88-year-old ND Tiwari marries mother of his biological son

Veteran Congress leader ND Tiwari married Ujjwala Sharma, the mother of his biological son Rohit Shekhar with whom he was involved in a six-year-old legal battle and recently accepted him as his own.

Veteran Congress leader and former Andhra Pradesh Governor ND Tiwari (88) gets married to Ujjwala Sharma, mother of his biological son Rohit Shekhar at a simple ceremony at his residence in Lucknow. (PTI Photo)

Sharma's son Shekhar, 32, had taken the 88-year-old politician to court after Tiwari had refused to acknowledge their biological relationship.

"Tiwariji married Ujjawala Sharma yesterday at his Mall Avenue residence," a staff member of Tiwari told PTI.

Sharma, 67, said her wedding with the former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh was conducted in a traditional way.

Watch: ND Tiwari, Ujjwala Sharma say I do

"He wanted to give social sanctity to our relationship, which was very old and we have a 35-year-old son. We will complete legal formalities after which we will invite all," she told reporters.

Sharma had earlier this month staged a protest outside Tiwari's residence. Later, she was allowed entry into his house in Lucknow and had been staying with Tiwari since then.

In 2012, the Congressman, who had resisted submitting blood samples for a DNA test, was ordered to cooperate by the Supreme Court.

The Delhi high court had on April 22 held that Tiwari was the biological father of Rohit. Ahead of the court verdict in March, Tiwari publicly accepted Shekhar as his son.

Shekhar had in 2007 filed the paternity suit claiming the veteran Congress leader and Sharma be declared as his biological parents.

Besides serving as chief minister of UP thrice and Uttarakhand once, Tiwari served as the governor ofAndhra Pradesh between 2007 to 2009, when his name figured in a sex scandal and he had to resign

2014 Lok Sabha election: Exit polls point to Modi entry in Delhi

Ab ki baar Modi sarkar — that's the unanimous verdict of several exit polls as far as the big picture is concerned, with all of them predicting either that the NDA would get a majority or would get very close to it. The polls also agreed that the BJP would get its highest tally ever — the range varying from a little over 200 to just under 300.

Most polls also predicted that the Congress would be reduced to its lowest ever tally, though one of them, the Times Now-ORG poll, put the party's tally at between 111 and 138 seats, which means it could do better than the 114 seats it got in 1999. Another common factor in the polls was that the AIADMK and Trinamool Congress are likely to emerge as the two largest regional parties with 20 or more seats each.

While broadly agreeing on these trends, the polls were at sharp variance on the details. The Times Now-ORG poll suggested that the NDA would win 249 to 265 seats, which would leave it a little short of a majority though well within striking distance. At the other end of the range, the News 24-Today's Chanakya poll gave the NDA 340 seats, with the BJP alone winning 291 seats. If that comes true, it would be the first time after 1984 that any party would be winning a majority on its own.


The Congress' predicted tally too varies widely from a mere 57 in the News24 poll to a possible 138 in the Times Now poll. At 57, the Congress wouldn't just be reduced to a historic low, it would face its biggest crisis in post-Independence history.

Coming to the wide variance among pollsters, in Bihar, for instance, the Times Now-ORG poll gave the RJD no seats at all and the JD(U) 10 seats, while most other polls projected the RJD-Congress alliance as the primary challenge to the BJP and the JD(U) being squeezed out.

Similarly, in Karnataka, the Headline Today-Cicero poll suggested the Congress had a clear lead over the BJP and would win between 15 and 19 of the state's 28 seats. The News24 poll projected a diametrically opposite outcome with the BJP winning 20 seats in the state.

'Congress will be wiped out in Rajasthan'

In Rajasthan, the Headline Today and News24 polls predicted that the Congress could, at one end of the range of their projections, get completely wiped out, but the Times Now poll predicted that party could win 14 of the 25 seats in the state where it faced a rout in the assembly polls in December.

On AAP, most polls agreed that it would make its presence felt, in Punjab in particular, but yet again there was disagreement on just how well it would do. The News24 poll said the party could emerge as the single largest in Punjab, winning five of the 13 seats while others gave it no seats at all.

Exit polls have gone quite wrong on occasions, including most famously in 2004 when they predicted the NDA would form its third successive government. But they have also got it right on several occasions, including in the latest assembly polls in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

Varanasi: Ajay Rai sports Congress symbol while voting, EC steps in

Varanasi: Congress's Varanasi candidate Ajay Rai is in trouble as he was seen sporting the party symbol on his kurta as he went to cast his vote on Monday in the last phase of the Lok Sabha elections. The Election Commission has now stepped in and has asked for camera footage from the polling booth where Ajay Rai had gone.

The Bharatiya Janata Party has objected to his act and said that action should be taken against him. "Modi showed the symbol and spoke 300 metre away from the polling booth. Here Ajay Rai has gone inside the booth with the party symbol. In the EC there is some slip somewhere that needs to be plugged," said BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad.

Ajay Rai, meanwhile, is confident of winning. Calling Modi and Kejriwal 'outsiders', he said, "I'm the son of the soil." "We consider the Ganga as our mother, Modi doesn't have that feeling. Rahul's Varanasi rally has given a boost to the Congress's chances," he added.

The Election Commission has now stepped in and has asked for camera footage from the polling booth.