The BJP-Shiv Sena alliance has made significant progress in challenging the Thackeray family's control over Mumbai's Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) after nearly 25 years. The results mark a potential shift in Mumbai's civic politics, with the BJP emerging as a central force.
The counting of votes for all 824 seats across four states and one Union Territory will be held on May 4.
However, the percentage is likely to go up as the figures were not final.
Congress leader K Muraleedharan criticises blaming communities for voting choices in Kerala, responding to BJP leaders' remarks about the Catholic church. He also expresses confidence in the UDF's prospects in the upcoming election and criticises the Election Commission's arrangements.
The results for the election to the 243-member Bihar assembly will be available on Friday, November 14, 2025.
The Election Commission of India has dismissed claims by the Congress party alleging voter list irregularities during the recent Maharashtra assembly elections. In a detailed response, the EC asserted that there were no arbitrary additions or deletions of voters and that the electoral process was conducted with transparency and adherence to rules.
Voting is being held in 59 of the total 60 seats .
The Supreme Court of India has asked petitioners in two Public Interest Litigations (PILs) to make representations to the Election Commission of India (ECI) regarding their demand for uploading polling booth-wise voter turnout data on the ECI website. The PILs, filed by TMC MP Mahua Moitra and NGO Association for Democratic Reforms, seek a direction for the ECI to upload the data within 48 hours of the conclusion of polling in Lok Sabha and assembly elections. The ECI, represented by senior advocate Maninder Singh, expressed willingness to deliberate on the matter and suggested a meeting with the petitioners to address their concerns. The court has adjourned the hearing to the week of July 28.
Nepal's Rastriya Swatantra Party is surging ahead in the general elections after Gen Z protests ousted the previous government, signaling a potential new era in Nepali politics.
Counting of votes begins in Tamil Nadu, Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, and West Bengal, with significant implications for regional and national parties.
For nearly two decades, Nitish Kumar has cultivated women as a distinct constituency. 'To create a broader vote base, he thought it would be better to bring women to electoral politics.'
BJP's Panihati candidate Ratna Debnath faced protests by TMC workers when she visited a booth in the assembly constituency in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas district where polling was underway. She also accused the ruling party activists of preventing her from leaving the booth premises, following an altercation with them over an allegation of influencing voters.
The stage is now set for the first substantial round of polling in the Lok Sabha elections on Thursday, involving nearly 11 crore voters in 92 seats spread across 11 states, including Delhi and the national capital region and the riot-hit Muzaffarnagar.
Polling in Madhya Pradesh was marred by complaints of faulty EVMs and voter verifiable paper audit trail machines.
A voter turnout of 65.79 per cent was recorded in the just-concluded Lok Sabha elections, but the final figures may change as it does not include postal ballots, the Election Commission said on Thursday.
The by-elections are seen as a prestigious popularity test for the ruling Congress-Janata Dal-Secular coalition, as the outcome is expected to have a bearing on the state's political scene.
The US appears to be on track to see over 160 million votes cast in the 2020 presidential election, a turnout rate of about 67 per cent, which is higher than what the country has witnessed in more than a century, as President Donald Trump and his Democratic rival Joe Biden campaigned through the final day to get more voters to the polling booths.
The Election Commission expressed disappointment over the continued low voter turnout in urban areas of Maharashtra despite their efforts to increase participation. Despite motivational campaigns and measures for ease of voting, cities like Mumbai, Pune, and Thane recorded a dismal voter turnout. While Maharashtra recorded an overall voter turnout of 58.22 percent as of 5 PM, Jharkhand saw a higher turnout of 67.59 percent. The EC attributed the low turnout to urban apathy, a trend observed in previous state and parliamentary elections.
A BMC spokesperson said the average voter turnout stood at 29.96 per cent till 1.30 pm in the metropolis, which has more than 1 crore eligible electors.
Moderate turnout was recorded in the first four hours of polling across five assembly constituencies across Punjab, West Bengal, Gujarat and Kerala where bypolls are underway on Thursday.
Delhi picked up the pace and a 67 per cent voter turnout was recorded till 6 pm.
High voter turnout was recorded in the assembly polls in Assam and West Bengal where an estimated 82.02 per cent and 79.51 per cent of the voters cast their ballots till 5 pm.
The share of none of the above (NOTA) option went up marginally this time in the Bihar assembly polls as compared to the last elections but is still much lower than 2015, data shared by the Election Commission shows.
In a first, the Bihar assembly polls this time saw no voting day deaths and no re-polling being ordered in any constituency.
The Congress said the ECI finally released the voter turnout data late last night after a completely unacceptable delay of 11 days for Phase I and 4 days for Phase 2.
The Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) has criticised Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma after its Guwahati Central candidate, Kunki Chowdhury, was summoned by police in connection with an election-related case. The AJP alleges the ruling BJP is using intimidation tactics due to Chowdhury's strong performance.
A total of 71 assembly constituencies of Bihar spread across 16 districts went to polls on Wednesday in the first phase amid tight security and with COVID-19 guidelines in place.
It looks as if competing political parties in Tamil Nadu have not grasped the full impact and import of a sizable section of voters possibly staying away from voting -- voters, supposedly with a predictable polling pattern -- owing to the Covid second wave and more so, how it could affect the outcome in individual constituencies and even booths, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor believes migrant workers who stayed back after Chhath Puja are influencing the Bihar assembly elections.
The poll panel said it found Kharge's letter, placed in the public domain in the middle of the ongoing electoral process, 'highly undesirable' and designed to create confusion, misdirection and impediment to the conduct of smooth, free and fair elections.
Elections to the 40-member Legislative Assembly in Goa would be held today, where 10.25 lakh voters will decide the fate of 215 candidates, including nine women and 74 independents in the fray.
In the 2012 assembly elections, Goa had recorded an impressive 81.8 per cent voting.
India on Friday said that the United States' administration's information regarding funding in India is 'deeply troubling' and has led to concerns regarding foreign interference in India's internal affairs.
If the Bangladesh Nationalist Party wins, Tarique Rahman will be Bangladesh's first male prime minister in 36 years.
The Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) has criticised Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma after its candidate, Kunki Chowdhury, was summoned by police in connection with an election-related case, alleging political harassment and misuse of power by the ruling BJP.
The commission said polling was held at 15,940 polling stations spread across 44 assembly constituencies in this phase of polls.
Violence was reported from some places of the north east state hours before the second phase of polling commenced as a BJP supporter was gunned down allegedly by a Congress worker and a crude bomb exploded outside the residence of an expelled saffron party leader, police said.
Gujarat Chief Electoral Officer Anita Karwal tells Rediff.com's Prasanna D Zore about the amazing ways state electoral officers boosted voter sentiment, and the likely reasons behind the high turnout in the first phase of the assembly election. An exclusive interview!
Fear of violence has kept many voters away.
The male-female turnout gap was wide in Bihar and Jharkhand. While in Bihar, the male turnout was 52.42 percent, the female turnout was 61.58 percent.
