Union Home Minister Amit Shah will take a wide-ranging trip across Uttar Pradesh starting in late November, ahead of the state's Assembly polls. A BJP source says he will go to all six party regions to lift workers' spirits.
The first leg will cover two of those regions in November, and the party is planning for Shah to stay overnight in each of the six. He will also sit down with senior figures from each area to map out strategy.
District-level meetings and public rallies should follow.
Waris Punjab De, led by jailed MP Amritpal Singh, has inducted Amarjit Singh Amba Sursingh, a kabaddi player who has competed internationally. It has also offered a spot to a relative of anti-drug activist Parvinder Singh Jhota if they want to contest Punjab's 2027 polls.
The party says the move shows growing support across different sections of society, and it has ruled out any alliance, saying it will contest alone.
Decisions on candidates and electoral strategy are expected soon.
Uttar Pradesh's chief electoral officer, Navdeep Rinwa, has asked senior officers from 23 enforcement agencies to coordinate closely and keep a tight watch on money, alcohol and narcotics ahead of the 2027 assembly polls.
Each assembly seat will get nine flying squads and nine static surveillance teams. The Election Commission is also flagging constituencies that need extra scrutiny, using seizure data from the 2022 assembly and 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Seizures will be logged on a shared web portal so every agency can act on them quickly.
The draft voter list for all 117 Punjab Assembly seats is out under the 2027 Special Summary Revision. Requests to add names or fix entries can be filed until December 11, and the final list is due on January 4, 2027.
Voters can check their entries on the CEO Punjab website or the ECI's Voters' Service Portal. Anyone who turns 18 by January 1, 2027 can apply to enrol, and assistance desks are open at district election offices.
Forms 6 to 8 cover new enrolment, overseas voters, deletions and corrections or address changes. Questions can go to the Voter Helpline on 1950.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has claimed that 1.27 crore names were removed from the state's electoral rolls. AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi, speaking at a press conference in Lucknow alongside ASP (Kanshi Ram) chief Chandrashekhar Azad, has asked the Election Commission to publish the list of deleted names and explain how the figure was reached.
Owaisi also pointed to Election Commission data that he said shows 2.89 crore deletions overall, including 46 lakh marked deceased, 25 lakh duplicates, 1.3 crore shifted and 87.19 lakh absent.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav has accused Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath of disrespecting Lord Krishna through alleged remarks about cowherds, and says the BJP will lose the 2027 Assembly elections.
Yadav shared a video clip on X of Adityanath speaking at an Uttarakhand event, where the CM allegedly said Yadav would otherwise be grazing buffaloes in his village of Saifai in Etawah.
Yadav claimed Adityanath has grown fearful of defeat, citing the 2024 Lok Sabha and recent MLC elections.
AAP is expected to unveil its second list of Punjab Assembly candidates on Thursday. The names will be debated at a Political Affairs Committee meeting in Delhi that evening, led by Arvind Kejriwal.
The list may feature cabinet ministers, sitting MLAs and halqa in-charges. The first list of 40 names, released on October 31, included CM Bhagwant Mann from Dhuri.
Since then, Harmeet Pathanmajra and Chetan Jouramajra have quit the party and joined the BJP, with vacancies now in Samana, Sanaur and Amritsar North.
The Election Commission has extended poll-period neutrality rules to retired officials and re-employed state government staff. They are barred from taking part in election campaigns or canvassing.
Voters who were on the roll before the Special Intensive Revision but are now missing can file Form 6 again without fear of action. That protection does not cover anyone already registered in another assembly constituency.
The guidance was shared on X by the Uttar Pradesh chief electoral officer.
UP BJP chief Pankaj Chaudhary has accused the INDIA bloc of pushing the country toward chaos through its protests. He says the 2027 state election is about defeating those who want to unsettle the nation.
He claimed the opposition wants a movement modelled on upheavals in Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka. A former BSP MP and an ex-CBI DSP joined the party at the same event.
The opposition's recent march to Ramlila Maidan also called for Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar to resign over alleged voter roll irregularities.
Punjab Congress will start a statewide outreach drive, 'Punjab Mangda Insaaf', on November 11 to hear from residents directly. Senior leaders will meet farmers, traders, workers, youth, women and people in IT and industry.
