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While some parties—launched just a few years back—claim they represent the farmers, others maintain they want to turn Amethi into a five-star place to live in.

With the Lok Sabha elections over in Gujarat on April 30, hundreds of supporters and opponents of political parties have been flocking to Varanasi for campaigning ahead of the May 12 high-profile ballot-box battle involving Bharatiya Janata Party’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi and Aam Aadmi Party supremo Arvind Kejriwal.

The ganging up of forces with money and muscle power has helped polarisation of voters on class line that cuts across caste and communal alignments.

I fear for safety of women if Modi becomes PM: Shinde

Vikram Madam (56) stunned journalists on Thursday when he told them that he had come to the conclusion after studying the mood of the voters that he would lose by 30,000 votes.

The Shiv Sena has lashed out at the affluent Gujarati business community here for having backed the prime ministerial ambitions of Narendra Modi, the BJP leader, while remaining insulated from local issues in Maharashtra all these years.

BJP, TDP launch Andhra campaign in Tirupati, seek vote against ‘Scamandhra’

The unknown candidate is given his or her party symbol, which is usually designed to look like the one used by the more famous rival.

Polling in Telangana, which is set to become the youngest state of India on June 2, was by and large peaceful on Wednesday barring minor skirmishes between workers of different political parties in some places.