Electioneering ended in Madhya Pradesh at 6 pm except in Naxalites-hit districts of Balaghat, Mandla and Dindori, where campaigning drew to a close early at 3 pm.
While the Aam Aadmi Party is contesting on four seats, the Congress has fielded candidates for the remaining three seats.
On the eve of the meeting hosted by it, the Congress clarified that it will oppose the ordinance on Delhi services in Parliament, a key condition put by the AAP to attend the talks.
The Trinamool Congress and the Communist Party of India on Tuesday said they will skip the inauguration ceremony of the new Parliament building even as the war of words over the prime minister and not the President scheduled to do the honours on May 28 continued between the government and the Congress.
Aam Aadmi Party National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal said on Wednesday that whatever the Pakistan Army had done to two Indian soldiers at the Line of Control was totally inhuman and unpardonable, but war should not take place between the two nations on the issue.
The sources said the Congress is the binding force for the opposition bloc and the stronger the Congress emerges the better for the alliance.
A councillor of the Aam Aadmi Party has moved the Supreme Court challenging a Punjab and Haryana high court order that has refused to grant any interim relief to the party seeking fresh mayoral polls in Chandigarh.
'It could backfire on the BJP and boost the Opposition parties.'
The top court had on March 4 directed the party to vacate its office by June 15 after noting that the plot was allotted to the Delhi high court for expanding judicial infrastructure.
"I am fighting a big battle to save my country from the corrupt. That is why they are behind bars today and not getting bail even from the Supreme Court," Modi said.
Hours after taking a 'U-turn' by informing the high court that it is withdrawing its notification dissolving all gram panchayats in the state, the Punjab government suspended two senior Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers on Thursday for a 'technically-flawed' decision.
The AAP has accused the BJP of wanting to impose President's rule in Delhi by poaching its legislators and breaking the party.
The Union home ministry has recommended the special CAG audit taking note of a May 24 letter by Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena which pointed out 'gross and prima facie financial irregularities' in the 'reconstruction' of the chief minister's official residence, they claimed.
"Our politics is about bringing the society together and not to break it," the Prime Minister said and asked partymen to work towards bringing the Congress party closer to the 'aam aadmi'.
Campaigning for the first phase of the Gujarat assembly elections to be held on December 1 ended at 5 pm on Tuesday.
As trends indicate an easy return to power for the Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi, former Janata Dal-United vice-president, Prashant Kishor, thanked the people for "standing up to protect" the country's soul.
The opposition Congress has decided to support the bandh in protest against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party's 'failure' to control the situation in the north-eastern state, a party spokesperson said on Saturday.
The high-level committee on 'one nation, one election' approached 62 parties out which 47 responded -- 32 in support of holding elections simultaneously, 15 against it.
Tandon, son former Chhattisgarh governor late Balramji Das Tandon, assured everyone that he will live up to the expectations and the trust which the BJP has reposed in him.
'We are in a dilemma if the central government supports this ethnic violence and Biren Singh.'
In the last five years, 480 candidates with declared cases related to hate speech have contested elections to state assemblies, the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, the ADR said.
'We have liberals here, we have conservatives. We have wisdom here, we have silliness. We are a motley gathering of every kind of people... What we have failed in is governance. We need a different set of politicians. The country has to be changed by new people,' says Shazia Ilmi of the Aam Aadmi Party.
If Kejriwal is arrested, it will take very little for Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena to summon a meeting of the assembly, direct it to elect a new leader of the House, and, if it doesn't, dissolve it and impose President's Rule, predicts Aditi Phadnis.
The real risk is that the core assumption -- that the votes for a candidate sponsored by an alliance will at least equal the sum total of its parts -- proves to be facile, observes T N Ninan.
'One needs to understand what kind of means the BJP use to bring other party leaders in their party.' 'They are unscrupulous politicians and money plays an important role.'
While Congress is focusing on its commitment to the aam aadmi through its slogans, its arch rival BJP has built its campaign around its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi for the 16th Lok Sabha elections.
Another meeting convened by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge at his residence in New Delhi on Wednesday with the floor leaders of the INDIA constituents in Parliament will, however, go ahead according to its schedule to formulate the opposition strategy for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
The INDIA bloc has 95 MPs in Rajya Sabha of which 45 were suspended on Monday.
Gupta, along with some other leaders, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in the presence of Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri and the party's national general secretary Vinod Tawde.
Inequality and inclusiveness are different, with the latter having several components.
'Shashi Tharoor has publicised whatever little he has done, far more than what he has actually done. Some of the bigger promises he made could never be implemented.' Ajit Joy, a former police officer and Aam Aadmi Party candidate from Thiruvananthapuram, tells Rediff.com's Shobha Warrier that he is a more attractive candidate in his constituency than sitting MP Tharoor.
Besides disclosing in their affidavits, candidates have to prominently declare criminal cases they are facing, if any, thrice in newspapers in print as well on television, he said, adding that political parties too have to publish within three days of nomination why a candidate with criminal background was selected. "You (political parties) have to tell the public whether you did not get any (other) candidate and why was it necessary to select them (those with criminal background)," he said.
Violence and vandalism at toll plazas point to poor planning. An independent highway regulator would have helped the cause.
The committee has also recommended highlighting 'Hindu victories' in various battles in the textbooks.
The Congress now knows that it is the only force -- however weakened it might be -- that stands between the BJP and India's evolution into a single-party Republic. Because, once it is out of the way, the BJP could sort out the other regional powers: Co-opting some, demolishing others, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
Modi warned BJP workers and supporters to be aware of the Congress which, he said, has stopped abusing him and is "working silently" to capture rural votes.
Several leaders of the opposition's Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) have given a privilege notice against leader of the house in Rajya Sabha Piyush Goyal over his certain remarks against some opposition leaders.
The Congress party finished second, winning a paltry 17 seats, while the Aam Aadmi Party bagged just five.
Haryana is witnessing a multi-cornered contest this time, with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party facing anti-incumbency and a resurgent Congress.
