THE HEADLINES :
- High Octane Campaign on for third phase of Lok Sabha elections; Prime Minister and Senior BJP leader Narendra Modi reiterates commitment to make India a developed nation by 2047.
- Congress President Mallikarjuna Kharge to address public meetings in Karnataka.
- In Uttarakhand, efforts to combat forest fire underway; Eight persons involved in this fire arrested.
- Eight people killed in a road accident at Bemetara district in Chattisgarh.
- And In IPL Cricket; Kolkata Knight Riders to take on Delhi Capitals in Kolkata this evening.
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As the voting day approaches, Leaders from various political parties are leaving no stone unturned to woo the voters. Prominent faces of BJP, Congress, Left, TMC, Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, Shiv Sena, NCP, JDU, RJD and others are engaged in hectic campaigning in different parts of the country.
Prime Minister and Senior BJP leader Narendra Modi has emphasised that he is working 24X7 with a vision to make India a developed nation by 2047. Addressing a public rally at Bagalkote in Karnataka today, he said that BJP works for the development and Congress works for its vote bank.
Mr. Modi accused the Congress Government in Karnataka of doing appeasement politics. He said, the Congress government has changed the image of Bengaluru from IT hub to Tanker hub due to water woes. Mr. Modi called upon people to be careful about fake social media posts spreading rumours against the BJP.
Congress President Mallikarjuna Kharge will address public meetings in Raichur, Yadgir, Kalaburgi districts today. AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi will also address a rally in Sedam for the party’s Gulbarga candidate. We have more from our correspondent;
“Leaders from various political parties are leaving no stone unturned to woo the voters. Prominent faces of BJP, Congress, Left, TMC, Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, Shiv Sena, NCP, JDU, RJD and others are engaged in hectic campaigning in different parts of the country. Prime Minister and Senior BJP Leader Narendra Modi is scheduled to address three rallies in Maharashtra today, while Senior BJP leader Amit Shah will be campaigning in Madhubani and Begusarai districts of Bihar and Guwahati in Assam. Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will be in Gujarat and Chhattisgarh to campaign in support of his party candidates, while Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi is scheduled to address a rally in Gulbarga, Karnataka. Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav is scheduled to campaign in Eta, Hathras and Agra in Uttar Pradesh. On the other hand, BSP Chief Mayawati is going to address an election rally in Badaun. West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC President Mamata Banerjee, Bihar Chief Minister and JDU President Nitish Kumar, NCP leader Sharad Pawar, Shivsena UBT leader Uddhav Thackeray RJD leader Tejaswi Yadav and leaders from the Left parties are also campaigning in different areas to garner support in favour of their candidates. With Diwaker, Durgesh Bhadauria for Akashvani News, Delhi.”
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Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi criticized the BJP government for the surge in inflation and unemployment across the country. Speaking at the election rally in Patan in North Gujarat, today, he accused the NDA government of writing off substantial amounts of corporate loans and doing injustice to farmers, tribals and small labourers. He said 1 per cent of people in the country control 40 per cent of the wealth.
Mr. Gandhi said that once Congress comes to power, it will conduct a caste-based census to assess the representation of each community in the country and waive off the Farmers’ loans. On the other hand, Gujarat BJP President CR Patil is campaigning in favour of party candidates.
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The Congress today released four more candidates for the Lok Sabha polls. Punjab Congress President Amrinder Singh Brar will contest from Ludhiana Lok Sabha seat while party leader Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa will fight from Gurdaspur. Former Punjab Minister Vijay Inder Singla will contest from Anandpur Sahib Lok Sabha seat.
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Today is the day of high profile nominations in Uttar Pradesh. Senior BJP leaders and Union Ministers Rajnath Singh and Smriti Irani filed their nominations today.
Rajnath Singh filed his nomination from Lucknow parliamentary constituency. He is contesting third time from this constituency. Senior BJP leader and Chief Minister of Uttarakhand Pushkar Singh Dhami and Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath accompanied him during nomination. Prior to the nomination, Rajnath Singh held a mega road show in Lucknow. Another party leader Mrs. Irani filed her nomination from Amethi.
Last time in 2019, Mrs. Irani defeated then Congress president Rahul Gandhi from this seat.
Meanwhile, campaigning has also intensified in the state for the next phase of election. Senior BJP leader and Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Mohan Yadav will address a rally in Firozabad district.
Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav will address rallies in Etah, Hathras and Agra districts today. Bahujan Samaj party supremo Mayawati will hold a rally in Badayun district.
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Today is the last date of withdrawal of candidature for the fourth phase of Lok Sabha elections. A total of 96 Lok Sabha seats spread over nine States and a Union Territory will go to polls in this phase on the 13th of next month. Voting across all 25 Parliamentary seats of Andhra Pradesh, 17 seats of Telangana, 13 seats of Uttar Pradesh, 11 seats of Maharashtra, 8 seats each of Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal, 5 seats of Bihar, 4 seats each of Jharkhand and Odisha and one seat of Jammu and Kashmir will be held in this phase.
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The Election Commission has issued a notification for the sixth phase of Lok Sabha elections 2024. Elections will be held in 57 Lok Sabha seats in six States and one Union Territory in this phase. 6th May is the last date for candidates to submit their nominations. Scrutiny of nominations will take place on 7th and the last date of withdrawal of candidature is 9th May.Polling will be held on 25th May.
