NEW DELHI: The Lok Sabha is all set to get a Dalit woman as its Speaker. Ms Meira Kumar, who resigned from the Union Cabinet on Sunday, has become the consensus candidate of both the ruling coalition and the Opposition, including BJP.

The formal nomination of Ms Kumar for the post of Speaker of the Lok Sabha is expected to be announced on Tuesday. Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who is also UPA chairperson, is expected to propose Ms Kumar’s name in the nomination paper. It is likely to be seconded by Leader of the House Pranab Mukherjee. She’ll be formally elected as the Speaker on Wednesday.

The choice of Ms Kumar as the party's candidate for the presiding officer of the Lok Sabha is the crowning glory of the Congress' efforts to woo the Dalit vote.

In its second innings, the UPA has appointed nine Dalits in the council of ministers, of which five are in the Cabinet — four from Congress and one from DMK. Ms Krishna Tirath is the sole Dalit among the seven ministers of state with independent charge.

Congress, which is experiencing a revival, especially in politically crucial states like Uttar Pradesh, would like to tap into the Dalit votebank. In Uttar Pradesh, there has been a degree of disenchantment with Mayawati's BSP even among the Dalits.

Congress would not like to miss the opportunity to draw this sizeable votebank into its fold. In appointing Dalits from across the country to positions of responsibility and authority, Congress hopes to present an alternative and more inclusive focal point.

So, while Ms Mayawati's efforts of "social upliftment" have been centred on making a "dalit ki beti" (a Dalit's daughter) the prime minister, Congress is attempting to present a more inclusive picture of empowerment.

Congress' resurgence story was most clearly visible in Uttar Pradeh in the general elections. The party would like to consolidate onto this renewed interest of the electorate. Attracting the Dalit vote is crucial if the party has to place itself ahead of BSP. It has already managed to eat into BSP and SP's Muslim vote base, and cornering at least a section of the Dalit vote would place it ahead of its rivals in the state.

Nearly 15 per cent turnout was recorded in the first three hours of polling for the fourth phase of Lok Sabha elections in eight states and union territories, barring Jammu and Kashmir where it began on a dull note and violence was reported.

A petrol bomb was hurled at a polling booth on the outskirts of Srinagar two hours ahead of polling but no one was injured. Minor skirmishes were reported in Punjab and Haryana while polling elsewhere was by and large peaceful.

Among the early voters were President Pratibha Patil, Vice President Hamid Ansari, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, his deputy Sukhbir Singh Badal, Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Union Minister Kapil Sibal.

As many as 9.46 crore people are eligible to vote in 85 constituencies in the fourth phase, in which 1,315 candidates including 119 women are in the fray.

BJP president Rajnath Singh (Ghaziabad), Congress' Pranab Mukherjee (Jangipur), SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav (Mainpuri), RJD supremo Lalu Prasad (Pataliputra) and National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah (Srinagar) are the big names contesting in this phase.

While polling for the Srinagar seat began on a dull note, 39-year-old Omar Abdullah said after casting his vote, "People are coming out to vote regardless of the boycott call given by the separatists and this itself is a healthy sign."

Other prominent candidates include Congress' Kapil Sibal (Chandni Chowk), Sachin Pilot (Ajmer), Shekhar Suman (Patna Saheb), Ajay Maken (New Delhi), BJP's Shatrughan Sinha (Patna Saheb), HJC's Bhajan Lal (Hisar) and RLD's Ajit Singh (Baghpat).

Brisk polling was reported from four of the 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab including hyper sensitive seats of Bathinda and Patiala. The other nine seats in the state will go to polls in the last phase on May 13.

In Haryana, an estimated 13 per cent voters turned out to exercise their franchise in the first three hours of polling.

In Rajasthan, where elections to all the 25 seats are being held, polling figures varied between 10 and 15 per cent in the initial hours.

Since the polls began on April 16, election has been completed to 372 seats of the 545-member Lok Sabha. Elections are held only to 543 seats, as two members are nominated from the Anglo-Indian community.
Turnout in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal was around 15 per cent till noon.

Polling to all the 25 seats in Rajasthan, 10 in Haryana and seven in Delhi will be completed at one go. Elections are also being held for three seats in Bihar, one in Jammu and Kashmir, four in Punjab, 18 in Uttar Pradesh and 17 in West Bengal.

