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.
Naresh Agarwal, who defected from Samajwadi Party, on Wednesday joined the BSP which declared him as its candidate for the Lok Sabha polls from Farrukhabad seat, a day after another SP leader Dhaniram Verma was inducted into Mayawati-led party. Agarwal, who was transport minister in the erstwhile Mulayam Singh Yadav government, was inducted into the party by chief minister Mayawati.
Saturday's voting will mark the end to the marathon polling process that began on April 19 month and has already covered 486 Lok Sabha seats in 28 states and Union territories.
The Bahujan Samaj Party on Tuesday said it is yet to decide on fielding candidate against Samajwadi Party nominee Dimple Yadav in Kannauj.
A senior SP leader requesting anonymity said that the party chief had called a meeting to brief the MLAs about the voting process of the Rajya Sabha elections.
Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party has emerged as the third largest party in the Rajya Sabha, relegating the CPI(M) to fourth position in yet another bad news for Marxists ahead of the Assembly polls in West Bengal and Kerala.
In the same breath, the RPI-A leader said, "No one can challenge Prime Minister Narendra Modi -- neither Congress president Rahul Gandhi, nor SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, nor BSP supremo Mayawati."
Three of the fence-sitters rule fairly large states Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Odisha that together send 63 members to Lok Sabha -- where the Congress or other opposition parties have been pushed to the margins.
Several BJP voters say the Ram temple sentiment may give the ruling party a fillip but are also aware of the herculean task at hand and concede that it is a daunting electoral contest for Dinesh Singh, who lost to Sonia Gandhi in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
Faceless Ambedkarite groups from across the country are running BSP's election war rooms, writes Archis Mohan.
Banda chief judicial magistrate Bhagwan Das Gupta appointed Garima Singh, additional chief judicial magistrate (MP-MLA Court Banda) as the investigating officer in the case, the official said.
The party high command was likely to take a decision in this connection soon, they said.
Agrahari said the case against the eight men was filed at the complaint of Umesh Pal's wife Jaya Pal.
However, he said it would have been better to have an alliance and expressed confidence that the party will win upcoming assembly elections in all states --- Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Telangana.
The case pertains to the issuance of mining leases in alleged violation of e-tendering process. The Allahabad High Court had ordered the probe.
Mayawati, however, said this should not mean that there would be some kind of electoral understanding between the BSP and Congress.
Action will be taken against such MLAs, he said.
In a letter to the prime minister, Ali also demanded that he be provided enhanced security in view of an "escalation of threats" against him.
Apparently peeved over denial of ticket from Lucknow (west) seat, senior BSP leader Neeraj Bora on Thursday resigned from the party, which claimed that he was expelled.
With Bidhuri expressing regret, sources said, the committee was likely to bring closure to the matter and send its report to the speaker.
Confident of giving a tough fight to Congress and BJP, Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party, which surprised many by ranking third in 2008 Assembly elections with a vote share of 14 per cent, is all to set announce its candidates for all the 70 seats in Delhi.
Bharatiya Janata Party Member of Legislative Assembly Sangeet Som, accused of uploading a fake video that played a role in provoking communal tension in Muzaffarnagar and making inflammatory speeches, was arrested on Saturday.
Mayawati said it became necessary for her to make the announcement as the Congress and some other parties, as part of a "conspiracy", are allegedly trying to create an impression that they would be forging an alliance with the BSP.
On Tuesday, 49 opposition MPs were suspended for the remaining part of the session for disrupting proceedings, taking the total tally of suspended MPs in Lok Sabha to 95.
Eight Union ministers, two former chief ministers and one ex-governor are among those who are set to test their electoral fate in the first phase of elections on April 19 when 102 seats across 21 states and Union territories will go to polls.
The Bahujan Samaj Party, which has decided to contest the Lok Sabha elections on its own, on Tuesday announced candidates for 12 out of 39 constituencies in Tamil Nadu. In the first phase, BSP president Mayawati cleared 12 names and the process was on to select candidates for the remaining constituencies. The party was in the process of identifying suitable candidates from each community to be fielded in all the Lok Sabha constituencies in Tamil Nadu, said a BSP leader.
'Everybody knows Mayawati sells party tickets and even her party members take pride in telling this'
Kicking off Uttar Pradesh poll campaign, Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah on Saturday took a dig at infighting in the Mulayam Singh Yadav family and targeted the ruling Samajwadi Party as well as the Bahujan Samaj Party, saying neither party is bothered about development of the state.
Bansuri Swaraj, the daughter of former Union minister Sushma Swaraj, will contest the upcoming Lok Sabha polls from the New Delhi seat and incumbent MP Manoj Tiwari from Northeast Delhi as the Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday announced the names of five candidates from the national capital, dropping four MPs -- Meenakshi Lekhi, Harsh Vardhan, Parvesh Verma and Ramesh Bidhuri.
Ruling out any truck with the Bahujan Samaj Party, Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday gave his battle cry against the Mayawati regime.
Founder of Bahujan Samaj Party, Kanshi Ram, died in New Delhi early on Monday due to complications arising out of multiple ailments he had been suffering for quite some time.
Ruling out any election alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party in the coming Lok Sabha polls, the CPI(M) today said the two parties would, however, come together on common issues to keep the Congress-led UPA and BJP-led NDA at bay.
A video had surfaced on social media which purportedly showed SP leader Mukesh Siddharth making the controversial statement.
Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra on Thursday pleaded innocence to the 'cash-for-query' allegation levelled against her and told a parliamentary committee that the charge is motivated by animus of advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai after she broke off her personal relations with him, sources said.
Akhilesh Yadav said those who are looking for "profit" in the situation will leave.
Opposition Bahujan Samaj Party on Tuesday created noisy scenes in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly over alleged "massive irregularities" in the procurement of wheat in the state and walked out expressing dissatisfaction of the government's response to the matter.
'The water crisis is so obvious that people see no point begging for it from politicians.'
'EVMs did not accept votes polled for any party other than BJP'. The BSP chief said that the results in UP and Uttarakhand were surprising and not palatable to anyone.
'In Western UP, last time a lot of Dalits voted for the BJP.' 'This time, there is a rethink among Dalits about the extent of their support for the BJP.'
Cricketer-turned-politician Chetan Sharma on Tuesday quit the Bahujan Samaj Party and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party at a function in Faridabad but said he will not contest the forthcoming assembly elections in Haryana.
