THE HEADLINES :
- Campaigning for third phase of Lok Sabha elections intensifies; Star leaders of various political parties hold back to back rallies.
- Re-polling underway in six polling stations of Outer Manipur Parliamentary Constituency.
- India strongly protests slogans on Khalistan raised during an event in Canada; New Delhi summons Canadian Deputy High Commissioner to express deep concern.
- IMD forecasts heat wave conditions to continue over South Peninsular India for next four days.
- In Asian Carrom championship, Indian players capture both Men’s and Women’s doubles titles in Male.
- In Badminton, Indian Men’s team enters quarter finals of Thomas Cup defeating England 5-Nil in Chengdu.
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Prime Minister and Senior BJP leader Narendra Modi is scheduled to address public rallies today in Madha, Osmanabad and Latur in Maharashtra in support of Mahayuti candidates.
In Latur, he will hold a public rally for the party candidate Sudhakar Shrangare who is contesting against Dr Shivaji Kalge of Congress.
In Osmanabad, Prime Minister will be canvassing for NCP (Ajit Pawar) candidate Archana Patil who is contesting against Omprakash Rajenimbalkar of Shiv Sena (UBT).
In Madha, he will hold a rally in favour BJP’s candidate for Ranjeetsingh Naik Nimbalkar who is pitted against NCP (SP) candidate Dhairyasheel Mohite Patil.
Yesterday, the Prime Minister held rallies in Solapur, Satara and Pune.
In Telangana, all major parties have intensified their campaign to woo voters following closure of withdrawal of nominations yesterday.
Prime Minister and BJP senior leader Narendra Modi will be addressing a poll rally at Alladurg in Zaheerabad Lok Sabha constituency today. Party senior leader Amit Shah will be campaigning in Hyderabad tomorrow.
BJP President J P Nadda campaigned in support of party candidates in Khammam, Mahabubabad and held a road show at Nizampet yesterday.
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Leaders of Various political parties held rallies in various parts of the country yesterday.
Senior BJP leader Amit Shah held a road show in Guwahati for BJP party candidate. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma accompanied him During the road show in Guwahati city
AICC General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi addressed a public rally in Sedam in Gulbarga Parliamentary constituency in Karnataka .
Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav addressed a rally in Etah and Hathras district of Uttar Pradesh.
Bahujan Samaj Party Supremo Mayawati addressed a rally at Badayun in Uttar Pradesh.
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In the third phase of Lok Sabha elections, polling is to be held on 10 seats of Uttar Pradesh on May 7th. This phase also includes the important seat of Badaun. This seat, considered to be the stronghold of SP, was won by BJP in the 2019 elections after 23 years. This time BJP has cancelled the ticket of the current MP Sanghmitra Maurya and made the party’s regional vice-president Durvijay Singh Shakya the candidate. On the other hand, Aditya Yadav, son of SP’s national general secretary Shivpal Singh Yadav, has been fielded by I.N.D.I. Alliance. Bahujan Samaj Party has made Muslim Khan, former MLA of Shekhupur as its candidate. Our correspondent reports that Eight other candidates are also in the fray, including three women.
Five assembly constituencies come under the Badaun Lok Sabha seat. These include Gunnaur, Bisauli, Sahaswan, Bilsi and Badaun. Here a total of 24 lakh 9 thousand, and 905 voters will decide the fate of 11 candidates on May 7th. Shivpal Singh Yadav was earlier made the candidate from this seat, which is considered to be the stronghold of Samajwadi Party, but later his son Aditya Yadav was fielded in the election. Before Aditya Yadav, Dharmendra Yadav became MP from SP on this seat in 2009 and 2014. In the 2014 Modi wave, he managed to save his seat. But Aditya Yadav lost the election to Swami Prasad Maurya’s daughter, Sanghmitra Maurya in the 2019 elections. This time both BJP and SP have changed their candidates. SP has given ticket to Aditya Yadav, while BJP has given ticket to regional vice president Durvijay Singh Shakya. At the same time, BSP is trying to make the contest triangular by fielding former MLA of Shekhupur Muslim Khan. Om Awasthi, Akashvani News, Lucknow
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In Madhya Pradesh, 74 candidates are in the fray in the fourth phase of Lok Sabha elections in the state. On the last day of withdrawal of nomination papers for this phase, 16 candidates withdrew their names yesterday.