MANGALORE: Though the Dakshina Kannada Lok Sabha segment is no stranger to high poll percentages, the voter turnout this time, especially among the Christian community, has caught the most seasoned psephologist in Mangalore offguard.

By registering a stunning 74.29 per cent voter turnout, the district bettered all its previous poll figures.

Many are attributing the large voter turnout on the decision of the Christian community to vote in large numbers.

Christians have usually been indifferent to elections. The Mangalore City Corporation elections in 2007 witnessed a turnout of less than 20 per cent even in Christian-dominated pockets.

But the attacks on churches and moral policing finally pushed the community to take the elections seriously.

For the first time, the influential Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI) used e-mail to send the Ten Commandments to all Bishops in India. These commandments, scripted by Bishop Ivon Ambroise, defined the role of a Christian during polls.

Within a week, the United Catholics of Mangalore Diocese (UNICAD) begun circulating handbills from April 19, listing five commandments for Christians. The handbills insisted on compulsory voting even to the extent of using ‘tendered voting’.

A Christian woman in Moodbidri, after finding that somebody had cast her vote, insisted and exercised a tendered vote.

Caste Your Vote Andolan (CYVA) convenor Marcel Monteiro said two factors prompted Christians to vote in large numbers.

He said that the CBCI and Bishop’s circular witnessed the inclusion of 9,000 voters who until then had not bothered to vote. “Besides the Mangalore pub violence, church attacks and moral policing had forced Christians to take a firm resolve on voting out fascist forces.” Whether they have succeeded in achieving their goal will be known on May 16.

The first round of polling on 16 April was marked by violence in naxal-infested states, where 19 people were killed

New Delhi: People in 12 states and union territories will vote tomorrow to elect 140 MPs in the second phase of Lok Sabha elections being contested by big names including Rahul Gandhi, Sharad Pawar, George Fernandes, Ramvilas Paswan and Sushma Swaraj with their campaigning focussed mostly on the theme who is fit to lead the country.

Election is already on today in one seat in Manipur Lok Sabha constituency, although polling there is counted as part of round-two of the five-phase elections. Polling would also be completed tomorrow to the state assemblies of Andhra Pradesh and Orissa.

The first round of polling on 16 April was marked by violence in naxal-infested states, where 19 people were killed.

Rahul Gandhi is seeking re-election from the Gandhi family pocket-borough of Amethi in Uttar Pradesh, Pawar from the newly created seat of Madha in Maharashtra, Swaraj from Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh and Paswan from Hajipur in Bihar. Fernandes is contesting as an independent from Muzaffarpur after being shut out of his party.

Union Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath is contesting from Chhindwara constituency in Madhya Pradesh, while other prominent names include Akhilesh Prasad Singh (Purvi Champaran, Bihar), Raghuvansh Prasad Singh (Vaishali, Bihar) and Raghunath Jha (Valmikinagar, Bihar).

Like in the first phase, campaigning was peaceful but was aimed at verbally bruising the opponent and sometimes one’s own allies.

RJD president and UPA ally Lalu Prasad accused the Congress too of being responsible for the 1992 demolition of the 16th century Babri Masjid in Uttar Pradesh, an incident that had triggered a series of clashes between Hindus and Muslims.

The demolition of the mosque by Hindu fanatics occurred in the then BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh, but the Congress was in power at the Centre.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh hit back, saying the only mistake of Congress was that it had taken the BJP government’s assurance of protecting the Mughal-era monument on face value.

A total of 2,041 candidates, including 121 women, are in the fray in this round. The States to be covered are Andhra Pradesh 20 Lok Sabha seats, Assam 11, Bihar 13, Goa two, Jammu and Kashmir one, Karnataka 17, Madhya Pradesh 13, Maharashtra 25, Orissa 11, Tripura two, Uttar Pradesh 17 and Jharkhand eight.

At the end of the second phase, polls would be completed to 265 seats, just seven short of the magic number that parties need to form a government in the 545-member house. Elections are held to only 543 seats, as two members are nominated from the Anglo-Indian community.

Voting would commence at 7:00am, and close at 5pm, except in naxal-infested areas where it would end at 3:00pm, voters would be casting their ballots through Electronic Voting Machines, which were first introduced in a by-election in Kerala in 1982.

The round two elections will also see polling completed to the state assemblies of Andhra Pradesh (140 seats) and Orissa (77 seats).

The Andhra assembly elections will decide the fate of chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, his rival Chandrababu Naidu and actor-turned-politician Chiranjeevi among others.

