Uttar Pradesh remains India’s most populous state anda politically important one, even though its stature stands diminished sinceUttarakhand was carved out of the northern state. It still is home to a sixthof India’s population and occupies about 15% of the seats in Parliament,giving it an elevated political importance. Still, it is no longer a bellwether state, as many considerit to be, and no proxy for the voice of the nation.
Millions voted in Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday, the first stage of an election that tests support for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's troubled government ahead of a nationwide vote in two years. The election in Uttar Pradesh, a state that is bigger than Brazil by population, could have a bearing on who next governs India.
Mitt Romney's march to a possible Republican presidential nomination just got a lot longer and harder. Front-runner Romney left Tuesday's round of three nominating contests with another reminder of his own shortcomings, after a two-state winning streak that had placed him firmly in the driver's seat in the nomination race.
Karnataka Cooperation Minister Laxman Savadi was Tuesday caught watching a sex act on his cell phone inside the state assembly, leaving the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party shame-faced and scurrying for explanations. Kannada TV channels showed Savadi with Women and Child Welfare Minister C.C.
President Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives, widely credited with bringing democracy to the Indian Ocean archipelago, resigned on Tuesday after weeks of opposition protests erupted into a police mutiny and what an aide said amounted to a coup.
They call him the Yuva Samrat, or young emperor. Yet Rahul Gandhi has so far shown no inclination to claim the throne of the world's largest democracy. The scion of India's Nehru-Gandhi political dynasty could be prime minister if he asked for it, according to many members of his ruling Congress party.
There is no clamour for an early general election in India, but the latest blow dealt to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over a massive corruption scandal raises the risk that his wounded government could fall well before its mandate runs out in 2014.
