Even with the best methodology there is a limitation to what opinion poll/exit polls can achieve. When done correctly, the polls should give the broad story, points out Rajeeva Karandikar, director, Chennai Mathematical Institute.
Chief Election Commissioner B B Tandon will be visiting the state to oversee the arrangements in Bihar.
In a rare protest, an angry Bharatiya Janata Party leader used donkeys to register his protest after being denied a ticket for the upcoming Bihar assembly elections.
Among the keenly watched contests are those involving former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav (Kannauj, UP) and Union ministers Giriraj Singh (Begusarai, Bihar), Nityanand Rai (Ujiarpur, Bihar) and Raosaheb Danve (Jalna, Maharashtra).
The Election Commission on Thursday asked its Delhi chief electoral officer to probe the Aam Aadmi Party's complaints against Bharatiya Janata Party leader Parvesh Verma and allegations of additions and deletions in the electoral roll of the New Delhi assembly seat.
Bihar's ruling JD-U and Lalu Prasad's RJD on Sunday decided to contest the state assembly elections in alliance and constitute a six member committee to finalize seat-sharing.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Sunday snubbed the Rashtriya Janata Dal, headed by his arch-rival Lalu Prasad Yadav, stating that he had forged alliances 'by mistake' with the opposition party which 'did nothing' while in power.
Rashtriya Janata Dal president Lalu Prasad Yadav on Wednesday dropped hints that the Mahagathbandhan helmed by his party might bring on board former Union minister Pashupati Kumar Paras, whom the National Democratic Alliance has sidelined in favour of estranged nephew Chirag Paswan.
A Janata Dal-United leader was allegedly murdered in Bihar's Nalanda district in the early hours of Monday, the police said.
District education officer Ajay Kumar Singh said teacher Harendra Rajak's conduct was brought to his notice by family members of several students of the government secondary school at Amrakh in Kurhani block.
Heat wave is believed to have contributed to several voters not turning up at polling stations in both the phases.
The cabinet of the new government led by Rekha Gupta balances representation of all major communities that propelled the Bharatiya Janata Party to power in Delhi with a massive majority after over 26 years.
The marathon polling process to elect the 18th Lok Sabha ended on Saturday with the seventh phase of elections witnessing an approximate voter turnout of 62.36 per cent, amid clashes between Trinamool Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party supporters in Sandeshkhali and some other parts of West Bengal.
Besides Defence Minister Singh (Lucknow), Minister of Women and Child Development Irani (Amethi), those in the fray are Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Kaushal Kishor (Mohanlalganj) and Minister of State of Consumer Affairs Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti (Fatehpur).
To tap Indian civil aviation market's growth potential, the government on Saturday announced a modified regional air connectivity scheme UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik) to connect 120 new destinations, airport projects in Bihar and upgradation of infrastructure for air cargo in the Union Budget.
Lok Sabha polls will be held in seven phases beginning from April 19 and the counting of votes will take place on June 4 for the world's biggest election exercise in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi will bid for a third consecutive term.
The Congress party suffered a crushing defeat in the Delhi elections, failing to secure a single seat in the 70-member assembly for the third consecutive time. Key candidates, including Sheila Dikshit's son, Sandeep Dikshit, lost their deposits. The only consolation for the party was a slight improvement in its vote share, which they attribute to a vigorous campaign and a renewed focus on contesting elections independently. However, the defeat raises questions about the party's ability to compete in the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha elections, particularly in light of its performance in other recent state elections.
Lok Janshakti Party MP Mehboob Ali Kaiser, the lone Muslim to have been elected to the Lok Sabha from the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance in Bihar, joined the Rashtriya Janata Dal on Sunday, in a shot in the arm for the opposition party amid the elections.
'It is advisable to stay away from the markets for now and buy only on a dip.'
Sources said Paswan's party may contest on five of the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, and Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar supremo Sharad Pawar were among the famous faces who queued up at the polling booths on Tuesday to caste their votes in the third phase of the Lok Sabha elections.
If everything goes according to the plan, the exercise will begin after the Lok Sabha elections, the official said.
Voting for the second phase of Lok Sabha polls will be held on Friday for 88 seats in 13 states with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi seeking a second-straight term from Wayanad in Kerala.
Refusing renomination to 14 more sitting MLAs, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday night came out with its second list of 99 party candidates for Bihar assembly polls.
'Nitish does not want to talk about development, unemployment, education, health infrastructure and poverty'
'But this Budget alone will not fix what ails the Indian economy.'
Lakhs of voters will have to bear the searing heat when they step out to exercise their franchise in the second phase of the Lok Sabha elections on Friday.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar attacks the BJP, saying that its only intention is to capture absolute power.
Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo Lalu Prasad on Tuesday challenged Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi to contest the state assembly elections against former chief minister Rabri Devi, who is contesting from two constituencies.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar's wife Sunetra Pawar on Thursday filed papers as an NCP candidate for Rajya Sabha elections.
After Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Monday accused the Nitish Kumar government of not properly utilising Central funds. Nitish, meanwhile, accused Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of trying to shift the blame on the state government for "failure" of central agencies on the fund utilisation issue.
The success story written by Nitish Kumar in Bihar has not gone unnoticed in the neighbouring Uttar Pradesh where his counterpart chief minister Mayawati appears to be getting serious about governance.
Campaigning for May 13 elections in 96 Lok Sabha constituencies across 10 states and Union territories including all seats in Andhra Pradesh, where assembly elections are also being held concurrently, and Telangana concluded on Saturday evening.
The two parties had fallen out with each other in October last year when the RJD unilaterally decided to contest by-elections for two assembly seats, evoking strong protest from the Congress which vowed to go it alone in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and the assembly elections which will be held a year later.
Notwithstanding the strains in their relations with Bharatiya Janata Party, Janata Dal-United will fight next year's elections in Bihar in alliance with the saffron outfit, party's national President Sharad Yadav said on Saturday.
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.
Indications are that the polls could be held sometime in October-November.
Amid deepening fissures in Kumar's ties with the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Congress, BJP leaders have indicated that they are open to tying up with him again.
Highly placed sources in NDA said that both parties have agreed to share the 243 assembly seats there as per the formulae of the last election in October 2005 under which JD-U had contested 139 seats and BJP 102.
The proportion of postal votes polled in the general elections has gradually risen since 2009.
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