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In the series of key Lok Sabha constituencies of the country, let us talk about the Guna Lok Sabha seat of Madhya Pradesh. In the diverse Guna parliamentary constituency, we get the taste of Malwa and also the attitude of Chambal. There is the culture of Bundelkhand and also a glimpse of Rajasthan. More from our correspondent:-
“Famous across the country for Chanderi sarees, Guna parliamentary constituency has generally been in the possession of the Scindia family barring the 2019 elections. Guna parliamentary seat, which has more than 18 lakh 83 thousand voters, includes eight assembly constituencies. Out of which Congress has won 2 and BJP has won 6. Jyotiraditya Scindia is the BJP candidate. Congress has given ticket to Yadavendra Rao Deshraj Singh. A total of 15 candidates are in the fray, including BSP and candidates of some local parties. Now all eyes are on whether the royal family remains dominant this time too or Congress will register victory again. Sanjeev Sharma, Akashvani News, Bhopal.”
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The Aam Aadmi Party’s transgender wing today staged a protest in the national capital against the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. The protest was led by AAP leader Dilip Pandey. Speaking to the media, Mr Pandey alleged that BJP is scared of losing elections and targeting opposition leaders. He said, people will give a befitting reply to BJP through their votes.
Meanwhile, BJP candidate from North West Delhi Lok Sabha seat Yogendra Chandolia hit out at the Aam Aadmi Party. He told the media that Mr Kejriwal is in jail but people will not listen to him even when he comes out of the jail.
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Efforts to combat the forest fires in Uttarakhand are underway with NDRF personnel, along with the Fire and Forest Departments, making significant progress in controlling the blaze across Garhwal and Kumaon divisions.
Local communities are also lending their support to the firefighting efforts. In Nainital district’s Maheshkhan area alone, 300 fire watchers, including 30 NDRF personnel, have been deployed to control the fire incidents.
Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has assured that all possible measures are being taken to tackle the escalating incidents of forest fires. On the other hand, authorities have taken swift action by arresting eight individuals involved in the forest fire incidents, with legal actions initiated against them under relevant sections of the Indian Forest Act- IFA.
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A Maoist has been killed in an encounter with security forces this morning in Bastar division of Chhattisgarh. The body of the slain Maoist has been recovered.
The encounter took place in Peselpad forest in Kistaram area of Sukma district when a joint team of District Reserve Guard Bastar Fighters and CRPF’s Cobra battalion was conducting a search operation based on intelligence inputs about the presence of Maoists in the area. After the encounter, weapons and other Naxalite material have also been recovered from the spot.
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Still with Chhattisgarh, eight people have died and 21 injured in a road accident in Bemetara district. According to police officials, about 30 people were returning to their village in a vehicle after attending a family function. Their vehicle collided with another vehicle near Kathia village. In the incident, eight people died on the spot. The dead include five women and three children. Four seriously injured people have been referred to AIIMS Raipur.
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In the Kashmir Valley, the death toll in yesterday’s tragic Sonamarg road accident in Ganderbal district has risen to five. According to officials, another body was retrieved this morning from Nallah Sindh in Kullan area of Ganderbal following an accident near Gagangeer in Sonamarg.
The incident unfolded when a vehicle carrying passengers met with a fatal accident near Gagangeer, resulting in the loss of five lives.
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The Centre is closely monitoring seasonal influenza across states through real-time surveillance. Union Health Ministry held a review meeting with states and UTs to assess the present situation in the country amid reports regarding detection of avian influenza virus in cattle and milk in various States of USA.
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The ministry of Mines today organized a summit to foster collaboration, sharing knowledge and driving innovation in the field of critical mineral beneficiation and processing in New Delhi. Addressing the inaugural session of the two-day summit, Secretary of Ministry of Mines VL Kantha Rao pointed out that India’s rapid economic growth and ambition for clean energy is the need of the hour.
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The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast that heat wave to severe heat wave conditions will continue to prevail over parts of Gangetic West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar and Jharkhand for the next three days. Heat wave conditions are likely over isolated pockets of Rayalaseema, Interior Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala and East Uttar Pradesh.
In Bengaluru, second highest temperature of 38.2 degrees recorded yesterday. The met department has said that it was on April 25 of 2016 that Bengaluru had registered a record high temperature of 39.2 degrees in the last 50 years.
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On to sports; in IPL Cricket, Kolkata Knight Riders will take on Delhi Capitals at Eden Gardens in Kolkata today.
Earlier, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) by 78 runs at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai last night. For Chennai, Tushar Deshpande’s four wicket haul coupled with Matheesha Pathirana’s crucial two wickets restricted SRH for 134 in 18.5 overs.
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THE HEADLINES ONCE AGAIN::
- High Octane Campaign on for third phase of Lok Sabha elections; Prime Minister and Senior BJP leader Narendra Modi reiterates commitment to make India a developed nation by 2047.
- Congress President Mallikarjuna Kharge to address public meetings in Karnataka.
- In Uttarakhand, efforts to combat forest fire underway; Eight persons involved in this fire arrested.
- Eight people killed in a road accident at Bemetara district in Chattisgarh.
- And In IPL Cricket; Kolkata Knight Riders to take on Delhi Capitals in Kolkata this evening.
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