BJP picks 14 candidates for assembly bypolls

October 5th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Election Commission Monday announced that bye-elections to Firozabad Lok Sabha constituency in Uttar Pradesh and 31 assembly seats in seven states will be held Nov 7. The assembly bypolls will be held for 11 seats in Uttar Pradesh, 10 in West Bengal, three seats in Kerala, two each in Rajasthan, Assam, and Himachal Pradesh and one seat in Chhattisgarh.

October 4th, 2009 CHANDIGARH - At least 67 candidates, contesting the Haryana assembly elections, have criminal cases pending against them for murder, attempt to murder and extortion, an NGO said here Sunday. We have scrutinized the affidavits of 489 candidates of political parties contesting the Haryana assembly polls.

October 1st, 2009 CHANDIGARH - The fate of a total of 1,222 candidates will be decided Oct 13 in the election for 90 assembly seats in Haryana. Haryanas Chief Electoral Officer Sajjan Singh said Thursday that 1,222 candidates remained in the fray after withdrawal of nominations and rejection of invalid nomination papers.

September 26th, 2009 SHIMLA - Political activity in Himachal Pradesh has picked up ahead of by-elections to two assembly seats. The two main political parties in the state - the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the opposition Congress - have started wooing the electorates of the Rohru and Jawali (Fatehgarh post delimitation) constituencies.

September 26th, 2009 CHANDIGARH - Of the 1,874 nominations filed for the Haryana assembly election, 432 nominations have been rejected during scrutiny Saturday, officials said. "Nomination papers of 432 candidates, which mostly included Independent candidates, have been rejected due to one or the other reason.

August 21st, 2009 CHENNAI - Tamil Nadu's ruling DMK-Congress combine Friday took early leads in all five constituencies where by-elections had been held Aug 18. Initial results released by the state election commission showed DMK candidates in the lead at Bargur, Cumbum and Illayangudi, while Congress candidates were in the lead at Tondamuthur and Srivaikundam.

August 21st, 2009 BANGALORE - The Congress suffered a huge blow in Karnataka Friday with union Labour and Employment Minister Mallikarjun Kharge's son Priyank losing to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) candidate in the assembly by-polls held Aug 18. Priyank, contesting an election for the first time, lost to BJP's Valmiki Nayak by 1,606 votes in Chittapur (Scheduled Caste) constituency in Gulbarga, north Karnataka, the state election authorities announced Friday.

August 2nd, 2009 CHANDIGARH - The ruling Akali Dal party in Punjab is confident of winning the by-elections for three assembly seats where polling will be held Monday. The bypolls, in which Akali Dal president Sukhbir Badal is also contesting, will be held in Khanuwan, Jalalabad and Banur constituencies.

April 15th, 2009 BHUBANESWAR - At least 35 candidates contesting in the first phase of assembly elections Thursday in Orissa have disclosed nil assets, a voluntary body Orissa Election Watch (OEW) said Wednesday. The state will elect 121 members to the state assembly and 21 members to Lok Sabha simultaneously on April 16 and April 23.

March 29th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The filing of nominations for Assembly and Lok Sabha seats has picked up momentum with President Pratibha Patil issuing a notification for the second phase of elections. The second phase of polling, scheduled on April 23 would include 25 seats in Maharashtra, 20 in Andhra Pradesh, 17 each in Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka, 13 each in Bihar and Madhya Pradesh and 11 each in Assam and Orissa.

March 28th, 2009 BHUBANESWAR/NEW DELHI - The name of former Orissa chief minister Janaki Ballav Patnaik is missing from the Congress's first list of candidates announced Saturday for next month's Lok Sabha and assembly elections. The Congress has announced candidates for 16 of the state's 21 Lok Sabha seats and 142 of the 147 assembly seats, the party sources said.

March 28th, 2009 BHUBANESWAR - The name of former orissa chief minister Janaki Ballav Patnaik is missing from the Congress's first list of candidates announced Saturday for next month's Lok Sabha and assembly elections, party sources said. The Congress has announced candidates for 16 of the state's 21 Lok Sabha seats and 142 out of 147 assembly seats, they said.

March 25th, 2009 HYDERABAD - A day after finalising seat sharing agreement with the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS), the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) Wednesday released the first list of 27 candidates for the next month's assembly elections. The main opposition party has retained majority of the sitting legislators or those who lost in 2004 elections.

March 24th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Election authorities on Monday issued a notification to conduct polls in 154 Assembly constituencies in the North Coastal Andhra and Telangana regions during the first phase of the election. The authorities have made elaborate arrangements for the filing of nominations by the candidates in these constituencies.

March 16th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Election Commission has disqualified the candidature of 3,423 candidates for not filing the details of the expenses incurred during the last Lok Sabha or recent Assembly elections. The EC said that the candidates have been disqualified for three years.