In Orissa, BJD chief Naveen Patnaik is aiming for a third straight term in office.
As many as 11 Lok Sabha and 77 assembly constituencies of the state are going to the second phase of polls in which the fate of former Union ministers Braja Kishore Tripathy (Puri), Arjun Sethi (Bhadrak) and Srikanta Jena (Balasore) as also a number of state ministers will be decided.

New Delhi, April 17: The second phase of the staggered 15th Lok Sabha elections is scheduled for April 23. But in Manipur, the poll will be held April 22 due to a holiday on April 23, the Election Commission said. Here are some of the facts on the second phase of polls:
Total parliamentary constituencies - 141
Total contestants - 2,041
Total male contesters - 1.920
Total women contesters - 121
Parliamentary seats with maximum candidates - Bangalore central (Karnataka) - 37 candidates, Pune (Maharashtra) - 36 candidates).
Parliamentary seats with largest number of woman candidates: Baramati (Maharashtra) -seven women candidates.
Total parties - Bharatiya Janata Party (113 of which 12 are women candidates)
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) (122 of which five are women)
Congress party (117 of which eight are women)
Communist Party of India (17 - no women contesters)
Nationalist Congress Party (23 - Three women candidates)
Communist Party of India-Marxist (nine -no women candidates)
Rashtriya Janata Dal (15 - no women candidates)
Total states going to poll - 13
Andhra Pradesh - 20 parliamentary seats and 254 contesters
Assam - 11 seats and 121 candidates
Bihar - 13 seats and 189 candidates
Goa - two seats and 18 candidates
Jammu and Kashmir - one seat and 14 candidates
Karnataka - 17 seats and 271 candidates
Madhya Pradesh - 13 seats and 198 candidates
Maharashtra - 25 seats and 377 candidates
Manipur - one seat and seven candidates
orissa - 11 seats and 85 candidates
Tripura - two seats and 19 candidates
Uttar Pradesh - 17 seats and 324 candidates
Jharkhand - eight seats and 164 candidates

Bangalore, April 16 : The coming Lok Sabha election in Karnataka will witness the highest number of millionaires-45 in all--testing electoral waters. The state is sending the highest number of millionaries in the country among the 427 candidates in fray.

According to a survey conducted by the National Election Watch, a city-based NGO, the number of millionaires contesting shot up by four times from a mere nine in 2004 General Elections.
The survey said among the national and major political parties, the average asset per candidate for the JD(S) was found to be highest at Rs 19.1 crore, followed by Rs 7.27 crore for Congress, Rs 5.67 crore for the BJP and Rs 0.98 crore for "the new and fledgling" national party BSP.
The NEW survey, also suggested the total number of candidates in the 23 April, 2009 elections in Karnataka with criminal records stood at more than ten per cent -- 27 against 222 at the all India level for Phase-1 polls scheduled for 16 April.
Most of the major political parties in Karnataka, the survey pointed out, had fielded candidates with criminal records with the top four being the JD-S at five out of 11, BJP six out of 14, INC four out of 15 and BSP three out of 12.
Most Sates have candidates with criminal background contesting the elections--Bihar is at the top with 51 candidates while Karnataka accounts for 14.9 per cent.
Sindhia to support JD-S, Cong candidates
BANGALORE: The Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular) have received a much needed boost in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections with the former Minister P.G.R. Sindhia deciding to support the candidates of the two parties to counter the growth of the BJP in Karnataka.
Mr. Sindhia, former Finance minister, was expelled from the JD-S by the former PM H.D. Deve Gowda, now again decided to support the candidates of same party.
Therefore, one can conclude that Mr Sindhia is back to active politics and his decision to canvass for Congress and JD(S) candidates such as former Chief Ministers S. Bangarappa, H.D. Deve Gowda, H.D. Kumaraswamy, N. Dharam Singh and M. Mallikarjun Kharge has not surprised to any one. Because, he has been desperately looking to come out of the cage and activate his political career.  The return of Mr. Sindhia has come as a good for the Congress and the JD(S).
However, both the Congress and JD-S are confused about Mr. Sindhias political plans. His plan to checkmating the BJP by supporting Opposition parties in the state has not sent cleared the thick air surrounded him after he was expelled from the BSP by UP CM Mayawati about a year ago.
The Maratha leader categorically said that he was in contact with the former Prime Minister and president of the JD(S), H.D. Deve Gowda, and the president of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee, R.V. Deshpande.
Mr. Sindhia has kept away from politics for almost a year after the Bahujan Samaj Party, which he was heading, dumped him. Mr. Sindhia walked out of the JD(S) in early 2006 after Mr. Kumaraswamy aligned with the BJP to form a coalition government. In January 2007 he joined the BSP in the presence of party leader Mayawati only to be removed from his post during the May 2008 Assembly elections.
Mr. Sindhia was one of the key campaigners for the Janata Parivar in all the elections held between 1977 and 2007. He was a member of the Legislative Assembly for six terms in a row and a Minister for 15 years in the Ramakrishna Hedge, S.R. Bommai, H.D. Deve Gowda, J.H. Patel and the Dharam Singh Governments in Karnataka.
He was a strong critic of Sangh Parivar outfits and BJP. Had the Congress and the JD(S) entered into a pre-poll understanding at the State level, they could have, under the present circumstances, definitely won nearly 20, he claimed.
Forum to support HT Sangliana


