Midday News -

THE HEADLINES:

Polling for fifth phase of Lok Sabha elections to be held tomorrow for 49 seats spread over 8 States and Union Territories.
Campaigning heats up for remaining phases of Lok Sabha polls; Prime Minister and senior BJP leader Narendra Modi addresses election rally at Jamshedpur in Jharkhand.
Student enrollment under Scheduled Caste category goes up by 44 percent from 2014 to 2022, says National Commission for Backward Classes.
IMD says, heavy rain will continue to lash Kerala till Tuesday.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty win Men’s Doubles title at Thailand Open Badminton tournament in Bangkok.
And, Indian Grandmaster Aravindh Chithambaram beats local star AR Saleh Salem to claim sole lead in Sharjah Masters chess tournament.

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The Fifth phase of Lok Sabha elections will be held tomorrow. Forty-nine constituencies spread over six states and two Union Territories will go to polls in this phase. These include 14 seats in Uttar Pradesh, 13 in Maharashtra, seven in West Bengal, five each in Bihar and Odisha, three in Jharkhand, and one each in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. A total of 695 candidates are in the fray for this phase. Prominent among them are Rajnath Singh, Smriti Irani and Piyush Goyal of the BJP, Rahul Gandhi and K L Sharma of Congress, Omar Abdullah of NC and Chirag Paswan of LJP (Ramvilas).

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In Uttar Pradesh, polling parties are reaching the polling booths of the 14 Lok Sabha constituencies where elections will be held tomorrow. Our correspondent has filed this report:-

“These 14 seats are spread over Awadh and Bundelkhand areas of Uttar Pradesh. These are Raebareli, Amethi, Lucknow, Mohanlalganj, Hamirpur, Jalaun, Jhansi, Banda, Fatehpur, Kaushambhi, Faizabad, Barabanki, Kaiserganj and Gonda. In last elections BJP won 13 of these 14 seats. The only seat that the saffron party lost was Rae Bareli seat, which was won by former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi. Many stalwarts are in fray on these 14 seats this time. Defense Minister and senior BJP leader Rajnath Singh is contesting from Lucknow parliamentary seat as a BJP candidate for the third time. Rajnath Singh is contesting against SP candidate Ravidas Mehrotra and BSP candidate Sarwar Malik. Another Union Minister Smriti Irani is contesting against KL Sharma of Congress in Amethi. Rahul Gandhi is contesting from Rae Bareli against BJP’s Dinesh Pratap Singh. Union Minister Kaushal Kishor is seeking third term from Mohanlalganj seat. The Faizabad Loksabha constituency famous for the Ayodhya temple is witnessing the contest between BJP’S lallu Singh and Samajwadi Party’s avdhesh Prasad. Another important seat is Kaiserganj from where Karan Bhushan Singh son of senior BJP leader Brajbhushaan Sharan Singh is contesting. SUSHIL CHANDRA TIWARI/ AKASHVANI NEWS, LUCKNOW.”

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In Maharashtra, Dhule, Dindori, Nashik, Kalyan, Palghar, Bhiwandi, Thane, Mumbai North, Mumbai North-West, Mumbai North-East, Mumbai North-Central, Mumbai South-Central, Mumbai South will go to polls tomorrow. A total of 264 candidates are in fray. 24,579 polling stations have been established.

In Maharashtra, fifth phase is the final phase of elections and 13 constituencies will go to polls tomorrow. The fate of 264 candidates will be decided by around 2 crore 46 lakh voters. Prominent candidates include Union Minister Piyush Goyal, Kapil Patil, Dr. Bharati Pawar, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s son Dr. Shrikant Shinde. There are many sitting MPs in fray including Subhash Bhamre, Hemant Godse, Rajan Vichare, Rahul Shewale and Arvind Sawant. Another important candidate to watch out for is public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam who is contesting from the Mumbai North Central seat on BJP ticket against 4 term MLA from Dharavi, Varsha Gaikwad fielded by the Congress party. Five of the 10 seats in the Mumbai metropolitan region are witnessing a direct fight between the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and Shiv Sena (UBT). Prarthna, Akashvani News, Mumbai.”

