'Party workers sit outside polling booths and they know everything that is happening.' 'Besides, as a voter when you push the EVM button to vote there is a paper slip that comes out showing you who you voted for.'
Other prominent candidates among the 904 in the fray are Union minister Anurag Thakur, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's nephew Abhishek Banerjee, RJD supremo Lalu Prasad's daughter Misa Bharti.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and former party chief Rahul Gandhi, who were present at the meeting, asked party leaders to remain united and connected with the people, sources said.
Himachal has a tradition of change in government after every elections and going by the trend, this time it is the turn of the BJP which is upbeat after exit poll results.
An elated Aam Aadmi Party after winning the Municipal Corporation of Delhi polls on Thursday vowed to improve civic amenities in the national capital while the Bharatiya Janata Party thanked voters for "recognising" its work as it took solace in securing over a hundred seats despite exit poll predicting its rout.
"He (Manjhi) was in constant touch with BJP leaders. He recently met several BJP leaders... He wanted to be part of the June 23 meeting of opposition leaders... but I had apprehensions that he might leak issues/matters that will be discussed on June 23.
The senior Paswan sought an appointment and waited for more than three months but Rahul Gandhi did not relent, said Chirag Paswan, who at that time too was keen to leave the UPA and join the National Democratic Alliance.
AAP chief spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar said its top leadership will take a call on attending the Mumbai meeting of the opposition bloc INDIA, following the statement by Lamba.
The NPP has won six seats and was leading in 19 other constituencies as counting of votes polled in the February 27 polls was underway.
Congress has backed Election Commission's views on restricting publication and dissemination of opinion polls during elections, saying the random surveys are "erroneous", "lack credibility" and could be "manipulated" by vested interests.
At least one commentator felt that both the BJP's reach and popularity had been underestimated in Kerala. They have shown systematic gain; one that seems personality-neutral and therefore institutionalised, explains Shyam G Menon.
Equity investors suffered a massive loss of Rs 31 lakh crore on Tuesday as markets went into a tailspin with the BSE Sensex tumbling nearly 6 per cent as vote counting trends showed the BJP may not have a clear majority in the Lok Sabha polls. Erasing the record-rally of the previous trade, the 30-share BSE Sensex cracked 4,389.73 points or 5.74 per cent to settle at 72,079.05. During the day, the benchmark tanked 6,234.35 points or 8.15 per cent to hit a nearly five-month low of 70,234.43.
'There is some deep rot that has set in the Congress party. This requires an organisational surgery.'
The results of this election, largely touted as a three-cornered contest among a spirited AAP, a confident BJP and a hopeful Congress, may have ramifications beyond the national capital.
Counting of votes for the high-profile Delhi Assembly polls in which Bharatiya Janata Party and Aam Aadmi Party are locked in a direct fight will be taken up on Tuesday and final results are likely to be available by 1 pm.
'He has emerged as a formidable leader who cannot be ignored anymore, who cannot be mocked.'
Buoyed by exit poll surveys, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday claimed that it would form governments on its own in Haryana and Maharashtra, and stressed that it would not require support of the Shiv Sena to form government in the latter.
In the last six assembly elections, the state voted the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress to power alternately.
Buoyed by the exit polls projections, the party has sent its senior leaders including general secretary Randeep Surjewala and Avinash Pande, chairman of the Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee screening committee, to Patna for proper coordination with the allies and possibly also to keep its flock together after the results are declared.
This is Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya's maiden Lok Sabha election, but political experts and voters feel he can easily win Porbandar seat in his home state Gujarat, despite the electorate facing some key issues like unemployment.
The Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies are well on the way to power in two north-eastern states, and is almost certain to be part of the ruling dispensation in the third.
According to an AAP functionary, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal held a meeting with senior party leaders, including Sanjay Singh and Manish Sisodia, and political strategist Prashant Kishor at his residence on Saturday night.
159 dismissals in 36 Tests, 149 dismissals in 89 ODIs, and 89 dismissals in 70 T20s are very good by any standards. And yet they don't speak to Bumrah's true value and his special appeal, notes Sreehari Nair.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party appears to win with a bigger mandate this time in Maharashtra and Haryana, exit polls have predicted. Both Maharashtra and Haryana assembly elections were held on Monday. So will the exit polls be right or will the states witness a surprise? Catch all the leads and results HERE
The TDP and JD-U will have a lot to answer inside Parliament, day after day, session after session, notes N Sathiya Moorthy.
The former president claimed that subjects like immigration and inflation were covered "in great detail" both in Tuesday night's discussion with Harris and in his June debate with President Biden.
It would be the biggest Conservative victory since 1987, the poll suggests.
Accompanied by his son Santosh Suman, Manjhi met Shah at his residence in New Delhi.
Most exit polls have forecast gains for Congress in at least four states including a clear majority in Rajasthan.
With the assembly election results throwing up surprises, most exit polls got the outcome in Chhattisgarh and the scale of the Bharatiya Janata Party's win in Madhya Pradesh wrong.
The people of Delhi have made a hardcore honest and working Kejriwalji win, Sisodia said.
From florists in Ghazipur's phool mandi to sweet shop owners in Old Delhi's Chandni Chowk, the preparations, if not the sales, have already begun.
The great Indian election is over and now the wait for the results is shrinking with every passing moment. Though exit polls hint at a cakewalk for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his National Democratic Alliance, there are some battles which will be keenly observed on the result day.
Former general Susilo Bambang Yud-hoyono's popularity is probably due to his tough stand on terrorism and corruption, which also endears him to the west, say analysts.
Leaders of the West Bengal Congress unit, which has an alliance with the CPI-M-led Left Front in the state, were seen welcoming the Left leaders.
Sarma, who heads the Bharatiya Janata Party-led North East Development Alliance (NEDA), met Sangma at a hotel in Guwahati on Tuesday night, they said.
Union minister Nitin Gadkari on Friday said the Bharatiya Janata Party has been a party with a difference and that is why it has repeatedly won the trust of voters, but cautioned against the saffron outfit repeating mistakes committed by the Congress in the past which saw its exit from power.
The Reserve Bank on Thursday said it has put in place contingency plans to infuse liquidity into the system to deal with any possible volatility in markets on Friday in view of the election results.
Many exit polls have kept the incumbent Bharatiya Janata party ahead of the Congress in what was a straight contest between two main parties. Assembly polls were held in the state in a single phase on November 17.
The party workers were busy overseeing the preparations for the D-Day and said the exit polls had underlined what they were always confident about.
