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Follow the latest election updates on Twitter: @RediffElections
Nilekani is the Congress candidate for the Bangalore South Lok Sabha constituency, where he will battle it out against the BJP's five-time MP Ananth Kumar.
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Kumar, who is the sitting MP from Sasaram, is the daughter of Jagjivan Ram. "I have campaigned for JD-U candidate KP Ramiah against my aunt Meira Kumar. I want to take revenge against her conspiracy against me,"Medhavi told Rediff.com from Sasaram on Tuesday evening after campaigning ended.
Sasaram will go to polls on April 10. "I am happy with the response of the people during my campaign in favour of the JD-U nominee. My aim is to ensure the defeat of my aunt," she said.
Kirti said she is the legitimate heir of Jagjivan Ram and president of Congress-J, the party formed by my grandfather after he was humiliated by the Congress. -- MI Khan.
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"Modi has no knowledge of the country's history and he has usurped the entire BJP and RSS as only Modi-Modi is being heard everywhere," Singh said while addressing a rally in support of Congress candidate from Balaghat Hina Kanvre.
He also berated the BJP over the mention of Ram Temple in its manifesto.
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"Do not read much into such things... It's part of their smart strategy," Kumar said referring to Lalu not being invited to the recent rallies of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in Sasaram and Aurangabad respectively.
How could Rahul Gandhi embrace Lalu Prasad in the public when he had tore the ordinance on tainted MPs that led Prasad to jail in the fodder scam case, Kumar said.
The Election Commission has set a maximum limit of Rs 70 lakh that a candidate can spend on his election campaign.
BJP had put up over 1,000 hoardings carrying Modi's photos at key locations in the city. The party had booked the hoarding sites about 15 days in advance.
Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt reports on the sentiment on the ground in Muzaffarnagar, whose Hindu-Muslim fracture is a long way from being mended. Read
On the last day of campaign, all the top players -- BJP, Congress and AAP held scores of roadshows, rallies and public meetings to woo 1.27 crore voters which include over 3.37 lakh first time voters.
A total of 150 candidates are in the fray. The BJP had fielded a battery of top leaders including Narendra Modi, L K Advani, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley and Rajnath Singh to campaign for the party which drew a blank in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls.
Delhi BJP president Harsh Vardhan, who is contesting the polls from Chandni Chowk constituency, exuded confidence of winning all the seats, saying "the Modi wave" will significantly help the party.
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Read: Pistorius retches as he details moments before shooting.
He says he thought he was shooting at an intruder, but the prosecution accuses him of intentionally shooting her in the early hours of Valentine's Day last year after an argument. Read more
The number of visitors to the Himalayan shrine is being regulated to avoid any confusion in case of an emergency, he said.
The devotees will also be bio-metrically registered before being allowed to embark on the pilgrimage to keep a tab on them, he said yesterday.
Kedarnath and adjoining areas had suffered massive devastation when a natural calamity hit Uttarakhand last year.
The chief minister said all efforts were underway to ensure smooth pilgrimage and added, "There is no reason why they should be anxious about their safety."
There will be arrangements in place to airlift passengers in case of any emergency and in landslide prone areas enough vehicles and SDRF personnel will be deployed to evacuate stranded people.
Efforts are also being made on a war footing to repair and build the 'char-dham route' well before the start of the annual pilgrimage.
See: The massive devastation in Kedarnath in June 2013.
"I know what is Constitution. I abide by the Constitution. We pay respect as deserved. But no one has the right to insult Bengal. I have not given you the right to insult me when I give respect to you," the West Bengal Chief Minister said at a public rally in Purulia without naming the EC during her half-an-hour- long speech. Banerjee, who had launched a no-holds-barred attack on the EC yesterday after the poll panel ordered the transfer, said that she was not afraid of threats from Delhi.
"I will live with my head high as long as I live. I am not afraid of threats from Delhi," she said. She alleged that there was no action against two or three people, who with the support from some, were trying to sell out the country.
She said that TMC was born following the ideals of Rabindranath Tagore and Kaji Nazrul Islam. "The more you attack TMC, the more we will flourish. If we would have got 36 seats, now people of Bengal will give us 42 out of 42 seats in the state," she said.
