At the end of the day that saw polls in 118 Lok Sabha seats scattered over 11 states, the death tally hovered around 30 (41 according to the agencies), with most of the deaths occurring in the extremist-scarred North-eastern states of Assam and Tripura.

Polls predict NDA win
The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is poised to form the next government at the Centre, according to exit polls conducted this evening by Doordarshan-DRS, Star TV-Insight and Jain TV. A fourth poll, by Lokmat-CMR-IMS, has, however, predicted a hung Parliament. The Star-Insight has predicted seats in the range of 295-305 for the NDA, and 145-155 for the Congress and its allies. On the other hand, the Doordarshan-DRS has predicted 287 for the NDA and 174 for the Congress-led alliance.

Sikh Bill: SGPC asked for critique
The Punjab Government has asked the SGPC to prepare a critique of the draft Sikh Shrines Bill prepared by Chief Commissioner of Gurdwara Elections Justice (Retd) Harbans Singh. The state Election Department has asked the SGPC to submit a critique ``after thorough examination'' of the draft 1999 Bill.