BJP alleges electoral malpractice over denial of permission for Varanasi rallies

* In the most recent controversy surrouding BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, the BJP has alleged "partiality" in the denial of permissions for Modi's rally that were scheduled for tomorrow. The party has gone so far as to demand the removal of the city's polling officer over the incident. At a press conference in New Delhi, BJP vice president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said the party was making a request to the Election Commission to recall Varanasi District Magistrate Pranjal Yadav for working in a biased and prejudiced manner against Modi. Read more

*  Taking a dig at Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi said that those who never used to visit their constituency even once in five years were now running from lane to lane on polling day as the people had "crushed their pride". Read more

* "Distressed" by Narendra Modi's mother travelling in an auto rickshaw and living in a small room, a Congress leader today wrote to Narendra Modi volunteering to look after her as Modi had not provided her a "comfortable" life despite his "wealth" and success. Read more

* Confirming rumours about Gandhis taking on Narendra Modi in Varanasi, Congress has announced that its vice president Rahul Gandhi will be campaigning against the BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi in his constituency. However, neither Sonia nor Priyanka Gandhi would be attending the rallies in the holy city. The direct confrontation between Modi and the members of the Gandhi family started after the Gujarat chief minister held a massive rally in the Gandhi bastion of Amethi, in support of BJP candidate Smriti Irani, who is considered close to the BJP leader.

* As Lok Sabha polls draw closer in this temple town, BJP's Narendra Modi's presence on party posters and banners today surprisingly came down drastically, apparently due to "technical" reasons related to election expense limits. Read more

READ: What is Rahul Gandhi doing at a polling booth on election day? ask AAP and BJP supporters

Narendra Modi addresses rally in Krishnanagar, West Bengal:
* Those who haven't visited Amethi once in five years, are now here, says Modi. He even points out that Rahul Gandhi came to Amethi on the polling day to ask for votes.

*  Taking a jibe at Mamata Banerjee, Modi, says,"Didi does not want good days for West Bengal."
* Is forming a government about making statements? It is to being a change in lives of the people, Modi

* Strike disrupts normal life on polling day in Baramulla. Read more

* A controversy erupted over alleged delay in grant of permission for Narendra Modi's rally scheduled for tomorrow in the constituency, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) crying foul and demanding that the Election Commission remove the electoral officer. Read more

* Varun Gandhi gets into a verbal spat with the polling security officer in Sultanpur, Uttar Pradesh. 

* BJP leader Arun Jaitley on Wednesday hit out at the Congress and asked under which category of politics would the "corruption in 2G spectrum and coal block allocation fall" while retaliating against Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's "neech rajniti" barb against Narendra Modi. Read more

* A court case was filed against Priyanka Gandhi for her remarks on BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, terming his speech in Amethi as "neech rajniti" (low level politics). The case was filed by a BJP leader. Read more 

* The ruling All India All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam today slammed the Election Commission decision to order repoll in two polling stations under Salem and Namakkal Parliamentary constituencies, terming it as "against the canons of propriety of the election process". Read more

* CBI says no evidence so far against Amit Shah in Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case. Nirmala Sitharaman, BJP, said, "Their attempt to misuse CBI to nail Amit Shah have failed." Submitting its report to a Special CBI court here, the investigating agency said that there was clinching or conclusive evidence to accuse Shah of being involved or even ordering the encounter shooting of Ishrat Jahan in 2004, which eventually turned out to be a fake one. Wednesday's verdict was a follow-up to the CBI giving Shah a clean chit in February this year in connection with a supplementary chargesheet. Read more

* District Magistrate orders Priyanka Gandhi's PA to leave Amethi

* Senior BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain predicted that Congress party vice president Rahul Gandhi would lose the elections in the Amethi parliamentary constituency. Hussain said, "We are getting good reports from Amethi. Rahul Gandhi will lose this time. That is why he is frustrated." Read more

* Congress refutes Gujarat Land Acquisition Model, saying report is not from the commerce ministry but by consultancy firm Accenture. "That is not correct at all, it is not a report of the commerce ministry but of Accenture company," claimed Congress' Anand Sharma

* BJP seeks removal of the returning officer in Varanasi after Modi denied rally venue

* Terming as "very cruel" the way bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh was done, YSR Congress Party president YS Jaganmohan Reddy today said that he has kept open all options on post-poll alliance. Read more

* District authorities deny permission for Narendra Modi's rally in Varanasi citing reason that the 'venue has already been booked'. Arun Jaitley and Amit Shah meet in Varanasi to formulate an alternative plan for the two Modi rallies that were scheduled for tomorrow. Read more

* Narendra Modi addresses rally in Bihar:
"Our government is a government for the poor. We will work for the poor," says Modi in Valmiki Nagar in Bihar. "Congress arrogance will be the cause of their downfall. People know the truth," he added.

Modi also predicted, "There will be several states in which Congress will not even open its account."

"50 years after forming a government in Delhi, they still didn't know that there are Adivasis in India. It was Atal Bihari Vajpayee who inroduced adivasi reforms." 

On recent comments by "neech rajneeti" comments by Priyanaka Gandhi, he reiterated, "I want to tell you what neech rajneeti is—when grains are allowed to rot, not given to poor and given to alcohol makers, it's neech rajneeti."

"CWG was a chance to show India's might to the world. But even there they had a toilet paper scam. This is neech rajneeti," cliams Modi. "Our Jawans work hard but Pakistan cuts their heads and Delhi is silent, and feeds Pakistani prime minister biryani. Is this neech and karma?," he asks.

* Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi today objected to a lotus sketch on a blackboard in a polling centre in the constituency and said he would draw the attention of the Election Commission towards it. Read more

Rahul Gandhi objects to a lotus symbol drawn on a blackboard in a polling booth in Amethi pic.twitter.com/pzIx1krOQ3 — ANI (@ANI_news) May 7, 2014

Follow Lok Sabha elections 2014 live
Sixty-four Lok Sabha constituencies spread over seven states and 175 assembly constituencies in the Seemandhra region went to polls early on Wednesday morning amid tight security. 

Today is the eighth and penultimate phase of the Lok Sabha elections. The Lok Sabha constituencies going to polls are 25 in Andhra Pradesh, 15 in Uttar Pradesh, seven in Bihar, six in West Bengal, five in Uttarakhand, four in Himachal Pradesh and two in Jammu and Kashmir.

Prominent candidates in the fray are Congress Party vice president Rahul Gandhi, Union Steel Minister Beni Prasad Verma, Union HRD Minister MM Pallam Raju, ex-Indian cricketer Mohammad Kaif and television actress Smriti Irani. Varun Gandhi, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Anurag Thakur, Ram Vilas Paswan, Rabri Devi and Kumar Vishwas are the other prominent leaders whose political future will be decided on Wednesday.