BANGALORE: Retired IPS officer H T Sangliana, who is contesting in Bangalore Central Lok Sabha constituency, has received much needed support from an apolitical forum comprising of individuals led by retired Karnataka High Court Judge M F Saldanha.

Mr Saldanha told reporters on Wednesday that the Mr. Sangliana distinguishes himself as a man of principle and a human being, who has displayed courage at all times when he was in service and as a MP. Mr. Sangliana won the 2004 election on a BJP ticket.

Prof Rajeev Gowda of Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Bangalore, and retired Director General of Police F T R Colaso to decided to campaign in favor of Mr. Sangliana. The constituency goes to polls on April 23.

Under the banner of Dr H T Sangliana Campaign Committee, three leaders called upon the electorate to extend support for retired IPS officer. Dr Sangliana stands tall and clean and above all the pride of being an Indian, Mr Saldanha said.

Mr Colaso said the fact that Mr Sangliana was facing shortage of financial resources and the people should vote for him and help to fight the money-power and corruption that is rampant in all levels of administration in the State.

Prof Rajeev Gowda said Sangliana was symbolic of Bangalores cosmopolitan and composite culture.
Mr Saldanha said Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh should be given another term of five years in office to accelerate the growth of the economy. However, Mr Saldanha said they would restrict their preferences to Mr Saldanha in Bangalore and would not like air their views on other candidates.

Mr Saldanha said he was supporting Capt Gopinath, who is contesting as an independent candidate in Bangalore South, while Prof Rajeev Gowda said he would be supporting Congress candidate Krishna Byregowda in the constituency.

Mr. Sangliana joined the Congress after he supported the UPA government during voting on N-deal in the Parliament last year.

Cong shying away from real issues: BJP
BANGALORE: The BJP National President Rajanath Singh on Wednesday charged that the Congress-led UPA was running a hate campaign against the BJP and its leadership to divert public attention from real issues confronting people such as price-rise, terrorism, recession, unemployment and development.
Addressing a press conference in Bangalore, Mr. Singh who arrived in here to campaign for the party, referred to the Congress criticism at BJP leader L. K. Advani and said in a healthy democracy, launching personal attack on Opposition leaders would send wrong signals.
He said that the Congress party should come to the defence of the prime minister if the Opposition criticises his actions instead of the prime minister himself jumping to the defence. Mr Singh accused the Congress of shying away from a serious debate on contemporary issues like terrorism and price-rise as it had nothing to flaunt on these fronts.
He also launched a counter attack at the Congress for raising the Kandahar hostage episode at the time of elections. The decision to release three terrorists in the Kandahar episode was taken after an all-party meeting in which the Congress was also present. The Congress was party to such a decision which was taken to protect the lives of hostages, he said.
Stating that the Congress should note that these hostages were not family members of BJP leaders, the BJP leader said the Congress, which has criticized the BJP on the Kandahar issue, has forgotten its own misdeed in Charar-e-Sharief where the then Congress government ensured safe passage to five dreaded terrorists though there were no hostages.
Mr. Singh refused to react to Mr. Advanis statement that he was not aware of the then minister Jaswant Singh going with the terrorists in the same plane to Kandahar.
JD (S) hits out at Cong, BJP
JD (S) today said both the Congress and BJP stand accused of giving step motherly treatment in promoting the interests of the State.
Party Spokesman Y S V Datta told reporters here both the national parties had no moral right and courage to say they had done any good for the State during their rule at the Centre.
Reacting to a 14-point charge sheet against Congress by the BJP, he said it was only Mr H D Deve Gowda, during his tenure as Prime Minister, for the first time sanctioned Rs 500 crore for irrigation projects in the State.
''It was only JD (S) which could claim it was farmer-friendly and other parties had no moral and courage to make such claims,'' he said. Stating the national parties had completely failed in taking up initiatives to solve the issues of the State in the last 60 years, he said his party was ready for a public debate on issues concerning sectors like railways, irrigation and power.