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Campaigning heats up for the remaining phases of Lok Sabha polls. Prime Minister and Senior BJP leader Narendra Modi addressed an election rally at Jamshedpur in Jharkhand today for party candidate Bidyut Varan Mahto. Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Modi said that the 2024 Lok Sabha election is to strengthen the country’s present and future. Mr. Modi said businesses are of paramount importance for the development of the country. Launching a scathing attack against Congress, he said, the party considers business community as enemies of the country. Taking a jibe at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi without naming him, he dared the chief ministers of the Congress and their alliance partner ruled states in Himachal Pradesh and Tamil Nadu and also those from INDI Alliance for opposing businesses and investors. Mr. Modi sought to know how the youth from these states will get employment if the parties keep opposing businessmen and investors? He asked people, whether there should be no discussion on economy, small and medium enterprises, agriculture and new opportunities for the youth of the country in the ongoing election. However, he said, the Congress and the JMM are not bothered about such issues as they do not know anything about development.

Bahujan Samaj Party Chief Mayawati today addressed an election rally in Basti, Uttar Pradesh. She accused the previous Samajwadi Party government of depriving SC and ST category people of their constitutional rights.

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In Punjab, the election campaign is currently going on at a slow pace in all 13 Lok Sabha constituencies due to the scorching heat. Voting in the state is to be held in the seventh and last phase on the 1st of June. The continuously rising temperature has troubled the candidates. A Report:

“In the campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections, all the political parties in Punjab are taking advantage of morning and evening street meetings, door-to-door knocks, and road shows. Due to the strictness of the Election Commission, posters, banners, and boards are rarely visible on roadsides or other public places, and the noise of loudspeakers is also negligible. Contacting voters in the scorching heat has become a cause of great difficulty for the candidates. Yesterday, the temperature in most of the cities was recorded between 43 to 46 degrees Celsius, and yellow, orange, and red alerts related to heat waves have been issued for the coming five days. Shishu Sharma Shantal, Akashvani News, Jalandhar.”

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In our series on constituency profiles for Lok Sabha elections, today we bring you a report on Sultanpur parliamentary seat in Uttar Pradesh.

“Since independence, Congress has won the Sultanpur seat the maximum number of times. One special thing about this seat is that except for the BJP’s Devendra Bahadur, there is no other face who has been successful in becoming MP from this seat for the second time. After independence, Congress won this seat eight times with a different face. BSP won here twice, and BJP won four times. BJP has again made current MP Maneka Gandhi its candidate from this seat. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Maneka Gandhi defeated BSP’s Chandra Bhadra Singh by 14 thousand 526 votes. Dr. Sanjay Singh of Congress stood third. This time, Samajwadi Party candidates Ram Bhuwal Nishad from the India Alliance and Udraj Verma from Bahujan Samaj Party are in the fray to contest against Maneka Gandhi. All parties have intensified campaigning to ensure the victory of their candidates. Sultanpur Lok Sabha constituency has five assembly seats. These include Isauli, Sultanpur, Sadar, Lambhua and Kadipur. A total of 18 lakh 52 thousand 590 voters in this parliamentary constituency will seal the fate of nine candidates in EVMs on May 25. Om Awasthi, AkashVani News, Lucknow.”

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The student enrollment under the Scheduled Caste category has grown by 44 per cent, from 46 lakh in 2014-15 to 66 lakh in 2021-22. According to a report of the National Commission for Backward Classes, minority female student enrollment also witnessed over 42 per cent increase, from over 10 lakh in 2014-15 to 15 lakh in 2021-22. Female SC enrollment increased by 51 per cent, whereas that of ST students went up by 65.2 per cent.

