THE HEADLINES:
- Campaigning intensifies for first and second phase of Lok Sabha elections, Prime Minister and senior BJP leader Narendra Modi to address two rallies in Tamil Nadu today; To also campaign in Nagpur district of Maharashtra.
- President Droupadi Murmu to inaugurate Homeopathic Symposium on World Homoeopathy Day in New Delhi this morning.
- Twelve people killed and 15 injured in a road accident in Chhattisgarh.
- Polling is underway in South Korea to elect a new Parliament.
- Rohan Bopanna and his Australian companion Matthew Ebden to play their pre-quaters final match in Monte Carlo Masters Tennis this evening.
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Prime Minister and senior BJP leader Narendra Modi will hold a public meeting at Kanhan in Ramtek block of Nagpur district in Maharashtra this evening and campaigning for Mahayuti candidates for the Lok Sabha elections.
Senior leaders of the BJP in the state, and BJP office bearers of Nagpur district will be present in this Public meeting. Shiv Sena Shinde group candidate Raju Parve is contesting from Ramtek Loksabha constituency for the first time while senior BJP leader and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari is contesting Nagpur Lok Sabha constituency for the third time. Shyam Barve is the candidate of Congress in Ramtek Lok Sabha constituency and the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi les by Adv.Prakash Ambedkar has announced its public support for the Congress Candidate in Ramtek. Similarly, in Nagpur, incumbent Congress president and West Nagpur MLA Vikas Thackeray has got the candidature against Nitin Gadkari and Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi has also announced its support to him. Meanwhile, Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati will address a public meeting on April 11 at Indora in North Nagpur. Bahujan Samaj Party has nominated Yogesh Lanjewar from Nagpur and Sandeep Meshram from Ramtek. Dhananjay Wankhede Aakashvani news, Nagpur.
A total of 26 candidates are in the fray for Nagpur Lok Sabha constituency and a total of 28 candidates are going to contest in Ramtek Lok Sabha constituency. The five Lok Sabha constituencies of East Vidarbha will go to polls on 19th of this month in the first phase.
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Prime Minister and senior BJP leader Narendra Modi will address an election rally at Vellore in Tamil Nadu today. Mr Modi will canvass in support of ally PMK’s Dharmapuri candidate Soumya Anbumani and AC Shanmugam, another alliance party leader who is contesting on the BJP symbol from Vellore.
The Prime Minister will then reach Mettupalayam, near Coimbatore, and address a public meeting in support of BJP candidates from Nilgiris – Dr L Murugan, Coimbatore – K Annamalai and Pollachi – K Vasantharajan.
Mr Modi held a roadshow in Chennai yesterday. The roadshow in Chennai covered segments of both South Chennai and Central Chennai. Tamilisai Soundararjan is BJP’s South Chennai candidate, while Vinoj P Selvam is taking on DMK’s Dayanidhi Maran from Central Chennai.
Elections for 39 Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu will be held on April 19 in first phase.
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Senior BJP leader and Home Minister Amit Shah will visit West Bengal today for the election campaign in support of party’ s Balurghat constituency candidate Dr Sukanto Majumdar. Dr Majumdar is also the state BJP president. Amit Shah will participate in a public meeting at Daulatpur of Balurghat Lok Sabha constituency. After that he will go to Bihar. Balurghat will go to polls on 26th April along with Darjeeling and Raiganj.
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Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) has released it’s second list of candidates for Lok Sabha elections. JMM central committee’s President Shibu Soren announced the names of Vijay Hansda for Rajmahal and Jobha Manjhi for Singhbhum constituency under seat sharing agreement among the grand alliance parties.
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Congress has released a list of candidates for the ensuing elections to the Lok Sabha and the Legislative Assembly of Andhra Pradesh. The party has fielded Pulusu Satyanarayana Reddy from Visakhapatnam, and Dr Chinta Mohan from Tirupati Lok Sabha seat. Congress party has released a list of 12 candidates for the Legislative Assembly of Andhra Pradesh and six candidates for Lok Sabha.
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Campaigning has intensified for the first phase of Lok Sabha elections in Rajasthan. Leaders of BJP, Congress, other parties and independent candidates are busy in the campaign. Senior leaders of BJP and Congress are also scheduled to conduct election tours at various places today.
Senior BJP leader and Union Minister of external Affairs S Jaishankar will address the ‘Prabuddha Sammelan’ in Bikaner today. Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma will today participate in election campaign programs in favor of party candidates in Dausa, Jaipur Rural and Nagaur Lok Sabha constituencies. Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Saini is scheduled to hold election meetings in Alwar Lok Sabha constituency today. On the other hand, Congress state president Govind Dotasara will campaign for party candidates in Hanumangarh and Sriganganagar. Apart from him, former Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and senior leader of Congress Sachin Pilot also have a program to hold public meetings at various places for the party candidates. Jitendra Dwivedi, Akashwani News, Jaipur
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The National Testing Agency (NTA) has clarified that students who cast vote in the general elections and have their fingers inked will not be barred from entering exam rooms. It said, the message circulating regarding this in social media platforms completely baseless. NTA said, it has not issued any such instructions and guidelines. The agency has asked students not to pay attention to such rumours and exercise their voting right. It has advised the candidates to focus on their studies and prepare for the forthcoming examination.
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In Assam, 40 lakh women will take pledge today across the state to ensure more voting in the Lok Sabha polls. Participating in an Akashvani talk show, senior officials of the Chief Electoral Office informed that women would help them to promote ethical voting. Our Correspondent reports that cash, liquor and other goods amounting to 127 crore rupees have been seized so far in the state. The officials further said that flying squad and static surveillance teams have been deployed across the state to prevent movement of unauthorised items.
