New Delhi - Manmohan Singh became India's first Sikh prime minister in 2004 when Indian National Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi stunned her supporters by refusing the post and nominated instead her most trusted lieutenant.

A former academic and bureaucrat, Singh, 76, headed a coalition government for five years and is the ruling United Progressive Alliance's prime ministerial candidate in this year's elections.

New Delhi - Information on India's general elections, which have been staggered over five dates, April 16, 23 and 30 and May 8 and 13:

* Voting in some states will take place over several stages, and the final results are to be announced May 16.

* More than 714 million people form the electorate, an increase of 43 million voters over the last elections in 2004.

* Voter turnout has ranged from 55 to 63 per cent since the first general elections in 1952.

* Voters are to select 543 members of the Lok Sabha, or lower house of the Indian Parliament.

New Delhi, Apr 7: Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram will reply to a Election Commission notice today for allegedly offering poll sops during his Rajasthan visit for a security review.

On Monday, the Commission granted one-day extension to him.

The Commission had issued a notice to Chidambaram for violating the model code of conduct.

The Commission received a complaint from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in this regard.

It’s official now.

In a significant move, the Samajwadi Party on Sunday announced to field former Miss India, actor-social activist Nafisa Ali as the party’s candidate from the prestigious Lucknow seat for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

New Delhi, Apr. 6: Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram will reply to a Election Commission notice today for allegedly offering poll sops during his Rajasthan visit for a security review.

On Sunday, the Election Commission issued a notice to Chidambaram for violating the model code of conduct.

The Commission received a complaint from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in this regard.

New Delhi  - India's main Hindu nationalist opposition party, in its election manifesto released Friday, asserted its commitment to rebuild a Hindu temple that has been the cause of deadly rioting and promised tough national security laws as well as measures to provide relief to the poor.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) politicians led by Lal Krishna Advani, the party's prime ministerial candidate, unveiled the document in New Delhi on a day Hindus mark as "Ram Navmi," or the birth anniversary of the god Ram.