A day after Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath banned Ministers and officers from carrying their mobile phones into the cabinet and other important official meetings, the opposition parties termed it an undemocratic decision.

The Samajwadi Party, which regularly hosted Iftar parties, has given it a miss this time. In fact, whenever the party was in power, there would be two Iftars - one hosted by SP Chief Minister and the other by the party.

Illegally manufactured liquor had been refilled into the original bottles which led to the 16 deaths. 10 persons who consumed the spurious liquor have lost their eyesight.

A meeting of the state cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, cleared the Uttar Pradesh Cow Conservation and Development Fund rules, 2019, to run and manage the 'govansh ashray sthals' at the district-level.

The Modi wave may have played a role in Hema Malini and Ravi Kishan's victories, did not help actor Jaya Prada and Bhojpuri star, Dinesh Yadav 'Nirahua'. They both lost the elections.

Infuriated over his sacking, controversial Uttar Pradesh Cabinet Minister Om Prakash Rajbhar on Monday alleged that Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath succumbed to the powerful liquor lobby and did not implement prohibition in the state.

Gorakhpur became a prestige issue for Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath after the BJP faced defeat in 2018 by-polls.

"No party will get a majority in these elections. But the SP-BSP alliance will get a massive victory in Purvanchal (eastern Uttar Pradesh). Without our support the BJP will suffer losses in at least 30 seats in Purvanchal. It is losing Balia, Gorakhpur and Ghazipur seats," said Rajbhar.

Polling is underway for seventh and the last phase of Lok Sabha election 2019, on Sunday. In this phase, 59 constituencies, spread over seven states and one union territory, will go to polls.

The man is Suresh Thakur, a lookalike of Adityanath who has been recently seen in all rallies of Akhilesh Yadav.

Bharatiya Janata Party national President Amit Shah will hold a roadshow here on Thursday, a party official said.

In the battle to redeem lost pride in the Gorakhpur Lok Sabha seat, popular Bhojpuri actor and BJP candidate Ravi Kishan is playing second fiddle as Yogi Adityanath takes centre stage in the electoral fight.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday accused the Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and the Congress of looting public resources and building big bungalows for themselves using government funds.

The average poll percentage was 9.28 per cent, a state election office spokesperson said.

"We gave out a clear message to all that the place for 'gundas' is either in jail or in 'ram naam satya hai yatra' (funeral procession)," the chief minister said in a public meeting in Khorabar here.  

"When we distributed the world's best laptops to students, why would we steal faucets? Students are still using our laptops which speak volumes about their quality." said Akhilesh Yadav

Addressing an election meeting at Kaila Devi in Sambhal, Adityanath said: "The BJP has got the maximum votes in the first two phases of polling on 16 seats and the Congress and the SP-BSP have been reduced to zero seats."

The Election Commission of India (ECI) had barred Yogi Adityanath from addressing rallies or taking part in the poll campaign for 72 hours for violation of Model Code of Conduct. The CM was penalised for his ‘Ali’ and ‘Bajrangbali’ statement in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh.

In its order on Adityanath, the ECI on Monday said it "strongly condemns" the impugned statement made by the UP chief minister and "censured" him for "misconduct".

Both the leaders have been banned for violating Model Code of Conduct (MCC) by making objectionable statements in their speeches.