Lok Sabha Election 2019 LIVE: Maharashtra Commission for Women issues notice to Vivek Oberoi over his tweet

Vijaya Rahatkar, Chief of Maharashtra State Commission for Women: Commission has taken cognizance of actor Vivek Oberoi's tweet on exit polls and a notice is being issued to him.

Several persons were injured in post-poll clashes between political parties in two districts of West Bengal, police said on Monday.

Many polling agents of opposition parties were beaten up, and houses and vehicles of many activists were attacked after voting on Sunday in nine constituencies in the last and seventh phase of Lok Sabha polls and by-elections to four Assembly seats.

Two BJP workers -- Chandal Mondal and Nantu Bera of the Sagar Assembly segment under the Mathurapur Lok Sabha constituency -- were admitted to Sagar Gramin Hospital after thrashed allegedly by the Trinamool Congress workers on Sunday night, while they were returning to their homes.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and a cabinet colleague took divergent stands on Monday over the impact of the Sabarimala issue on the outcome of the Lok Sabha election.

Vijayan said the issue of women's entry into the temple, which had rocked the state last year, would not reflect on the outcome.

A day after most exit polls predicted that the ruling Left Front would get only four-five seats and the Congress-led UDF would get a landslide victory with at least 15 seats, Vijayan expressed confidence that the LDF would register an impressive win.

With most of the exit polls indicating a fifth consecutive term for Naveen Patnaik-led BJD in Odisha and substantial gains for BJP in the Lok Sabha polls, both the rival parties on Monday refused to accept the predictions, claiming the results on May 23 will be different.

Majority of the exit polls have projected that BJP would win more than half of the total 21 Lok Sabha seats in Odisha and the BJD getting reduced to single digit.

The Kerala police submitted in the high court on Monday that there was "no merit" in the allegations of fraud in the postal ballots of service personnel in the April 23 Lok Sabha polls held in the state.

The Additional Director General of Police (Headquarters) made the submission in a counter to a petition filed by the Leader of the Opposition in the Kerala Assembly, Ramesh Chennithala.

In his PIL, Chennithala has alleged that "pro-government" Police Association office-bearers collected the postal ballots of the personnel on poll duty through intimidation and exercised their franchise by proxy against their wishes.

Top leaders of the BJP-led NDA will meet over dinner on Tuesday with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah expected to be present, party sources said on Monday.

Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) president Nitish Kumar, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray and Lok Janshakti Party head Ram Vilas Paswan are likely to attend the meeting, which will take place two days before the counting of votes for the Lok Sabha polls on May 23.

Rejecting the exit poll results which predicted the return of the NDA government at the Centre, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan Monday said there is no need to rely on "speculations based on speculation".

Vijayan, who met mediapersons soon after he returned from a 13-day Europe trip, exuded confidence that the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) will record an impressive win in the Lok Sabha polls.

The exit polls have forecast a poor showing by the ruling Left Front in Kerala.

Bahujan Samaj Party president Mayawati on Monday appeared to be opting for a wait-and watch-policy till the Lok Sabha election results are announced on May 23.

"The future course of action will be decided only after the final results are announced. Till then, she (Mayawati) will be staying put in the state capital," a party source said, requesting anonymity.

Declaration of results for the Delhi Lok Sabha seats may get delayed by around five to six hours on May 23 as more time will be spent on counting VVPATs from each of the 70 Assembly segments of the national capital, Chief Electoral Officer Ranbir Singh has said.

He said after the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) counting is over, the voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPATs) will be counted as per the Supreme Court guidelines.

"From every assembly constituency, five (VVPATs) will be randomly selected and they will be counted for which there is a special VVPAT counting booth in every counting hall. It will take place in five rounds," Singh said.

With most exit polls forecasting another term for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP almost sweeping Karnataka in the Lok Sabha polls, chief minister H D Kumaraswamy Monday expressed concerns over the vulnerability of the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).

Hitting out at the pollsters, the chief minister in a series of tweets alleged that the "artificially engineered" or "manufactured" Modi wave is being used by the BJP to lure regional parties well in advance to fill any shortfall after the results on May 23.

"Entire Opposition political parties had expressed concern over credibility of EVMs under PM @narendramodi's rule. Opposition parties even knocked the doors of the Supreme Court asking for a traditional ballot paper electionsto avoid defective EVMs that are vulnerable to fraud," Kumaraswamy said.

The Congress on Monday accused the BJP of attempting to destabilise the Kamal Nath government in Madhya Pradesh through use of "corrupt practices" and said in doing so they are trying to negate the mandate of people of the state.

Congress general secretary in-charge of Madhya Pradesh Deepak Babariya said the people of the state had rejected the BJP and voted them out in the assembly elections.

Congress party workers asserted that the results on May 23 would not be one sided as shown projected, and their party would perform better.

Most exit polls Sunday forecast another term for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with some of them projecting that BJP-led NDA will get more than 300 seats to comfortably cross the majority mark of 272 in the Lok Sabha.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami on Monday sought to make light of the exit polls suggesting a bad show by the AIADMK, saying he had himself proved wrong similar predictions of him losing in 2016.

Palaniswami exuded confidence that the party and its allies win would all the seats in the state and one in Puducherry, adding that said exit polls were more of "imposing of opinion".

Even as the exit polls predicted a good show for his party, DMK President M K Stalin Monday said he does not take the projections seriously and would wait for three days to know people's mandate.

Buoyed by the exit poll predictions, BJP President Amit Shah has convened a meeting of the leaders of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) on May 21, ahead of the counting of votes on May 23.

Election officials, accompanied by representatives of various political parties, opened the strong room in Himachal Pradesh's Reckong Peo on Monday morning after what appeared to be smoke was detected in the CCTV camera footage, a district official said.

Fire fighters reached the spot in no time as it was feared that a fire had broken out, he said.

I am 1000 per cent confident that TDP will win the elections. I don't have even 0.1 per cent doubt, we are going to win, says Chandrababu Naidu

BSP supremo Mayawati and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav met in Lucknow on Monday after exit poll projections that the NDA is all set to form the government again at the Centre.

Yadav, who had formed a coalition with the BSP and the RLD to take on the BJP, drove to the residence of Mayawati.

Details of what transpired between the two top leaders was not known immediately.