New Delhi, Apr 14 - The outgoing Lok Sabha boasts of a perfect blend of the old and the new.
Out of the 230 first-time MPs, 116 lawmakers had fought their first electoral battle in 2004 as against a figure of 97 in the 13th Lok Sabha.
There was a nearly 33 per cent jump in the number of young men entering Parliament in 2004 — 201 against 153 in the previous Lok Sabha.
However, there were only 29 fresh woman faces. Representation of women showed a very thin increase in comparison to the last Lok Sabha which got 19 such members.
Out of the total 543 Lok Sabha members, 222 were those who had previous experience of the Lok Sabha while 39 were those who had been elected to the Rajya Sabha.
The number of those who got re-elected to the House has shown a downward trend as it fell down from the 270 of the 13th Lok Sabha to 222 in the present Lok Sabha.
The experienced lot included political veterans like former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, who were elected for the 10th term.

New Delhi, Apr 13 : With just two days left for campaigning for the first phase of Lok Sabha polls on Thursday, electioneering has reached the top gear.

Addressing a public meeting in Amethi parliamentary constituency in Uttar Pradesh on Sunday, Priyanka Gandhi indicated that she was not averse to joining politics.

She also spoke of the possibility of her brother Rahul Gandhi becoming the Prime Minister one day. She however added that the next Prime Minister, if Congress comes back to power, will be Dr. Manmohan Singh.

Addressing a meeting at Ghazipur in Uttar Pradesh, BSP Supremo Ms Mayawati charged the UPA-led government at the Centre for giving inadequate funds to the state, hindering the development process.
BJP Leader Mr. L.K.Advani charged the UPA for discriminating against the Non-congress States including Kerala. He was addressing a public meeting at Palakkad in Kerala on Sunday.

In Bihar, RJD Chief Lalu Prasad, LJP President Ram Vilas Paswan and Janata Dal (United) President Sharad Yadav are making whirlwind tour of the state to address election meetings.

In Meghalaya, the East Khasi Hills district administration has tightened security in view of the bandh call given by the banned outfit Hinnewtrep National Liberation Council from the last evening.

Security has been placed on high alert in Assam in view of the 12-hour bandh call given by a student organization in support of their demand for early completion of Silchar Lumding Broad-gauge rail line conversion and the east-west express road projects.

In Andhra Pradesh, 15 farmers of Polepalli a small village in Mahabubnagar district have jumped into the electoral fray to contest Lok Sabha polls.

In Vidharba region of Maharashtra, campaigning has been intensified by all political parties. Meanwhile, battle lines for the 3rd phase of elections will be drawn after withdrawal of nominations on Monday.

This is a list of issues, which are going to play important role in General election 2009. They spanned over terrorism, recession, personality cult, development and traditional Hindu-Muslim fight. List is in no particular order, so here we go:

1. Terrorism: The biggest issue that every election all over the world is plagued with is terrorism. India is one of the worst hit country by terrorism. Over the last 5 years more than 2000 people has lost their lives to this devil and the worse part is that government does not seem to do anything solid for internal security. NDA is pitching high on this issue, with Narendra Modi as their mouthpiece, Congress is surely on back-foot here. Regional parties are not too much concerned with this issue. But it is a big issue in urban India only. Though Delhi constituency election 2009 is quoted as example of BJP not gaining from this issue.
   
   
2. 
   
