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BJP's prime ministerial candidate courted a controversy when he displayed a lotus symbol near the polling booth in Gandhinagar where he voted.

Unlike in Telangana, there were fewer aspirants for many constituencies in Seemandhra and the leadership did not face problems in naming the candidates.

Malkajigiri in the city has the unique distinction of being the biggest Lok Sabha constituency in India with an electorate of 2.9 million spread over parts of Hyderabad, Secunderabad and neighbouring Medak district.

As many as 265 candidates are in the fray for the 17 Lok Sabha seats in Telangana while another 1,669 candidates would lock horns for the 119 Assembly seats.

Key to clean sweep in Gujarat

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of pursuing politics of hatred by dividing people along communal lines for electoral gains.

In the biggest haul of unaccounted money in a single instance country-wide for election purposes, the Cyberabad police seized Rs80.3 million in hard cash from two persons who were travelling to Hyderabad from Bangalore on Friday.

Ravi Kumar, who had reserved the order after hearing the petitions, withdrew from passing the order after a lawyer allegedly attempted to influence him.

After a rather lacklustre start in the morning and afternoon, Mumbaikars trooped out in large numbers in the evening to vote for their candidates in the third and final phase of elections in Maharashtra.