High turnout in 8th phase of polling, 1 killed in Bihar

Congress hopes to retain as much ground as possible in today's phase covering central UP in the face of a strong surge by BJP, playing the caste and religion cards, and a desperate BSP and SP seeking to hold on to their Muslim-OBC-Dalit vote base.

After today's phase, voting has been completed in 502 of the total of 543 constituencies and the remaining 41 seats will go to polls in the last round on May 12.

The talking point today was Amethi in Uttar Pradesh, where Rahul Gandhi is contesting for the third time in a row, as a 55.2 per cent polling was recorded.

Rahul, who has represented the seat since 2004, for the first time toured polling booths in Amethi on the voting day, apparently in the face of a tough challenge posed by his rivals Smriti Irani of BJP and Kumar Vishwas of Aam Aadmi Party.