According to the report, during the academic year 2020-21, a 27 per cent reservation for OBC students was implemented in Central Schools, resulting in over 34 thousand OBC children securing admissions.

In Institutes of National Importance, there was a 71 per cent increase in OBC enrollment, with female OBC enrollment more than doubling, the report said.

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Delhi police has detained several Aam Aadmi Party workers marching towards the BJP headquarters in the national capital as part of Jail Bharo protest. Talking to media, DCP Central Delhi, M Harsha Vardhan said restrictions under Section 144 of CrPC have been imposed on DDU Marg, and there is no permission for any kind of protest. Security was enhanced outside the BJP headquarters in view of the protest.

Addressing the gathering at AAP headquarters ahead of leading the protest march, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal accused the BJP of starting a vendetta against the AAP leaders. He expressed apprehension that in the coming days, AAP leaders might be arrested and party accounts may be frozen.

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The BJP today claimed that Aam Aadmi Party is falsely accusing it for the incident of alleged misconduct of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s PA Bibhav Kumar with AAP MP Swati Maliwal. Addressing the media, Delhi BJP President Virendra Sachdeva said BJP has no role in this matter. He said, Swati Maliwal is AAP’s MP and the PA of her own party’s convener had misbehaved with her. He also asked why Mr. Kejriwal is silent on the Swati Maliwal incident!

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Heavy rain continues to lash Kerala. India Meteorological Department has predicted heavy rain till Tuesday. A Red alert has been issued in Pathanamthitta, Kottayam and Idukki districts for today and tomorrow. An Orange alert has been isuued in Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Alappuzha and Ernakulam districts, while a yellow alert has been issued in Thrissur, Palakkad, Malappuram, Kozhikode and Wayanad districts. Quarrying and mining activities have been banned in Pathanamthitta and Idukki districts. Control rooms have been opened. Hilly areas are on a high alert as there is a possibility of landslides and flash floods. People have been asked to move to safer places. Night travel and tourist activities have been restricted in hilly regions. Fishing has been banned on the Kerala coast due to strong winds and bad weather.

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Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty won the Men’s double of the Thailand Open today, beating the Chinese pair of Chen Bo Yang and Liu Yi 21-15, 21-15 in straight sets.

Yesterday, the Indain duo defeated Lu Ming-Che and Tang Kai-Wei of Chinese Taipei 21-11, 21-12 to enter the final of the tournament.

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In Sharjah, Indian Grandmaster Aravindh Chithambaram defeated local star A R Saleh Salem to emerge as the sole leader on 4.5 points after the end of the fifth round of Sharjah Masters chess tournament. Chithambaram is now followed by four players, the Iranian duo of Amin Tabatabaei and Bardiya Daneshvar and Americans Hans Moke Niemann and Sam Shankland who all have four points apiece.

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In IPL Cricket, a doubleheader will be played on the final day of the league stage today. In the first match, Sunrisers Hyderabad will lock horns with Punjab Kings at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad at 3:30 pm.

In the second match, Rajasthan Royals will be up against Kolkata Knight Riders at Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati. The game will start at 7:30 pm.

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THE HEADLINES ONCE AGAIN::

Polling for fifth phase of Lok Sabha elections to be held tomorrow for 49 seats spread over 8 States and Union Territories.
Campaigning heats up for remaining phases of Lok Sabha polls; Prime Minister and senior BJP leader Narendra Modi addresses election rally at Jamshedpur in Jharkhand.
Student enrollment under Scheduled Caste category goes up by 44 percent from 2014 to 2022, says National Commission for Backward Classes.
IMD says, heavy rain will continue to lash Kerala till Tuesday.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty win Men’s Doubles title at Thailand Open Badminton tournament in Bangkok.
And, Indian Grandmaster Aravindh Chithambaram beats local star AR Saleh Salem to claim sole lead in Sharjah Masters chess tournament.