Feedback from the campaign and from experts will help shape the party's manifesto for the coming Assembly polls. Punjab Congress chief Pargat Singh said the first candidate list is still being prepared and will be released at the earliest.
The first round of checks on EVMs and VVPAT machines for the Punjab assembly elections begins across the state on Thursday.
State chief electoral officer Anindita Mitra said the Election Commission requires this testing so that only working machines are used. Engineers from Bharat Electronics Limited will carry out the checks under district election officers, and only machines that pass will be used in the polls.
The whole process will be webcast live from all 23 locations. Political parties have been asked to send representatives to observe it.
The Election Commission has extended its Model Code of Conduct to retired officials engaged by the governments of Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur, all of which are heading to the polls.
Until now, no specific rules governed these retirees. The same limits that bind serving staff will now apply to them during the code period.
State governments are also barred from calling election officers in districts or constituencies where polls are announced to official meetings or video conferences. The EC has warned of strict action for any violation.
The Election Commission has told the Delhi High Court that an objection still holds up a decision on registering Waris Punjab De as a political party. Its inquiry through Punjab's chief electoral officer is still pending.
The objection came in July 2026 and alleged the group had separatist roots. The party first applied in January 2025.
If the inquiry comes back favourable, the party must still publish public notices and allow 30 days for objections. The High Court hears the case again on January 11, 2027.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav has pushed back against UP CM Yogi Adityanath's "80-20" claim for the 2027 Assembly polls. On X, he argued it actually means the BJP-led alliance would be confined to no more than 80 seats, while the PDA stands as 20 against the NDA.
Adityanath made the remark in October, after the Rajya Sabha polls. Yadav also used a post on Monday to pledge that, if his party forms the government, Ayodhya will be developed into a global capital for Sanatan pilgrimage, with a probe into alleged land irregularities in the temple town.
Former CBI head M Nageswara Rao's Sarvajan Sanatan Party has entered Uttar Pradesh politics. It is collecting applications from people who want to contest all 403 seats before early next year's polls.
This first round is only a filter, and those who pass will be asked for fuller details and documents. Applicants must be Indian citizens, registered voters in Uttar Pradesh, and at least 25 by the scrutiny date.
Applying does not guarantee a ticket, as the party's leadership makes the final call.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav wants Aadhaar linked to voting and fingerprint or iris scans introduced before Uttar Pradesh's 2027 Assembly polls. He says this would stop the BJP from manipulating the vote.
He also wants metal voter cards in place of paper and plastic, since they are harder to forge. The INDIA bloc, meanwhile, has demanded that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar resign.
Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi also criticised the Centre over delimitation and the electoral roll revision, and alleged faulty EVMs.
Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath is again pushing his "80-20" line, saying the BJP will win a third straight term in the 2027 state Assembly election.
In an interview at Panchayat AajTak Ayodhya, he said the BJP and its allies would take 80 per cent of votes and seats, leaving 20 per cent to the Opposition. He gave no specific seat count.
A News18 UP Mega Survey of 30,925 respondents found 66.6% expect a BJP-NDA government, versus 26.5% for the SP-Congress alliance. A separate Janta Ki Awaz poll projects a close race, with the SP-led alliance slightly ahead at 195-204 seats.
The BJP has shortlisted 209 candidates for Uttar Pradesh's 403 Assembly seats, with polls due early next year. The list is now with party headquarters in Delhi, awaiting final approval.
The names were picked after talks with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, and the party is aiming for more than 300 seats.
Yogi also hinted at a new scheme for women. In an interview, he said Akhilesh Yadav had dropped his demand to withdraw the SIR revision and claimed that 1.27 crore Hindu voter names had been deleted from the rolls.
Akhilesh Yadav, national president of the Samajwadi Party, plans to visit the Ayodhya temple with his family on December 12. It would be his first time there since the January 2024 consecration ceremony.
The family will begin at Hanumangarhi, then go on to see the deity Ram Lalla, with party leader Pawan Pandey joining them. The visit lands a few months before the 2027 Uttar Pradesh assembly vote.
He had earlier linked the trip to finishing a temple he is building in Etawah, which is in its final stages.
India inshorts@indiainshorts