The most surprising name among the withdrawal of nominations in Madhya Pradesh was that of Indore’s Congress candidate Akshay Kanti Bam. He not only withdrew his name but also resigned from Congress and joined BJP. In the fourth phase, voting will be held in Dewas, Ujjain, Mandsaur, Ratlam, Dhar, Indore, Khargone and Khandwa on 13th May. Counting of votes will take place on June 4. Meanwhile, various materials around 258 crore rupees including 21 crore rupees in cash have been seized in Madhya Pradesh so far. It contains liquor worth more than 37 crore rupees and drugs around 23 crore rupees. Election campaign is also at its peak in Madhya Pradesh. Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will campaign in Khandwa and Barwani today while senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will seek public support for the party in Bhind. Sanjeev Sharma, Akashvani News, Bhopal.
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In Manipur, re-polling is underway in six polling stations of Outer Manipur Parliamentary Constituency. Re-polling is being held today in five polling stations in Ukhrul district and one in Senapati from 7 AM to 4 PM. Earlier, the Election Commission of India announced that the voting process in these polling stations conducted on April 26 is void and directed for re-polling.
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The Delhi High Court yesterday dismissed a plea seeking to disqualify Prime Minister Narendra Modi for six years for allegedly seeking votes for the Bhartiya Janata Party in the name of religion.
The Court was of the view that the plea was “thoroughly misconceived” since the petitioner had approached the court when the Election Commission was yet to take a call on his representation seeking similar relief.
The Election Commission, however, had taken cognizance and directed BJP president JP Nadda to ensure that all star campaigners maintain highest level of discourse expected from them.
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The Delhi Police issued notices to four Telangana Congress leaders in connection with circulation of BJP senior Leader Amit Shah’s fake video claiming that the BJP would scrap reservations for SCs, STs and BCs if it came to power again.
The Delhi Police came to Pradesh Congress party office, Gandhi Bhavan in Hyderabad yesterday and issued notices to its Legal Cell Chairman Ramchandra Reddy. Two officials from the office of the Deputy Commissioner of Police, New Delhi issued notices to Pradesh Congress Social Media Convener Manne Satish, Party Spokesperson Asma Tasleem, Secretary Shivakumar Ambala and another leader Naveen.
Reacting to this, Telangana Chief Minister and PCC President A Revanth Reddy said he will not be afraid of the Delhi Police issuing notices to him over its probe in connection with Mr. Shah’s ‘doctored’ video being circulated on social media.
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Home Ministry has denied the media reports that claimed that senior BJP leader Amit Shah’s helicopter faced some balance issues yesterday while taking off from Bihar’s Begusarai. The ministry said there were no such issue as was being reported by some channels. Senior Party leader was in Bihar to address a public meeting ahead of the Lok Sabha polls scheduled in the region in the fourth phase next month.
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India strongly protested Khalistan slogans raised at a public event in Canada, which was being personally addressed by the Prime Minister of Canada. In this regard, the Ministry of External Affairs yesterday, summoned the Canadian Deputy High Commissioner in New Delhi. The Ministry said, India’s deep concern and strong protest was conveyed at such disturbing actions being allowed to continue unchecked at the event. It said, this illustrates once again the political space that has been given in Canada to separatism, extremism and violence. The Ministry said, their continued expressions not only impact India-Canada relations but also encourage a climate of violence and criminality in Canada to the detriment of its own citizens.
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Assam Rifles has recovered a huge quantity of arms and ammunition along the Indo-Myanmar Border in Mon district of Nagaland. The search operation launched during the early morning hours yesterday, resulted in apprehension of one individual and recovery of huge quantity of arms and ammunition. This comprise of 11 Mortar tubes, ten Pistols, 198 Hand Held Radio Sets, one satellite phone and other war-like stores. Defence Ministry said, recovery of these heavy calibre, military grade weapons is a major success for the border sealing operation underway by Assam Rifles. It said, the recovery is also a major blow to the nefarious designs of inimical elements trying to disturb the peace in the region.