3. Inflation: After security of life, Indian are most concerned with the rising price of household things. In a curious note here the women of India are more concerned with this and this issue cut across the states, urban-rural areas and caste, but people tend to blame state government more for inflation as against union government. So, ruling party is respective state is going to loose votes due to rising prices. Which makes it even out in terms of national equation of seats for major parties.
4. Jobs: Recession is the worry mainly in the urban India, and certainly a very big issue in metro cities. But this is the only issue where government is not in any place to do better than it had already done. So, any party comes to power, issue is not going to be affected as it is related to global slowdown. UPA is going to face anti-incumbency here, but voters in cities know that it is not real fault of UPA. So effect might die down a bit. UPA is also promoting NREGA as their achievements and real good implementation of scheme in rural India can bring some brownie points for UPA.
5. Infrastructure: NDA is still proud of its work with National highways and Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana and teasing UPA with its not so good work in this area. Last time this issue became a point of overconfidence for NDA in its India Shining campaign. So, naturally they are cautious this time. Modi is projecting his work in field of development in Gujarat, Congress is still to counter it. Water/Housing/Power are also being important issues. UPA is projecting “Bharat Nirman” housing scheme. Nuclear deal is no more an issue, but electricity is.
6. Indo-pak relation: With the situation detoriating in Pakistan, pressure on central government is to make its position clear and play a role of super power in the region. This issue is related to terrorism. UPA is projecting its diplomatic handeling of Mumbai attack aftermath as a positive point, but NDA is in no mood to let UPA off the hook on this one.
7. Communal harmony: We can not have any election in India without a communal-secular debate. Varun Gandhi episode has put it in fray again. Statement of Lalu, AP congress president are in same category as alleged statement of Varun. Media has an important role to play in this debate. Openly BJP does not want to abide by this issue as doing so might not go well with some allies. But all of us know that as big this issue grows, it is advantage BJP.
8. Personality cult: After challenging PM for direct TV debate Advani, Modi and co. is bringing up the issue of leadership. Congress is banking on personality of Gandhi family. Regional parties are the best example of personality cults. Mayawati, Pawar, Amma, Mulayam, BJD, Shiv Sena and many more just one man show. So, no one can deny that it is the most important factor in the election as far as the real voting goes.
9. Demand of small states: It is not a national issue, but regions where there is demand for a new state, it is the most polarizing point of contention. Telangana, Vidarbha, Harit Pradsh, Bundelkhand, Purvanchal, Jammu, Gorkhaland, Greater Jharkhand are some to mention. It is a possibility that after election, we see a state reorganization commission.
10. Local issues: The decentralization of democracy in India has bring us to a point where loksabha election are not a single entity in itself, but an amalgam of several state elections. People of India are going to vote for immediate issues that bother them. A sign of healthy and vibrant society. And don’t forget the caste based politics here.
11. Your voice: There are many more issues by which, I could have completed this list, but I want to leave it to readers of this blog to decide the 10th issue, they feel is going to affect the mood and vote of people. Write in comment section.
12. 
    

Pollsters are unlikely to get it right this time. But let's anyway take a look at what they are saying:

Poll	UPA	NDA	Third Front & Others
CNN-IBN-CSDS	215-235	165-185	123-163
Times of India	201	195	147
DNA	202	174	167

New Delhi, Apr 10 : Campaigning for the first phase of Lok Sabha elections has reached a feverish pitch. Notification for the fourth phase of Lok Sabha elections will be issued on Saturday.

85 Parliamentary constituencies spread over 8 states and Union Territories will be covered in this phase. The states are Rajasthan, Bihar, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi.

Meanwhile, Scrutiny of nominations for the remaining 77 Parliamentary seats going to polls in the third phase will be taken up on Saturday.

Congress and NCP kick started their joint campaign in Maharastra’s Vidarba region with Congress president Sonia Gandhi and NCP President Sharad Pawar making a joint appearance at an election rally at Sakoli in Bhandara-Gondia Lok Sabha constituency from where NCP leader and Union Minister Praful Patel is contesting.

This is Ms Gandhi’s first visit to the state for campaigning after the election dates were announced. Ms. Gandhi is also scheduled to address three more rallies in Chandrapur, Yavatmal and Ramtek constituencies later in the day.

Addressing a rally at Chandauli in Uttar Pradesh, National General Secretary of Congress Mr. Rahul Gandhi targeted BJP and then NDA government on several issues including alleged rise in the incidents of terrorist activities.

Senior BJP leader L.K. Advani also addressed a series of election meetings in the State. He said no government is possible at the centre without support of BJP or Congress.

He said there is no political existence of third front. He also criticised BSP and SP led governments in Uttar Pradesh and said that these were responsible for the backwardness of the state.

