Patna: Condemning the attack on the Dalit family in Haryana, the senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi on Wednesday accused Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad for shedding 'fake' tears on the incident apparently with the view of collecting huge amount of Dalit votes in Bihar Assembly polls. "The incident of Faridabad is condemnable, but the RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav has easily forgotten the incident during the 15 years rule of his party in Bihar, hundreds of Dalit were massacred," in a series of tweets he said.

Patna: Voting for 49 assembly constituencies in the first phase of Bihar elections has begun today. In this direct contest between the Grand Alliance and the BJP-led NDA, total 1.35 crore voters are eligible to vote. Most of the constituencies voting in the opening round are JD(U) strongholds which had won 29 seats in 2010 in alliance with the BJP. Under the new alignment, the JD(U) is contesting 24 seats in the first phase.

New Delhi: Out of 456 candidates, around one-third of the candidates for the second phase of Bihar Assembly polls have asserted criminal cases against them. BJP, JD-U and RJD occupy the maximum number of such candidates, the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) said on Friday. Total 456 candidates are in a battle for the second phase of the Bihar Assembly polls. Polling for 32 seats will be held on October 16. "Out of the total of 456 candidates, 110 (24 percent) candidates have asserted serious criminal cases which include cases related to murder, communal disharmony, attempt to murder, kidnapping and crime against women. while 142 (31 percent) candidates have asserted criminal cases against themselves," the ADR said in a statement.

Patna: As the battle is heating up for the Bihar Polls, PM Modi is all set to address four election rallies today in Munger, Nawada, Samastipur and Begusarai districts of the state. On Friday, PM will address few more rallies before the first phase of polling in the state. The five-phase elections will start from October 12 and will be ending on November 5. The other dates of polling are October 16, 28 and November 1. The counting of votes is scheduled to take place on November 8 and the whole election process will be completed by November 12.

PATNA: A week before the first phase of Bihar Assembly polls, The BJP-led NDA seems to have a clear advantage over the Nitish-led Grand Alliance. A pre-poll survey which was conducted by Lokniti- CSDS in the last week of September shows NDA would achieve 42 percent votes and the Grand Alliance would end up with 38 percent resulting in clear advantage to BJP-led NDA over Grand Alliance by a margin of at least 4 percent.

PATNA: Referring to the controversial remark of RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav that the "Hindus too eat beef", the senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi on Monday promised that NDA will frame a legislation to ban cow slaughter in the state if it comes to power in Bihar Assembly polls. "The forthcoming assembly elections in Bihar will be a direct contest among those who justify beef eating and those who are seeking an effective ban on cow slaughter," he said in a statement.

Patna: Union Minister Piyush goyal on Sunday alleged that even after the end of two terms of Nitish government in office, the power situation in Bihar is still as grim as ever. Goyal reminded the CM of his promise made three years ago that he would not seek votes in Assembly polls if he failed to provide electricity to all the households by 2015. "The Power generation in Bihar with its own plants is at position zero and the case is same with the generation capacity," says Goyal.

Banka: In his first rally, after the announcement of the schedule of assembly polls, Prime Minister Narendra Modi focused on the development of Bihar and urged the Maoists to shun violence and join the mainstream. "Bullets bring nothing else than destruction while ballots bring development. Have faith in the ballots and shun bullet. On the day of Gandhi Jayanti, I appeal to the Maoists to shun the path of violence and join the mainstream to change the destiny of the constituency," Modi said.

Patna: At a joint press conference hosted by the RJD, JD(U) and Congress, a 10 minute video clip titled as "Jumlon Ki Jubani, Jhooth Ki Karastani" was released by the Grand Alliance. The short film showed the failure of Narendra Modi in implementing his key poll promises. The film also highlighted the backtracking of NDA government on important issues like GST and the Land Acquisition Legislation.

New Delhi: The Election Commission has banned the dissemination and the publication or publicising of exit polls of any kind from October 12, with the starting of the first phase of Bihar Assembly polls till November 5, when the fifth and the last phase of the election ends.

Modi disproved Nitish's claim that PM has forgotten the state of Bihar. "How can someone remember Bihar when he hasn't forgotten it ever? Only those who have forgotten the state due to the inebriation of an electoral triumph can remember it," Modi said. He also blamed the Bihar government for being delayed in sending documents to the central government after the Budget to identify backward districts in the state. "This government was sleeping," he said.