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The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast heat wave conditions will continue over south Peninsular India during the next four days, including over Telangana, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Puducherry. These conditions will also continue over West Bengal, Sikkim and Gujarat till tomorrow.
The weather agency has forecast heat wave to severe heat wave conditions will prevail in Odisha and Bihar today and tomorrow. Hot and humid weather will prevail over Assam, Tripura, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry till the 3rd of next month. The IMD has forecast that maximum temperatures will rise by 1 to 2 degrees Celsius over East India and by 2 to 4 degrees Celsius over Central India during the next 4 to 5 days. Meanwhile, the weather agency has forecast that rainfall and snowfall will prevail over Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura during the next five days. In North India, these conditions will be present over Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand till tomorrow. The IMD has also predicted rainfall over Punjab, Lakshadweep, Kerala and Puducherry today. ADARSH, AKASHVANI NEWS DELHI.
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In the 6th Asian Carrom championship, Indian players captured both the Men’s and Women’s doubles titles at Male in Maldives. In Men’s doubles final yesterday, Indian duo K Srinivas and Mohammed Ghufran took down Ismail Azmeen and Hassan Nazim of the host country, 25-15, 25-16. While in women’s doubles, India’s Aakanksha Kadam and Shainy Sebastian upset compatriots, Rashmi Kumari and K Nagajothi in the final, 21-25, 25-17, 25-17.
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In Badminton, defending champions India have advanced to the quarter-finals of the Thomas Cup, featuring the men, with a 5-Nil victory against England in the Group C contest at Chengdu in China last night.
In the first match, ace shuttler H S Prannoy put India into the lead, defeating Harry Huang in straight games, 21-15, 21-15. While in the second match, world No. 3 duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty defeated Ben Lane and Sean Vendy, 21-17, 19-21, 21-15. In the third match, Kidambi Srikanth stepped up to seal the tie for India in straight-games, defeating Nadeem Dalvi, 21-16 21-11. The Indian Men’s team started their Thomas Cup title defence with a 4-1 win against Thailand on Saturday. India will face Thailand tomorrow to decide the group toppers.
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In Women’s Cricket, India will take on Bangladesh in the second match of the five-match T20 series in Sylhet today. In IPL Cricket, Kolkata Knight Riders beat Delhi Capitals by seven wickets at Eden Gardens in Kolkata yesterday. In today’s match Lucknow Super Giants will take on Mumbai Indians at Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow.
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TODAY’S NEWSPAPERS HEADLINE:
- The Statesman quoting Prime Minister Narender Modi writes” Congress thinks it can fight BJP only by religion- based quota.”
- “Telangana Chief Minister summoned in Amit Shah fake video case” leads the Pioneer.
- On the Sandeshkhali case, The Hindu reports “SC questions Bengal government for approaching it”.
- Hindustan Times quoting Rahul Gandhi in Chhattisgarh says “BJP, RSS trying to subvert, change Constitution”.
- “Scotland’s first Muslim head of government Humza quits after turmoil” states the Asian Age.
- “Delhi summons Canadians envoy over pro-Khalistan slogan at Trudeau event” leads The Tribune.
- And finally, “NCERT told to review books every year”. Well, The Tribune reports that the “Ministry of Education (MoE) has asked the NCERT to conduct a review of its textbooks and update them on a yearly basis”.
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THE HEADLINES ONCE AGAIN:
- Campaigning for third phase of Lok Sabha elections intensifies; Star leaders of various political parties hold back to back rallies.
- Re-polling underway in six polling stations of Outer Manipur Parliamentary Constituency.
- India strongly protests slogans on Khalistan raised during an event in Canada; New Delhi summons Canadian Deputy High Commissioner to express deep concern.
- IMD forecasts heat wave conditions to continue over South Peninsular India for next four days.
- In Asian Carrom championship, Indian players capture both Men’s and Women’s doubles titles in Male.
- In Badminton, Indian Men’s team enters quarter finals of Thomas Cup defeating England 5-Nil in Chengdu.
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