Newly formed alliance of SP, RJD and LJP organised rallies at Etawah, Bareilly, Gorakhpur and Varanasi in the favour of SP candidates and Mulayam Singh Yadav, Lalu Prasad Yadav and Ram Vilas Paswan addressed the rallies.

Mr. Manjit Singh has been appointed new principle secretary (home) of the state.

In Gujarat, scrutiny of nomination papers is taking place on Friday for the 26 Lok Sabha seats. A total of 558 nomination papers have been filed. AIR Ahmedabad Correspondent reports that BJP, Congress and BSP have filed their candidates on all the 26 seats of the State but the final picture will be emerged on Monday evening after the last date of withdrawal of nomination papers.

Election Commissioner Naveen Chawla and Deputy Election Commissioner R. Balakrishnan are arriving in Jammu today on a day long visit to review election arrangements for Jammu-Poonch and Udhampur -Doda Lok Sabha constituencies.

Polling in these constituencies will be held on the 16th and 23rd of this month in the first and second phases.

In Assam, altogether 158 candidates are left in the fray for the 14 Lok Sabha seats polling for which has been slated in two phases on 16th and 23rd of this month.

37 candidates will vie for the three constituencies of Silchar, karimganj and Autonomous District going to polls in the first phase of election on 16th of this month.121 candidates are contesting for the remaining 11 constituencies going to polls in the second phase on 23rd.

AIR Guwahati Correspondent reports that with only four days left for campaigning for the first phase of election, political parties contesting the election have geared up their strategy to woo the voters.

Addressing a rally at Salganga near Silcher in Assam Senior Congress leader Mr. Pranab Mukherjee highlighted the achievements of the UPA.

CPIM General Secretary Prakash Karat has said Congress cannot form a stable government at the Centre without the support of the Left Parties.

He was talking to newsmen at Kozhikode in Kerala. He hoped that non-Congress, Non-BJP parties will be in a position to form the government at the centre.

Once a Congress Party stronghold, India’s most populous state is now dominated by two caste-based parties, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) led by Dalit (formerly untouchable) leader Mayawati, and the Samajwadi Party (SP) of Mulayam Singh Yadav, which draws support from lower castes and Muslims. The two parties won 54 seats between them in 2004, while Congress and the BJP won 19 between them.
Acute poverty, rising crime, poor infrastructure and abysmal healthcare are the biggest problems in the state, often referred to as India’s Hindi heartland.
Mayawati’s BSP is looking to repeat its sweeping victory in 2007 state elections. It has assiduously cultivated upper-caste Hindus to refashion itself as a rainbow coalition of high and low castes.
Mayawati has ambitions to become a pan-Indian leader and could be a crucial player in coalition negotiations once the votes are counted. It is even possible she could emerge as prime minister at the head of a Third Front of communist and left-wing parties.

Bihar is renowned as one of India’s poorest and most lawless states.
Two regional parties - the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Janata Dal United (JDU) - dominate the political landscape. Both have links with the country’s main political parties, the RJD with Congress, and the JDU with the BJP.
In 2004, the RJD, led by the flamboyant Laloo Yadav, picked up more than half of the state’s seats, while the JDU managed only six. Mr Yadav went on to become railway minister in the Congress-led government. He has been credited with turning around India’s ailing train network.
But the tables have turned since 2004. The JDU and BJP swept state polls in 2005, with JDU leader Nitish Kumar cashing in on popular disenchantment with the RJD government and the deteriorating law and order situation. Analysts say the JDU-BJP alliance has a good chance of picking up more seats than the RJD-Congress in the forthcoming national election.
Bihar needs to catch up with the rest of India - and jobs, development, infrastructure and security are what its voters demand.

One of India’s most economically developed states - and one of its most politically volatile. Known as India’s Detroit for its car making, it also has a strong services sector and a booming film industry.
The main contest will be between two of India’s most powerful regional parties, the DMK and the AIADMK. Since the 1960s, regional parties have tapped into nascent Tamil nationalism and lower caste aspirations.
M Karunanidhi, an astute scriptwriter, heads the DMK, which governs the state. Pitted against him is a controversial former actress, the feisty J Jayalalitha, who leads the AIADMK. The dominance of these two personality-driven parties is so great that no national party has been able to make substantial political headway in Tamil Nadu in the last three decades.
In 2004 the DMK coalition swept every seat. But Tamil Nadu is considered a swing state. Whoever wins there is likely to play an important role in the forming of India’s new coalition government.

