Indian Polls

Mumbai, Oct 20 (PTI) The NCP on Sunday demanded suspension of internet services within three km radius of every polling booth in Maharashtra as well as the strong rooms where EVMs will be stored, from the day of voting till the votes are counted.

Polling for all the 288 Assembly constituencies in Maharashtra will be held on Monday. The votes will be counted on October 24.

Chandigarh, Oct 21 (PTI) Polling began Monday morning in 90 assembly constituencies in Haryana.

Polling began at 7 a.m. and will continue till 6 p.m., officials said.

As many as 1,169 candidates including 105 women of various political outfits are contesting the election.

The prominent figures include Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, JJP's Dushyant Chautala and INLD's Abhay Singh Chautala.

Mumbai, Oct 21 (PTI) Mumbai suburbs on Monday recorded 5.64 per cent polling in the first two hours as voting got underway for the 288 Assembly seats in Maharashtra, an election official said.

Long queues were observed outside several polling stations, indicating the percentage may go up in subsequent hours, the official said.

Voting began at 7 am and will end at 6 pm.

Mumbai, Oct 17 (PTI) Six persons have been detained by a team of police and Election commission officials for allegedly carrying Rs 2.19 crore in cash at Zaveri Bazaar in South Mumbai, the police said on Thursday.

Acting on a tip-off, additional commissioner of police's special squad and a team from the Election Commission laid a trap near Khaugali at Zaveri Bazaar on Wednesday evening, and nabbed the men, an official said.

On searching them, the police found cash to the tune of Rs 2.19 crore, he added.

Jammu, Oct 9 (PTI) The Congress on Wednesday decided to boycott the Block Development Council (BDC) elections in Jammu and Kashmir, citing "indifferent" attitude of the state administration and continued detention of senior party leaders.

BDC polls will be held in Jammu and Kashmir on October 24. These will be the first elections to be held in the state since its special status was revoked under Article 370 on August 5.

Mumbai, Oct 7 (PTI) A total of 3239 candidates are in the fray for the October 21 assembly elections in Maharashtra for the 288 seats up for grabs where the BJP-led NDA alliance and the Congress-NCP combine are locked in keen contests marked by defections, rebellions and one-upmanships.

The Election Commission had received 5543 applications for all the 288 segments, an official said on Monday, adding that 3239 nominees are left in the race after withdrawals and rejection of 800 applications due to technical errors.

Pune, Oct 7 (PTI) Maharashtra BJP chief Chandrakant Patil, who is fighting his maiden Assembly election, is up against a united opposition from Pune's Kothrud seat, and it will be interesting to see how he takes up the challenge.

The state minister, who is considered no. 2 in the Devendra Fadnavis Cabinet, is also facing the tag of being an "outsider", since he hails from Kolhapur.

He is pitted against Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) candidate Kishor Shinde, who also has the backing of the opposition Congress and NCP.

Mumbai, Oct 5 (PTI) Inspired by a film, a candidate from Latur Assembly seat in Maharashtra paid the poll deposit amount in Rs 10 coins to highlight the fact that the coin is not being accepted as legal tender by local traders.

Santosh Sabde, who is contesting as independent from this central Maharashtra town, said Election Commission officials on Friday were hesitant to accept the deposit in coins, but "acquiesced eventually".

Mumbai, Oct 5 (PTI) Congress president Sonia Gandhi and former prime minister Manmohan Singh are among the 40 "star" campaigners of the party for the October 21 assembly elections in Maharashtra, the first major political contest after the Lok Sabha outing held earlier this year.

Among other top leaders of the party who are expected to hit the hustings are former party president Rahul Gandhi and his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the party general secretary in Uttar Pradesh.

Chandigarh, Oct 4 (PTI) Two-time former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) leader Dushyant Chautala, his mother Naina Chautala, sportsmen Sandeep Singh and Yogeshwar Dutt were among the 1,263 candidates who filed their nominations on Friday, the last day of filing of papers for the Assembly polls in Haryana.

The total number of nominations filed for 90 assembly seats are 1,846, an election office spokesman said here.