In contrast to the inertia in the SP camp, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party showed no complacency in the run-up to the polls this month.
The Maldives media reported Azim's win as a 'landslide' and 'victory by a large margin.'
In comparison, only 65 were killed and 50 security personnel laid down their lives in 2013
At least 22 people were injured and one of them hospitalised, as forces baton charged voters and fired in air twice to scare away a rampaging mob which torched a police vehicle in Rangiya constituency in the final and last phase of polling at 64 of the 126 Assam assembly seats on Monday.
District election officer Mahendra Bahadur Singh said Aman Giri won by a margin of 34,298 votes. He received 1,24,810 votes while Tiwari got 90,512 votes.
The fourth phase of Lok Sabha elections began on Friday, covering seven constituencies in four states where over half-a-crore voters decide the fate of 74 candidates.
The polling will be held between 7 am and 2 pm in 34 constituencies -- 17 each in Kashmir and Jammu divisions. Besides DDC elections, polling will be held for panchayat bypolls in 50 vacant sarpanch seats and 216 vacant panch seats falling within the DDC constituencies, an official spokesman said.
An estimated 66 per cent of the electorate on Tuesday exercised their franchise in assembly elections in Maharashtra, Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh amidst sporadic violence in which one polling agent was killed.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party won the mayoral elections in 10 of the 17 municipal corporations in Uttar Pradesh, results for which were announced on Saturday, virtually adding a third engine to its "double-engine" government.
A day after polling in Chattisgarh's Bastar Lok Sabha seat, two security personnel were on Friday injured in a pressure bomb blast carried out by Naxals in the insurgency-hit Bijapur district of the region, police said.
Out of the 280 constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir, 43 are going to polls in the second phase with 25 in Kashmir and 18 in Jammu division.
Barring Maharashtra, the poll percentage in rest of the states was in excess of 60 per cent while in Puducherry it was 80.47 per cent.
Strong rooms spread across the city storing the electronic voting machines (EVMs) are being heavily guarded, with a 'three-layer security ring'. Tight security arrangements have also been put in place at various centres across the national capital.
This is for the first time in a Lok Sabha election that results of voting machines will be matched with slips generated by paper trail machines.
Polling is scheduled in all 13 seats of Punjab and four of Himachal Pradesh, 13 constituencies in Uttar Pradesh, nine in West Bengal, eight in Bihar, six in Odisha and three seats in Jharkhand besides Chandigarh.
'The local administration is working overtime to improve voter turnout and take it beyond the 50% to 60% mark. This is evident from the massive advertising being done to propagate the same. Not a single government building is left standing without it being plastered with the Election Commission's posters and banners.'
Nearly 70 percent voters cast their franchise in Sri Lanka's first post-Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam presidential election on Tuesday, expected to be a close finish between incumbent Mahinda Rajapaksa and his main challenger General Sarath Fonseka.
"The over-confidence and inability to comprehend the electoral understanding between the SP and the BSP led to the defeat," Adityanath stressed.
"Our nation has given me the mandate for the presidency," Erdogan said in a victory speech in Istanbul, noting his declaration was based on unofficial results. "I would like to congratulate our nation once again. This has been another test of democracy and we have passed this test successfully," CNN quoted the Turkish president as saying.
Despite a slow down in polling at midday due to the scorching heat, voter turnout was around 50 per cent till 2 pm on Friday for elections to the lone Mizoram Lok Sabha seat and by-poll to the Hrangturzo assembly seat.
Bangladesh's violence-plagued general elections, being boycotted by opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led alliance, on Sunday witnessed low turn out in initial hours amid heavy security, as voters preferred to stay inside home fearing violence that has left six persons dead in last 12 hours.
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.
An estimated 60.89 per cent polling was recorded in 17 assembly constituencies of Jharkhand where polling for the third of the five-phase took place on Tuesday.
The Chief Election Commissioner pointed out that the exercise involved nearly 7.3 crore voters and over 1.06 lakh polling stations.
Till 5 pm, Agra recorded 56.61 per cent polling, Aligarh 57.25 per cent, Baghpat 61.35 per cent, Bulandshahr 60,52 per cent, Gautam Buddh Nagar 54.77 per cent, Ghaziabad 54.77 per cent, Hapur 60.50 per cent, Mathura 58.51 per cent, Meerut 58.52 cent, Muzaffarnagar 62.14 per cent and Shamli 61.78 per cent, an EC report said.
Modi can abandon the path of Hindutva only at risk to his position within his own fraternity. But if he pursues a hard line, he faces the risk of being hauled up by his coalition-partners. For the first time in a decade, Modi is not in enviable situation, observes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
Women came out in large numbers to vote on Wednesday despite terror attacks and repeated threats.
Arora gave the example of recently-held JEE and NEET examinations, saying thousands of candidates from various district across India came out to write the test.
'Economic issues do not matter during elections; it is the emotional connect that helps swing votes.'
Around 30 per cent polling was recorded till noon on Tuesday in 72 constituencies spread over 19 districts of Chhattisgarh where voting for the second and last phase of Assembly polls is underway.
The PM appealed to politicians, members of the film fraternity, sportspersons, businessmen, spiritual leaders and members of the media to encourage increased voter participation and urged them to inspire more people to come out and vote during the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
The AISA, SFI, DSF and AISF have come together to form the 'United Left' alliance.
The BJP secured a runaway victory in the Municipal Board elections in Assam, pocketing 72 civic bodies out of 80. The Congress, the principal opposition party of the state, could not even win a single civic body.
Sporadic incidents of violence were reported on Tuesday in some areas where voting is underway in the third phase of the West Bengal assembly elections, even as the overall situation by and large remained peaceful with 34.71 per cent turnout recorded till 11 am, officials said.
Among those killed were eight from TMC, and one worker each of the BJP, the CPI-M, the Congress and the ISF.
In the first phase covering 20 of the total 90 assembly seats, 223 candidates, including 25 women, are in the fray and as per electoral rolls, 40,78,681 voters are eligible to exercise their franchise.
Siddaramaiah exuded confidence that the Congress would get an absolute majority.
The fifth and last phase of the state assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir ended on Saturday with a turnout of 76 per cent.
The phase is crucial as it will decide the fate of several ministers -- Finance Minister Amit Mitra, Agriculture Minister Purnendu Basu, Law Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya, Tourism Minister Bratya Basu, Food and Supplies Minister Jyotipriyo Mullick and Agriculture Marketing Minister Aroop Roy.
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