Indian Polls

Patna, Apr 21 (PTI) Top Left leaders - Sitaram Yechury, D Raja and Sudhakar Reddy - as well as Bollywood lyricist Javed Akhtar will descend on the soil of Bihar next week to campaign in Begusarai where former JNU students' union president Kanhaiya Kumar is pitted against Union minister and firebrand BJP leader Giriraj Singh.

Agartala, Apr 21 (PTI) The political turmoil in Tripura shows no sign of abating with opposition parties demanding fresh polls in Tripura West Lok Sabha constituency, claiming that the April 11 election in the state was "heavily rigged" by the ruling BJP.

Denying the charge, the saffron party said the allegations were "baseless and politically motivated".

Raipur, Apr 21 (PTI) The high-decibel campaign for the third phase of Lok Sabha polls in Chhattisgarh's seven seats ended on Sunday, which saw acrimonious exchanges between the main rivals BJP and Congress over issues like corruption, poverty and farmers' woes.

The third phase of polling on April 23 will mark the completion of Lok Sabha elections in the state.

Balurghat/Gangarampur (WB), Apr 19 (PTI) Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee Friday claimed that the BJP will get a 'rosogolla' (zero) in West Bengal in the general elections, asserting that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's aim of winning a large number of seats will remain a day dream.

Banerjee said the the prime minister's promise of offering 'laddoos' to the voters of Bengal in both their hands will never be fulfilled.

Srinagar, Apr 18 (PTI) As many as 90 polling booths, mostly in downtown city, saw no voting in Thursday's elections to the Srinagar Parliamentary seat, sources said.

The Srinagar constituency comprising eight assembly segments recorded zero turnout in as many as 50 polling booths.

The majority of these booths were located in Eidgah, Khanyar, Habba Kadal and Batmaloo, sources said.

Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur has been nominated as BJP candidate for Bhopal LS seat. Thakur, on bail, is an accused by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) for conspiracy and allegation that her bike was used to plant the explosives that killed six in Malegaon bomb blasts in 2008.

Dahod, Apr 16 (PTI) A video has surfaced on social media purportedly showing a Gujarat BJP MLA telling electors Prime Minister Narendra Modi has installed cameras in polling booths to find out who was not voting for party candidates.

The MLA, Ramesh Katara, allegedly made the remarks while addressing a small campaign rally in support of BJP's Lok Sabha candidate from Dahod, Jasvantsinh Bhabhor, in a village near here two days ago.

Patna, Apr 16 (PTI) Campaign ended on Tuesday for five Lok Sabha seats in Bihar where polling will be held on April 18 in the second phase of general elections.

The five Lok Sabha constituencies are Bhagalpur, Banka, Katihar, Kishanganj and Purnea.

The BJP had fought these five seats unsuccessfully in 2014 and this time its ally JD(U) of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is contesting from those constituencies.

Mysore, Apr 16 (PTI) Former Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah has alleged that the Election Commission(EC) is under "pressure" from the Modi government to not take action on complaints of political parties over alleged EVM tampering and their demand for re-introduction of ballot paper.

He said the electronic voting machines (EVMs) are not tamper-proof and Voter Verified Paper Trail (VVPATs) machines are not without their flaws either, he said adding that the Congress will bring back ballot paper if voted to power.

Mumbai, Apr 15 (PTI) MNS chief Raj Thackeray Monday appealed to people to ensure "disappearance" of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah from the political scene of the country for spreading "lies" and "causing" communal disharmony.

Addressing a poll rally in Solapur district of Maharashtra, he called the prime minister "shameless" for seeking votes in the name of jawans without acknowledging their sacrifice.