Andhra Pradesh is marked by extreme affluence - there are vast farms and a burgeoning info-tech and services industry - and desperate poverty. The state also faces a separatist movement in the poverty-ridden Telangana region.
State and federal elections are both taking place here, with a keen contest in prospect between the ruling Congress Party and the main opposition alliance, led by the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) with the support of the communists.
Andhra Pradesh was a Congress stronghold until the TDP emerged in the 1980s. In 2004, a Congress-led alliance swept the polls, winning 37 seats. Five years earlier an alliance between the TDP and the BJP had taken 36.
Congress is banking this time on schemes like cheap rice, free electricity for farmers, free health cover for poor families and cheap loans for women.
Meanwhile, Chandrababu Naidu, the TDP leader hailed in the West as a mascot of economic reforms, is promising free electricity and television sets and unemployment benefit.

State and general elections are both likely to be three-sided contests, following a split in March between the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and the BJP - former allies who governed the state together.
Both will now fight each other as well as Congress, the main opposition in the state.
The BJD hopes to win voter support with recently introduced measures, including cheap rice for the poor, better pay for government employees and better pensions for the elderly.
Congress says it will focus its campaign on calls to eliminate corruption, which it says has escalated over the last nine years. The BJP says the deterioration of law and order will be one of its election priorities.
Analysts says the state could be heading for a hung assembly. Congress should in theory benefit from the BJD-BJP split, but it may not be able to emerge as a clear winner.
Orissa is no stranger to hung assemblies and has had them regularly since the 1950s.
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After last November’s attacks in Mumbai, security is a key issue in this state, which is home to India’s financial capital.
The Congress Party’s Vilasrao Deshmukh had to resign as chief minister in Maharashtra - along with deputy RR Patil - for perceived failures over the Mumbai attacks. It has formed a pre-poll alliance and seat-sharing pact with the Nationalist Congress Party of Sharad Pawar.
The head of the right-wing Hindu Shiv Sena party, Bal Thackeray, has been ill and has made few public appearances. His nephew, Raj Thackeray, meanwhile, has formed a new party, the Maharashtra Navnirmaan Sena, along similar right-wing nationalist lines but is unlikely to make a big impact at national level.
The BJP is likely to focus on security, and the suicide rate among farmers suffering financial difficulties.
A critical shortage of electricity - with cuts ranging from four to 16 hours a day in most parts of the state - is also among voters’ major concerns.

A left-wing coalition has governed the state for more than three decades. The left won 35 parliamentary seats in West Bengal in the 2004 elections, with Congress winning six and the Trinamul Congress one.
But the opposition parties are upbeat about how they will perform this time and are expecting to make major gains.
But now it seems the left is in trouble. The once-loyal rural poor have turned against Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharya, as he pushes ahead with his plans to acquire farmland for big industrial projects.
The opposition, especially the Trinamul Congress - a party specific to West Bengal - have joined protests against large-scale land acquisition.
But Mr Bhattacharya insists that West Bengal must rapidly industrialise in order to provide jobs for millions of unemployed men and women.
“The iron discipline of the left is wilting after three decades in power. This election will be a real wake-up call for them,” says political analyst Basu Ray Chaudhuri.

Congress campaigned hard in Gujarat’s state elections in 2007, but still lost to the BJP, allowing the controversial Narendra Modi to become chief minister for the third time in a row.
Mr Modi won the 2002 election on a Hindu nationalist platform shortly after the massacre of some 1,000 Muslims in Gujarat. In 2007, he toned down his nationalist rhetoric and campaigned on his economic record - the state’s economy has been growing roughly 10% per year, above the national average.
Mr Modi appointed a Muslim as the state’s police chief in February, in what analysts see as an attempt to court a secular image. But the arrest and resignation of the state’s education minister on 27 March, in connection with the 2002 riots, is seen as a major embarrassment for the party.
Mr Modi is considered a possible successor to the ageing BJP leader LK Advani and will be hitting the campaign trail in other parts of India.|

16 April: Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Kerala, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshwadeep
Total constituencies: 124

22 April: Manipur, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Goa, Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand
Total constituencies: 141

30 April: Bihar, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Jammu & Kashmir, Gujarat, Sikkim, Dadar and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu
Total constituencies: 107

7 May: Bihar, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Delhi
Total constituencies: 85


13 May: Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Uttarakhand, Chandigarh, Pondicherry, Uttar Pradesh
Total constituencies: 86