Panels to iron out seat-sharing issues, DMK to share spare seats

The Congress and DMK are in talks to strengthen their alliance for the forthcoming polls in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. Congress general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad met DMK chief minister M Karunanidhi, recuperating from a spinal surgery, at his home on Monday. Congress' Rajya Sabha MP Shantaram Naik, former union IT minister Dayanidhi Maran (DMK) and Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi (DMK) were present at the meeting. The parties decided to carry forward their "strong" alliance. Election committees of both parties will decide the process of seat sharing and other issues.

Once a group of about two dozen parties, the BJP-led NDA is now down to eight partners. The Ajit Singh-led Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) became its latest constituent on Monday.

The main challenger to the ruling coalition of UPA, the NDA is pinning hopes on post-poll tie-ups to help it achieve the magic figure of 272 to be able to form the next government.

The joining of RLD is a major boost to it in western Uttar Pradesh. BJP chief Rajnath Singh is a candidate from Ghaziabad in the region. In UP, which sends 80 members to the Lok Sabha, the BJP, now down to a single-digit tally, needs to do well desperately to recapture power.

The Congress' run-up to the polls has begun on a mixed note. On Sunday night, the party added two new allies, Trinamool in Bengal and Samajwadi Party in UP. It, however, failed to sew up an alliance with the JD(S) in Karnataka. It is also having trouble with the NCP, which wants a national-level alliance in addition to renegotiating terms in Maharashtra. Despite the hiccups, the Congress appears confident.

"This is nothing unusual. Rest assured, all seat-sharing arrangements will be satisfactorily worked out by the time we go to elections," the party's election coordinator Jairam Ramesh said.

polls are only one-and-a-half months away, but tie-ups still unclear

Poll punditry is a hazardous business at most times, but this time it is going to be tougher to predict how the fortunes of parties and formations will shape up.

The elections kick off a month-and-a-half from today, but even at this stage, there is no clarity on who is signing up with whom for a poll arrangement.

London, Mar. 3: Former Pakistan Prime Minister and Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) chief, Nawaz Sharif may have been disqualified by the Supreme Court, but his exclusion from Pakistan’s political stage was likely scripted outside the country.

According to the former British high commissioner to Pakistan, Hilary Synnott, the United States and Britain, during the military regime of General Pervez Musharraf, hoped to revive democracy while maintaining Musharraf at the top.

State doesn't want to leave anything to chance when it comes to terror attacks

Though the state government has not so far received any specific threat of terrorist attack during the forthcoming Lok Sabha election, the state has made a strong representation to the Centre for allotment of more central paramilitary forces (CPMF) to maintain law and order during the polls and also for the protection of vital installations on Saurashtra and South Gujarat coast.