The Bharatiya Janata Party Delhi wing has decided to make National BJP President Amit Shah has their leading star campaigner in the upcoming Assembly Elections in Delhi.

Haryana and Maharashtra has been under Congress rule for a long time. This assembly election in both the states will be a test for the PM as it will show how Modi has been able to affect the people.

This time things are different for the political parties in Haryana as large number of people have come to cast their vote to decide the upcoming political scene in the state. Around 73 per cent voting has been registered.

Mohan Bhagwat the RSS chief missed to vote this time as he is in Lucknow to attend the party national council meet. He has his vote in Nagpur-east constituency.

The senior BJP leaders have decided to have BJP parliamentary board meeting on 17th May in Delhi. Top leaders will meet in Delhi and Modi will be official declared as the leader of the party. If BJP comes to power, then decision on the new CM for Gujarat will also take place in the meet.

Naresh Agrawal, SP leader said that SP will not support BJP if it wins the elections. Both the parties had attacked each other over politics on vote bank before the Lok Sabha elections. Exit polls suggest that BJP will win the elections.After taking up the topic of cleaning river Ganga during election campaigns, the people of Varanasi expects that Modi will take up the responsibility to clean the waters of Ganga which is highly polluted now.

Naresh Agrawal, SP leader said that SP will not support BJP if it wins the elections. Both the parties had attacked each other over politics on vote bank before the Lok Sabha elections. Exit polls suggest that BJP will win the elections.

Congress leader and Union minister Kamal Nath said that it is true that Congress party was not able to project all its achievements during the party campaigns. He admitted that it was the mistake of his party.

BJP workers in Mumbai has ordered 25,000 laddoos and helium balloons to celebrate the victory of their party. The results will be declared on 16th May.

MNS chief Raj Thackeray again said that his party will provide complete support to BJP even though it is ouside NDA.

The family of Baba Ahmad Ali consists of 136 family members of which there are 98 voters. The family lives together in Maharajganj and went to the polling booth to cast their vote.

Obama had earlier said that he is looking forward to the new government formation in India and to work with the new government. Reacting to the statement BJP spokesperson Prakash Javedkar said that BJP welcomes the statement and said that all the countries of the world would definitely work with the newly formed government.

Jaitely while writing on a blog said that Manmohan Singh was a good finance minister and had brought good economic reforms in the year 1991 when PV Narasimha Rao was the prime minister of India. He called Mr. Singh as a ‘man of scholarship’.

After refusing to be the part of the BJP campaign for Narendra Modi, Bismillah Khan‘s family played shehnai for Rahul Gandhi in Beniabagh. Some of the them even wore the Congress scarves during the roadshow.

Today voting started for the 18 constituencies of Uttar Pradesh. Voting started on a slow pace and only 10.39 per cent vote was registered by 9 am in the morning. The voting will decide the fate of top leaders like Arvind Kejriwal Narendra Modi and Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Voting for the final phase of General Elections started today. Voting will be conducted in southern part of West Bengal, northern part of Bihar and eastern part of Uttar Pradesh. 606 candidates are contesting for 41 seats in the final phase and their fate will be decided by 6,61,31,802 voters.

After refusing to be the part of the BJP campaign for Narendra Modi, Bismillah Khan‘s family played shehnai for Rahul Gandhi in Beniabagh. Some of the them even wore the Congress scarves during the roadshow.

A year after people who were cheated by the Sarada scam filed a petition in court, SC came with the decision to handover the investigation to the CBI. It has led to increased tension in TMC as names of some of the TMC leaders are involved in the scam.

EC issued notice to Rahul Gandhi over his remark on BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi. During an election campaign in Himachal Pradesh, Rahul said that 22,000 people will be killed if Modi government comes to power.

Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah said that he will take strict action against those people who are terrorizing voters in the state. He gave the statement after the reports of people allegedly beaten up by the protestors came out.

Centre told Supreme court that it will not conduct any inquiry against BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi over the 'Snoopgate' issue. It came to such decision after facing opposition from its allies too as they feared it to turn out as political vendetta.

BJP leaders decided to hold protest out the office of EC in New Delhi after Modi was denied permission to hold a rally in Varanasi. Following that police officials issued prohibitory orders outside EC's office.

