THE HEADLINES :
- Election fever at its peak in the country before third phase of Lok Sabha elections due on the 7th of May.
- Prime Minister and Senior BJP leader Narendra Modi says, over 10 crore women self-help groups benefited from financial assistance, and 70,000 crore rupees were earned by farmers after blending ethanol with fuel; Addresses public rally at Belagavi in Karnataka.
- ECI orders re-polling in six Polling Stations of Outer Manipur Parliamentary Constituency on Tuesday.
- Indian trio of Dhiraj Bommadevara, Tarundeep Rai and Pravin Jadhav bag gold medals in Men’s Archery World Cup in Shanghai.
- And in IPL Cricket, Gujarat Titans to clash with Royal Challengers Bengaluru in Ahmedabad this afternoon.
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Campaigning has intensified for the third phase of general elections with top leaders of major political parties making strong pitch to woo the voters through rallies and road shows across the country.
95 Parliamentary Constituencies across 10 States and two Union Territories will go to polls in this phase on the 7th of May. One thousand 351 candidates are in the fray in this phase.
Prime Minister & Senior BJP leader Narendra Modi makes a strong pitch while campaigning for the BJP candidates in Belagavi today in Karnataka. Speaking at a public meeting, he said that in the last 10 years, his government helped small farmers through the Farmers Producers Organisation to cut input costs and open the market for agri produce. Over 10 crore women self-help groups benefited from the financial assistance, and 70,000 crore rupees were was earned by the farmers after blending ethanol with fuel. Bharatiya Nyaya Samhitha passed by his Government will ensure better management of law and order.
Senior BJP leader and Home Minister Amit Shah addressed a political rally in Kasganj district. He attacked the Opposition for not participating in the Pran Pratishtha function in Ayodhya and said that the BJP has fulfilled all its promises made in the manifesto. Mr. Shah will address rallies in Mainpuri and Etawah, later in the day. He will also have a meeting with party functionaries in Kanpur regarding the general elections. Senior BJP leader and Chief Minister of State Yogi Adityanath addressed rallies in Badayun and Aonla area of Bareilly district. He will later address a rally in Etah district.
Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav campaigned for Party candidate in Sambhal district. He came down heavily on the BJP and said that the people of UP have given a befitting reply to the party in the first two phases of elections and his alliance is getting tremendous support from the public. Akhilesh will address another political rally in Bareilly district.
BSP coordinator for election Akash Anand will address a political rally in Sitapur district in a short while from now.
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The Election Commission of India (ECI) has directed to conduct re-polling in six Polling Stations of the Outer Manipur Parliamentary Constituency on the 30th of April from 7 AM to 4 PM. The ECI declared the polls conducted at these six polling stations on the 26th of April in the second phase of Lok Sabha Election, 2024 as void. The polling Stations are five in the Ukhrul district and one in the Senapati district.
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Delhi Congress President Arvinder Singh Lovely has resigned from his post. In a letter to Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, Mr Lovely said that the Delhi Congress Unit was against an alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party, which was formed solely by levelling false and malafide corruption charges against the Congress Party. He said despite that, the Party decided to ally with the Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi. Mr Lovely said the party workers of Delhi Congress are dissatisfied with AAP’s false propaganda. He said that under the Aam Aadmi Party rule in Delhi, public infrastructure has severely worsened compared to the development work done during former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit’s government.
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Senior BJP leader and Union Minister Rajnath Singh said that BJP’s manifesto is a guarantee of creating a new, self-reliant and developed India. Addressing a press conference in Ahmedabad today, Mr. Singh said the 2024 Lok Sabha polls are all set to become a standard of strong and credible democracy in the country. Mr Singh credited the BJP government for curbing corruption and taking more than 25 crore people out of the shackles of poverty.
Mr. Singh emphasised that the BJP government is aiming to end poverty in the country within the next five to 10 years.
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BJP President JP Nadda accused West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Benerjee over the situation in Sandeshkhali. In a social media post, Mr Nadda alleged that anti-social elements continued to be a threat to women in Sandeshkhali. He also highlighted the attack on investigating agencies asserting that the West Bengal government is causing anarchy in the state.
Meanwhile, reacting to Nadda’s statement, TMC leader Sagarika Ghose said, all accused in Sandeshkhali incident are in jail. She further questioned BJP that why they are protecting their MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh who is accused of sexual assault.
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In our series, covering profiles of key constituencies across States and Union Territories during the Lok Sabha elections, today we bring a report on the Bhopal Lok Sabha seat of Madhya Pradesh. Bhopal has given the country veteran MPs like former President Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma, freedom fighter Maimuna Sultan, Arif Baig and Uma Bharti.
“Bhopal, the capital of Madhya Pradesh and famous for its lakes, is BJP’s stronghold for the last 35 years. It is also known as the city of Nawabs. Bhopal was dominated by Congress for 27 years from 1957 to 1984 but since 1989, BJP is in power. However, despite fielding powerful leaders like Nawab Pataudi, Suresh Pachauri and former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Digvijay Singh, the Congress has not been able to win the elections again in Bhopal. There are total of eight Assembly seats in the Bhopal Lok Sabha seat, out of which BJP won six and Congress two. A total of Twenty-two candidates are in the fray in this election for the Bhopal Lok Sabha seat. BJP has made ex-Bhopal mayor Alok Sharma its candidate while Congress has given the ticket to Arun Kumar Srivastava. There are more than 23 lakh voters in Bhopal. This includes more than 11 lakh 91 thousand male and more than 11 lakh 27 thousand female voters. Sanjeev Sharma, Akashvani News, Bhopal.”