Kejriwal says this was the fifth time he was attacked today and that
someone big is behind the attacks.
He says problems can be solved by discourse, my fight is not against any individual, but just the system.
He says in spite of the spate of attacks, he does not want security and has already reiterated that.
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Rai, a bhumihar, has been a five-time MLA and has switched parties twice. A former BJP man, Rai quit the party after he was denied a ticket for the 2009 polls. Rai then contested them on a SP ticket and finished third behind BJP MP Murli Manohar Joshi and BSP's Mukhtar Ansari.
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She also alleged that if Vishwas did not know how to respect women how he would he respect the people.
During an interaction with reporters during her campaign in the constituency she also attacked Congress candidate Rahul Gandhi.
"AAP is contesting Lok Sabha polls so that there is an unstable government at the Centre as this will help the party to strike a deal with single largest outfit," Upadhyay, AAP's former national council member said.
Lashing out at the AAP for keeping graft as its main poll plank and "adopting double standards" on it, he said "AAP is trying to confuse the electorate on the issue of corruption."
In his second day of testimony the double-amputee runner known as the Blade Runner delved deeper into his relationship with the girlfriend he shot dead more than a year ago -- and he is expected to explain what happened the night she died. Read
"Question should be posed to Pradhan," BJP leader Balbir Punj said when asked to comment on it. "Because the person, who was associated with a party and its ideology for so many years benefited from it. Now what happened that after not getting the party ticket he has to switch over to other party," he said.
Ahead of elections in Gautam Budh Nagar on April 10, former Union Minister Pradhan joined SP, claiming that there was "trade" of Lok Sabha tickets in the party.
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Remember, on March 14, auto drivers in Delhi launched a poster campaign against Kejriwal.
More than a hundred autorickshaws carrying posters against Kejriwal were lined up in the grounds of Ambedkar Bhawan near Jhandewalan.
The drivers associated with Nyayabhoomi, an NGO working for the welfare of auto drivers, claimed that during its 49 days rule, AAP government did not do anything for the benefit of auto drivers.
And another tweet from Kejriwal: Sachai ki dagar badi kathin hai. Par last mein jeet to sachai ki hoti hai.
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Follow the latest election updates on Twitter: @RediffElections
Follow the latest election updates on Twitter: @RediffElections
Kejriwal was travelling in an open jeep during a roadshow when the incident took place. Kejriwal had appealed to his supporters not to retaliate. "We will not retaliate even if we are killed," he said.
An unidentified man slapped the AAP chief while he was out at a road show in Sultanpuri.
On April 4, Kerjiwal had been slapped again in Delhi, while on March 25, he was attacked with eggs and ink, while campaigning in Varanasi.
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The Chief Election Commissioner this morning, asked West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee to transfer five superintendents of police - Malda, Birbhum, Burdwan, West Midnapore and Mushidabad - and one district magistrate (North 24-Parganas) after opposition parties complained against these officers, accusing them of being biased. The EC wants the WB government to remove the officers by 2:30 pm today.
However, Mamata, being Mamata, will have none of it and has openly defied the EC, saying while she respects it, she challenged the EC to remove anybody while she was in charge.
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Their budgets may be small, but that hasn't stopped them from taking on the big-wigs of the political arena.
The hitherto unknown Jai Maha Bharat Party which has no specific budget of its own, has fielded its candidate Mohd Afaq against Union Law and Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal and BJP's Delhi unit chief Harsh Vardhan from Chandni Chowk area.
"My party has asked me to contest from this area. This is my first time. The party has given me no money to spend. Till date, I have spent Rs 25,000-30,000 approximately from my own pocket. I am using photocopied pamphlets to save money. I am putting my best foot forward to spread awareness about our party's existence," said 49-year-old Afaq.
These small parties and candidates, however, admit their chances of winning are feeble. They maintain that it's the "passion and determination" to change the society that keeps them in the poll fray.
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That's the Hindu, today, on the BJP manifesto.
Mahida has been a BJP worker for around 25 years.