Following the war of words between Mamata Banerjee and Narendra Modi during the election campaigns, she called him as donkey. It came after Modi during a rally said that he will evict all the Bangladeshi illegal migrants out of the country.

BJP decided to protest in Varanasi today after it was denied permission to carry out a rally in Beniabagh area of Varanasi. A large number of BJP supporters gathered outside the campus of BHU to express their support to the party.

Rahul who is standing from Amethi constituency for the third time is contesting against actor turned politician Smriti Irani of BJP and Kumar Vishwas of AAP. By 9 am in the morning 10.4 per cent voting has been registered.

A CRPF personal was injured in a grenade attack on a polling booth in Palhan Pattan of Baramulla. Stone pelting has been also reported in Sopore and Baramulla.

Voting for 64 Lok seats to take place today. The fate of Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Jammu and Kashmir will be decided today by the people. Andhra Pradesh will face voting for its 175 assembly seats too.

Umer Nadvi a senior research fellow said that BJP has deviated far away from its development issue and has ended up provoking people instead of sticking to their agenda.

A blast took place in a school near a polling station in Baramulla. Posters by millitant group Hizbul Mujahideen had earlier asked the people to boycott eleactions. Baramulla will go for polls on wednesday.

Priyanka while addressing a rally had said that BJP was trying to lower the level of politics in the country. Replying to this, Modi said that Priyanka was targeting him as he belonged to the lower caste.

Congress President Sonia Gandhi's daughter Priyanka Gandhi had confirmed on Monday that she has no intentions in joining politics. She also added confidently that no other party would get distinct majority in this General elections.

Kangra : There is immense political tension lurking in Kangra as the three major parties BJP, AAP and INC compete against each other this Lok Sabha elections. Since 1962, Congress has bagged this seat 7 times whereas BJP has bagged 5 times.

In ancient times, top leaders would never campaign against one another at their opponents' constituencies. Today the election rallies are filled with wildness and anger. Modi's rally today in Amethi is not for this LS elections but aims at next one.

Kalpa : Himachal Pradesh poll panel plans to honour India's first voter Shyam Negi who says he is feeling quite nervous because of the huge lime light. The 97 year old retired headmaster has never missed voting in a single election ever since first elections in 1951.

Bihar BJP Leader Giriraj Singh's expected bail plea was withheld in Jharkhand Court on Saturday. Giriraj had given hate speech during an election rally in Jharkhand. While proceeding the bail petition, the Deoghar court suspended the order on April 29 for arresting Giriraj Singh till May 3 and Giriraj will now move to High Court in Jharkhand opposing court’s order.

The unusal voter turnout at the two worst hit Lok Sabha constituencies by the Maiosts has disturbed the Naxals. The two constituencies are Baster and Kanker with a voter turnout of 59.40% and 70.29% respectively. According to the Intelligence Inputs, the Naxals are conducting meetings to discuss their dissatisfaction over the tribal people voting in the elections.

While the UPA government plans to appoint a judge to head the probe panel before new government is formed, BJP's Arun Jaitley hopes no judge will ever be a part of such a desperate move. The snooping scandal involves Narendra Modi allegedly ordering illegal surveillance on a young woman architect in Gujarat.

Bhopal : Congress leader, Digvijay Singh used his acceptance of relationship with a woman journalist in order to target Narendra Modi, saying he's not a coward to hide his marital status for years like Modi . While Digvijay defends his relationship, Congress tries to dodge the unpleasant question of whether he has caused any embarrassment to the party.

Balarampur/Faizabad : Congress President Sonia Gandhi said on Thursday that Narendra Modi has already assumed himself as Prime Minister even before the election results are declared terming he is “hungry for power”. Dismissing Modi's anti-corruption claims as hollow, Sonia said several ministers in Gujarat were neck deep in scams.

New Delhi : Seems, the cost of holding the parliamentary elections is very heavy as in the seven phases of elections held so far, 35 security personnel have lost their lives, while nine polling party members have been killed in the Naxal Zone. Unlike 2009, maximum casualty was inflicted in the 2014 LS Elections.

Visakhapatnam : Second only to Hyderabad in terms of industries and infrastructure, Visakhapatnam is likely to be the new capital of Seemandhra and will go to polls on May 7. The YSR Congress has chosen Jagan Mohan Reddy's mother as the LS candidate from Visakhapatnam while the Telugu Desam Party has given the ticket to BJP as part of its alliance. The people of Visakhapatnam too are angry over the bifurcation of the state and say that it will have an effect on the polls.

