legislators quitting the party in UP ahead of the crucial Assembly polls in the state. Notably, eight BJP MLAs, including three ministers, have resigned over the past three days.

The AAP on Thursday claimed that the Election Commission is going to register a new political party by bringing changes in its rules at the behest of the BJP. Addressing a press conference here, party spokesperson Raghav Chadha alleged that the move has been set in motion by the BJP to stop the AAP from winning assembly elections in Punjab and forming its government in the state.

The Sukhdev Singh Dhindsaled Shiromani Akali Dal (Sanyukt) on Thursday said the party will be represented by the ‘telephone’ symbol in the upcoming Punjab Assembly polls. The SAD (Sanyukt) had recently entered into an alliance with the BJP and the former chief minister Amarinder Singhled Punjab Lok Congress for the elections.

SAD (Sanyukt) spokesperson Maninderpal Singh Brar said the Election Commission of India has allotted ‘telephone’ as the election symbol to the party. Voting for Punjab’s 117-member assembly will be held on February 14. The counting of votes will take place on March 10.

Amid a spate of resignations from the BJP, two MLAs of its ally Apna Dal (Sonelal) also quit their party Thursday in run-up to the assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh. Chaudhary Amar Singh, the MLA from Shohratgarh seat of Siddharthnagar, told .

The Congress on Thursday finalised the names of its candidates for the upcoming assembly elections in Punjab at a meeting of the Central Election Committee held under the leadership of party chief Sonia Gandhi. Sources said the meeting, held virtually, discussed all the party candidates but did not release the list on Thursday.

They said since there was no consensus on around five seats, the party’s screening committee would meet again on Friday to arrive at a decision. The congress will release the list of the candidates for Punjab assembly polls in a day or two, the sources said.

Chief Minister of Punjab Charanjit Singh Channi is likely to contest from two seats in the upcoming state assembly elections as the Congress finalised the list of over 70 candidates for the polls late on Thursday. Channi, who is currently the MLA of Chamkaur Sahib seat in Punjab Assembly, may also be fielded from Adampur constituency that falls in the Doaba region, where Dalits are deciding factor.