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In our series of key Lok Sabha constituencies, we will take a look at Khajuraho seat in Madhya Pradesh today.
Khajuraho Lok Sabha constituency has a special identity for its temples of historical and archaeological importance. The diamonds from the Panna district have changed the fortunes of many people. The situation is similar in politics also. Since the last few elections, Khajuraho parliamentary seat has become one of the safest seats for BJP in the state. Khajuraho parliamentary seat consists of 8 assembly constituencies. The total number of voters is around 19 lakh 94 thousand. Of these, there are 10 lakh 45 thousand male and 9 lakh 48 thousand female voters while the number of third gender voters is 33. BJP has once again fielded state president VD Sharma from this seat. Mr. Sharma had won the last Lok Sabha elections by a margin of around five lakh votes. The Congress had left the Khajuraho Lok Sabha seat for its ally Samajwadi Party, but due to the rejection of nomination of SP candidate Meera Yadav, a walk over situation has been created for the BJP. Sanjeev Sharma, Akashvani News, Bhopal
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President Droupadi Murmu will inaugurate a two-day Homeopathic Symposium on World Homeopathy Day today at Yashobhoomi Convention Centre Dwarka, New Delhi. The symposium to be organized by the Central Council for Research in Homoeopathy (CCRH) under the aegis of Ministry of Ayush is based on the theme of ‘Empowering Research, Enhancing Proficiency.’ The event aims to promote holistic health and wellness and head towards utilization of advanced techniques for homoeopathy research.
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In Chhattisgarh, twelve people, including three women, were killed, and 15 injured in a bus accident late last evening. The condition of ten injured persons is reported to be critical.
The employees of Distilleries of a private company located in Kumhari area of Durg district were returning to their home in a bus. According to police officials, the driver of the bus lost control over the steering and it fell into a murrum mine near Khapri village. Soon after getting the information, the rescue team of the state disaster relief force along with police reached the spot. The injured have been referred to the hospitals of state capital Raipur. Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai expressed grief over the tragic incident and instructed the officers to provide best medical care to the injured. Durg Collector has ordered a magisterial inquiry into this incident. Vikalp Shukla, Akashavani News, Raipur
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Polling is underway in South Korea to elect a new Parliament. About 44 million people are eligible to vote for its 300-member National Assembly. The outcome of today’s polls will also set the tone for the remaining years of Yoon Suk-yeol’s presidency. The election comes nearly two years after conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol won the 2022 presidential election defeating Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party by just 0.73 per cent – the slimmest margin in South Korean history. South Korea has a powerful presidential system, checked and balanced by the assembly which can pass or stop bills. The parliament is currently dominated by the Democratic Party which holds 142 out of 297 seats.
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The European Union (EU) and India has launched an Expression of Interest (EoI) to promote start-up collaboration on Recycling of E-Vehicles Batteries under the Trade and Technology Council. The collaboration aims to enhance the cooperation between European and Indian Small and Medium-sized Enterprises and startups in the clean and green technologies sector.
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In Monte Carlo Masters Tennis, World number One, India’s Rohan Bopanna and his Australian companion Matthew Ebden will face Mate Pavić of Croatia and Marcelo Arévalo of El Salvador in the Men’s Doubles Pre-quarters today. The match is scheduled to begin at 5.10 PM, IST.
While in Men’s Singles, another Indian player Sumit Nagal will face Holger Rune of Denmark tomorrow in the round of 32. Earlier on Sunday, Nagal became the first Indian to enter the Monte Carlo Masters singles main draw in 42 years, following the footsteps of the legendary Ramesh Krishnan, who had made it to the main draw of the same tournament in 1982.
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The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued orange alert in parts of Maharsthra and Madhya Pradesh today. The IMD has forecast moderate rainfall with isolated thunderstorms, lightning and gusty winds of upto 50 kilometers per hour speed over parts of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Maharashtra till the 13th of this month. In south India, these conditions will continue over Telangana, Kerala and Puducherry during the next 6 days.
The IMD has predicted the maximum temperatures to gradually rise by about 3 to 5 degrees Celsius over parts of East India during next 4 days. No significant change in maximum temperatures is expected over rest of the country.
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TODAY’S NEWSPAPERS HEADLINE:
- Skymet predicts normal monsoon in India this year, reports The Hindustan Times on its front page. It will be about 102 per cent of long period average with an error margin of 5 per cent, reports the paper.
- Financial Express says monsoon forecast to boost prospects of farm sector in the country.
- With the Delhi High Court rejecting Delhi Chief Minister Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s petition to release him from jail’ Law above politics’ HC upholds Kejriwal arrest, is the lead headline in The Hindustan Times.
- “In poll season, Punjab politicians turn to shrines & deras to seek ‘blessings”, writes The Tribune.
- With traders booking profits, viewing recent gains as excessive, “Sensex makes pit stop at 75K, writes The Business Standard.
- And finally, The Asian Age has a colourful picture of people dressed in traditional attire participating in a rally on the occasion of Gudi Padwa, the Maharashtrian New Year, at Girgaon in Mumbai on Tuesday.
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THE HEADLINES ONCE AGAIN:
- Campaigning intensifies for first and second phase of Lok Sabha elections, Prime Minister and senior BJP leader Narendra Modi to address two rallies in Tamil Nadu today; To also campaign in Nagpur district of Maharashtra.
- President Droupadi Murmu to inaugurate Homeopathic Symposium on World Homoeopathy Day in New Delhi this morning.
- Twelve people killed and 15 injured in a road accident in Chhattisgarh.
- Polling is underway in South Korea to elect a new Parliament.
- Rohan Bopanna and his Australian companion Matthew Ebden to play their pre-quaters final match in Monte Carlo Masters Tennis this evening.
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