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The Congress party in Karnataka staged a protest against the Central Government allegedly for showing step motherly attitude in the release of calamity relief funds to the state. Addressing one such protest held in Bengaluru today, the Congress State President D K Shivakumar said that the calamity fund relief is sought by the State for the distressed farmers hit by drought and it is not the alms given to the State. He also charged that a request to approve an increase in the mandays under MGNREGA has not been honoured by the Central Government. He further said that a sum of 3498 crore rupees released from NDRF by the Central Government will not be sufficient to compensate the losses incurred by the State due to drought.
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The Ministry of Mines will hold Critical Minerals Summit: Enhancing Beneficiation and Processing Capabilities in New Delhi tomorrow. The two day Summit is a pivotal event designed to foster collaboration, share knowledge and drive innovation in the field of critical mineral beneficiation and processing. The Ministry said, the summit is set against the backdrop of India’s rapid economic growth and ambitious clean energy targets, which underscore the urgent need for securing a domestic supply of Critical Raw Materials. The summit will bring together a diverse array of Indian and international stakeholders, including industry leaders, startups, government officials, scientists, academics, and policy experts.
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The four-member delegation of the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances will visit Bangladesh for bilateral discussions for the renewal of the MoU between the National Centre for Good Governance and the Bangladesh Ministry of Public administration. During the three-day visit from today, Secretary, DARPG V. Srinivas, will hold bilateral meetings with senior officials of the Bangladesh Ministry of Public Administration.
The National Centre for Good Governance and the Bangladesh Ministry of Public Administration have collaborated in conducting capacity-building programs for Bangladesh Civil Servants since 2014. Under the bilateral collaboration, 71 Capacity Building Programs were held and two thousand 775 Bangladesh Civil Servants visited the National Centre for Good Governance. The Bangladesh Government has emphasised the utility of these training programs and conveyed interest in the renewal of this MOU for the next five years.
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India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a red alert for severe heatwave conditions in the Gangetic West Bengal and Odisha. Heatwave conditions in isolated pockets over Bihar, Jharkhand, Rayalaseema, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Mahe, Konkan, Uttar Pradesh, Coastal Andhra Pradesh and Yanam are likely to prevail till the next four to five days. IMD further said that hot and humid weather is very likely to prevail over West Assam, Meghalaya and Tripura till tomorrow while similar conditions are likely to prevail in Kerala, Mahe, Coastal Karnataka, Coastal Andhra Pradesh, Yanam and Konkan till the first of May.
Meanwhile, the weather agency has forecast rainfall and hailstorms over Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jammu-Kashmir-Gilgit-Baltistan-Muzaffarabad tomorrow. It has also predicted thunderstorms and lightning in North East India for the next two to three days.
In Delhi, a partly cloudy sky is likely to prevail today. The maximum and minimum temperatures are slated to hover around 39 and 22 degrees Celsius.
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District Collector of Nilgiris M. Aruna today said that due to the short circuit, the continuous monitoring of CCTV Cameras in the strong room where the EVMs are kept was disrupted for twenty minutes. Speaking to reporters at Nilgiris, she said that it was immediately rectified. The District electoral officer said that all the steps were taken to cool down the electric circuits connecting the CCTV web cameras. She explained that there is a three-tier security along with the CAPF to guard the strong room. Former State BJP leader and Union Minister Dr. L. Murugan speaking to reporters in Coimbatore said that the Election Commission should look into the issue and take steps to ensure the safety and security of the strong rooms.
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Iraq’s parliament has passed a law criminalising same-sex relationships. The Law bans same-sex relations with maximum of 15 years in prison, and mandates at least seven years in prison for anybody who promotes homosexuality or prostitution. It also imposes between one and three years in prison for anyone who changes their biological gender or dresses in an effeminate manner. The law was backed mainly by conservative Shi’ite Muslim parties who form the largest coalition in mainly Muslim Iraq’s parliament. According to the officials, the move aimed to uphold religious values and to protect Iraqi society from moral depravity.
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Indian crew of a Portuguese flagged ship that was seized by Iranian forces in its maritime territory two weeks ago is being granted consular access. A statement from Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that they are considering the release of the ship’s crew as a humanitarian issue. Earlier on Thursday, the Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said there are certain technicalities involved in the return of the remaining 16 Indian crew members.
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At least five people have died and several injured after a tornado struck China’s Guangzhou yesterday. The tornado was followed by multiple days of heavy rains and deadly floods lashing southern China.
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The Indian contingent has won eight medals including 5 Gold, 2 Silver and a bronze so far at Archery World Cup in Shanghai.
The Indian trio of Dhiraj Bommadevara, Tarundeep Rai and Pravin Jadhav shocked reigning Olympic champions of South Korea in Recurve Men’s Team event to claim the fifth gold.
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In IPL Cricket, Gujarat Titans will take on Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad today. The match will start at 3.30 PM.
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THE HEADLINES ONCE AGAIN::
- Election fever at its peak in the country before third phase of Lok Sabha elections due on the 7th of May.
- Prime Minister and Senior BJP leader Narendra Modi says, over 10 crore women self-help groups benefited from financial assistance, and 70,000 crore rupees were earned by farmers after blending ethanol with fuel; Addresses public rally at Belagavi in Karnataka.
- ECI orders re-polling in six Polling Stations of Outer Manipur Parliamentary Constituency on Tuesday.
- Indian trio of Dhiraj Bommadevara, Tarundeep Rai and Pravin Jadhav bag gold medals in Men’s Archery World Cup in Shanghai.
- And in IPL Cricket, Gujarat Titans to clash with Royal Challengers Bengaluru in Ahmedabad this afternoon.
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