The BJP had been working on every minute detail of filing the nomination and the massive show of strength on the day Modi arrives in the city to do so.
As part of the process, the party chose the names of four proposers to send out right signals both within the party and to the electorate. Read more
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AAP sources said that the judge has withdrawn his candidature. However, the reasons for his withdrawal are not yet known.
Justice (retd) Fakhruddin has served as judge in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh high courts and his candidature from the prestigious seat was recently announced in the 14th list of AAP candidates for Lok Sabha elections.
With Fakhruddin's exit, the sources said social worker Archana Srivastava may be named the AAP candidate from the seat.
Pic: Ashok Pradhan with SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav today after joining the party. Courtesy ANI.
The Congress party is like a watermelon, green on the outside and red on the inside. It is unfortunate that the intelligent youth from Kerala have had to leave this state, says Modi.
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Nath, Union Minister for Urban Development and Parliamentary Affairs, is contesting for a ninth term from Chhindwara and had won the last Lok Sabha election with a margin of over 1.20 lakh votes.
While Nath is banking on his 34-year achievements and his deep relations with the people, BJP candidate and sitting MLA from Chhindwara, Choudhary Chandrabhan Singh is pointing to the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's good governance and development to urge voters to allow the 'lotus' (BJP's poll symbol) to bloom in the constituency.
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Pradhan is considered to have a significant vote bank in the region because he was a four-time BJP MP from the Khurja parliamentary constituency, which was reserved for scheduled castes before delimitation in 2008.
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Read more
Follow the latest election updates on Twitter: @RediffElections
However, Mamata, being Mamta, will have none of it and has openly turned defiant against the EC. She has said that she will challenge the EC to remove anybody while she is charge.
US District Judge Brian Cogan had last month asked Gandhi to provide some form of documentary evidence by April 7 to enable the court to make a determination about her presence in the United States.
The court order had come on a lawsuit filed by the rights groups Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) which claimed it had served summons on Gandhi when she had allegedly visited Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre in the city for a medical check-up in September last year.
The lawsuit against Gandhi hinges on the issue of whether she was served summons on September 9 as the group claims or whether she was not present in the US during that time as per her assertion.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has dared the Election Commission of India after refusing to abide by the agency's order to transfer five SPs and a district magistrate.
A defiant Mamata has said she is even prepared to be arrested and go to jail but would not allow the officials to be transferred while she is in charge.
"I respect the EC, but I won't bow down before them. I have not come to power thanks to your or Congress' mercy,' she has said, further charging, "will you only listen to Congress and not us?'
A CRPF officer who was injured in a Maoist-triggered IED blast in Bihar's Aurangabad district on Monday is no more, CNN IBN reports.
No medical help reached the injured CRPF officer for over two hours that resulted into his death, the report adds. The toll in the blast now stands at three. Two officers were killed on Monday in the blast in Dhibra police station area.
US President Barack Obama has said that Americans are facing competition from India and China and exuded confidence that young Americans can match or exceed anything that they do.
"You guys are all coming up in an age where you're not going to be able to compete with people across town for good jobs -- you're going to be competing with the rest of the world. Young people in India and China, they're all interested in trying to figure out how they get a foothold in this world economy," Obama said while addressing students in Maryland yesterday.
"That's who you're competing against. Now, I'm confident you can match or exceed anything they do, but we don't do it by just resting on what we've done before. We've got to out-work and out-innovate and out-hustle everybody else. We've got to think about new ways of doing things," said the US President.
Obama said he wants to make sure every student in America has a chance to get that moment.
UK advises India against pursuing Shankaran extradition
Pakistani Taliban website taken down
3 CRPF officials killed, 8 injured in landmine blast in Bihar
85 per cent voting in Tripura, 76 per cent in Assam
Election raids: Rs 195,00,00,000 seized; 11,000 FIRs filed
EC notice to Amit Shah for 'revenge' speech in Muzaffarnagar
Modi's name has influenced poll verdict like never before: Advani
Manish Tewari gets bail in Gadkari's defamation case
Army successfully test-fires BrahMos missile
From Ayodhya to good governance, BJP manifesto has it all