Mumbai : Comedian Kapil Sharma's inoffensive re-tweet of BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi's comment comparing Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi's speeches to Kapil's comedy sparked of an ugly Twitter battle between supporters and opponents of Modi. Kapil had to hastily delete the Modi tweet and made frantic peace pleas with his fans and followers in order to stop the ugly war of words.

Fate is sealed for as many as 233 candidates in the fourth phase of General Elections in UP to be held on April 30. Polling will take place for 14 seats in UP. The focus would be on Congress President Sonia Gandhi's Rae Bareli seat and BJP President Rajnath Singh's Lucknow seat.

New Delhi : A day after the Trinamool Congress called out Narendra Modi a “butcher”, Rastriya Janata Dal Chief Lalu Prasad said Modi is worse than a butcher. “Even a butcher is also shy of Modi, Will this person ever become India's Prime Minister?” he remarked. However, the BJP hit back saying Lalu's comments displays his fear of Modi.

Patna : A low intensity bomb exploded at Madhubani in Bihar earlier today. One person is reportedly dead and two others are injured. The bomb was attached with a battery. The explosion happened just a day before Madhubani goes to polls on April 30.

While addressing a rally in West Bengal Narendra Modi said that he will deport back all the Bangladeshi immigrants back to their country if BJP came to power. He even accused the state government for letting them come to the country for increasing their vote count.

A seven member delegate from Namibia has landed in our country to see the live use of Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) in the ongoing general elections. They are planning to use EVMs in the elections in their upcoming Presidential elections that will be conducted at the end of the year.

Baba Ramdev is now banned from campaigning for BJP in the states of Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh after his offensive remark on Rahul Gandhi. He says that by doing so Sonia Gandhi has insulted the Dalit community and not him.

Congress to intensify campaigning in Gujaratn the context of the upcoming polls in Gujarat, Rahul Gandhi and his party is gearing up to target Gujarat and start campaigning with all effort.

Priyanka denied all the reports saying that she will be campaigning in Varanasi. She cleared that she will be concentrating Amethi and Rae Bareli. Recently she was seen having war of words with Narendra Modi and so it led to the speculation that she may be campaigning for the party in Varanasi.

The Special CBI court in Hyderabad has directed CBI to probe into the assets of K Chandrasekhar Rao after a citizen named Y Balaji Vadera lodged complaint to check into the disproportionate assets of KCR. KCR is the chief of Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TCR).

The Special CBI court in Hyderabad has directed CBI to probe into the assets of K Chandrasekhar Rao after a citizen named Y Balaji Vadera lodged complaint to check into the disproportionate assets of KCR. KCR is the chief of Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TCR).

An anticipatory bail for Giriraj Singh

Giriraj Singh who is a BJP leader got anticipatory bail from Patna High Court for his alleged hate speech during an election rally. It has turned out as a matter of relief. In his speech he had said that people who opposed Modi should go to Pakistan.

LS Polls: Rahul to address a rally in Lalitpur today Chhattisgarh.

The statement issued by the office of Rahul Gandhi says that he will be addressing an election rally in lalitpur on friday. Rahul will be addressing the people of Lalitpur which is the part of Jhansi constituency of Uttar Pradesh and will leave for Warangal to address the people there in the afternoon.

In a recent interview with CNN IBN, Amar Singh stated that Samajwadi Party is targeting its opponents by using goons. He was speaking from Fatehpur Sikri from where he is contesting in the elections on the ticket of RLD. He was the former Samajwadi Party member and it was the first time where he had spoken against SP.

Sonia Gandhi had disclosed her assets worth Rs 9 crore while she was filing the nomination from Rae Bareli. There were some tax free railway bonds worth Rs 10 Lakhs which were listed in as the movable assets. But she later declared that she has lost those bonds and have applied for the duplicate copy of the same from IFRC

In the first three hours of the polling, Chhattisgarh witnessed about 20 per cent of voters coming to vote at the various polling stations across the state. Most of the people who turned out to vote were youngsters. No report of any violence have been registered from any polling booths.

By 10 am in the morning, 20 per cent voters turned up at polling stations in Chhattisgarh.