THE HEADLINES:
- Campaigning for seventh and last phase of Lok Sabha elections in full swing as only two days left for canvassing.
- Prime Minister and Senior BJP leader Narendra Modi says Central government has provided pucca houses to 4 crore poor people and tap water connection to over 12 crore homes.
- Supreme Court rejects Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s plea seeking seven day interim bail extension.
- Two Maoists killed in an encounter with security forces in Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh.
- IMD says severe heat wave conditions prevailing over Northwest and Central India to reduce from tomorrow.
- And in French Open Tennis, Novak Djokovic advances to second round with straight-sets victory in Paris.
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Campaigning for seventh and final phase of Lok Sabha elections reaches its last leg as only two days have been left for canvassing. Voting in this phase will be held for 57 Parliamentary Constituencies across seven states and a Union Territory on 1st of June. A total of 904 candidates are in the fray in this phase.
Prime Minister and senior BJP leader Narendra Modi has said that everyone looks at India with respect today, be it the US, Europe, or Japan. Addressing an election rally in Mathurapur, West Bengal, Mr Modi said, this has been made possible because people voted to power a BJP led NDA government at the Centre. Listing the achievements of his government, Prime Minister said, in the past 10 years, Central government has provided pucca houses to 4 crore poor people, brought tap water connection to over 12 crore homes and provided electricity to every village.
In Bihar, Senior BJP leader and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is holding a public meeting in Bikramganj in Karakat parliamentary constituency in favour of NDA candidate. He is also scheduled to hold public meetings in Buxar and Patna Sahib Lok Sabha constituencies.
BJP state president and Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary is attending public meetings in Jehanabad constituency. He will address public meetings in Karakat, Nalanda, Sasaram and Pataliputra Lok Sabha constituencies.
Lok Janshakti Party Ramvilas chief Chirag Paswan addressed public meeting in Chenari in Sasaram parliamentary constituency. He calimed that NDA will clean sweep in the elections.
Eight parliamentary constituencies will go to the polls on 1st June.
In Uttar Pradesh, Union Home Minister and Senior BJP leader Amit Shah has a hectic day in state with four rallies and a road show. Addressing his first rally in Maharajganj, Mr Shah claimed that BJP will get more than 300 seats in just five phase of elections and sixth and seventh phase will give the party more than 400 seats. He is sheduled to address rallies in Deoriya, Ballia and Sonbhadra. In Ghazipur he will hold a road show.
Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath today addressed a political rally in Kushinagar and said that only BJP is capable in safeguarding the borders of the country.
He will campaign in Deoriya and Gorakhpur districts also.
On the other hand Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav will campaign for Party candidate in Dudhi assembly constituency where by polls will be held in the final phase of elections. He will later address rallies in Robertsganj and Mirzapur Loksabha constituencies also.
Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi addressing an election rally in Ludhiana said, constitution is a voice of the people.
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In Odisha, high voltage electioneering is on for the six parliament constituencies – Mayurbhanj, Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Kendrapara and Jagatsinghpur, and 42 Assembly seats. Prime Minister and senior BJP leader Narendra Modi arrived at Baripada under Mayurbhanj Lok Sabha constituency to address an election rally this afternoon. He is scheduled to address two more public meetings at Remuna under Balasore parliamentary constituency and Barua in Kendrapara Lok Sabha constituency today.
Similarly, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge is also scheduled to campaign in Balasore Lok Sabha constituency today.
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Women voters have outnumbered men by 3 per cent in the sixth phase of the Lok Sabha elections. This was disclosed by the Election Commission yesterday. The poll panel released the absolute number of voters who voted in the sixth phase of Lok Sabha polls which was held on Saturday. According to the report, 64.95% of eligible female voters exercised their franchise, compared to 61.95% of eligible male voters. Moreover, the turnout among the third gender recorded at 18.67%, indicating a diverse engagement in the electoral process. Women’s participation was higher than men in Bihar, Jharkhand, Ladakh, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh. As many as 58 seats in eight states went to polls in the sixth phase on 25th of this month.
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In the seventh and final phase of Lok Sabha elections, voting will be held on 13 seats of Uttar Pradesh on June 1. Mirzapur Lok Sabha seat, which is one of the important seats of Purvanchal, is also included in this. Our correspondent has filed this report:
“Mirzapur Lok Sabha constituency holds an important place in religious tourism as well as in the electoral politics of India. In the elections held so far on this parliamentary seat, Congress has won seven times, Samajwadi Party four times, Bahujan Samaj Party twice, BJP twice, Apna Dal twice, Bharatiya Jan Sangh once, Janata Party once, and Janata Dal once. The special thing about this seat is that no one has been able to become MP here for three consecutive times. Anupriya Patel of Apna Dal Sonelal, who has been winning this seat in the last two elections, is contesting for the third time as an NDA candidate. Union Minister of State Anupriya Patel had defeated SP’s Charitra Nishad in the 2019 parliamentary elections. In this election, he will face three-time MLA and MP Ramesh Chand Bind, who left the BJP and joined SP. Bahujan Samaj Party has made Manish Tripathi its candidate, while Apna Dal Kamerawadi has fielded Daulat Singh Patel. Along with this, six other candidates are also in the electoral fray. OM Awasthi, Akashwani News, Lucknow.”
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Bhadrak parliamentary constituency in Odisha is going for polls in the seventh and last phase of Lok Sabha elections on 1st of June. The seat has been a stronghold of the ruling Biju Janata Dal led by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for more than two decades. Congress has roped in its senior leader Ananta Prasad Sethi to make the battleground of Bhadrak Lok Sabha constituency a triangular one.
More from our correspondent:
“Bhadrak Lok Sabha constituency has become a battle for prestige for the three major political parties with heavyweight leaders from BJD, BJP and Congress in the fray in the election for most of the Assembly seats. This Lok Sabha has been a strong fort of the ruling BJD in the state for more than two decades. In the 2019 elections, BJD candidate Manjulata Mandal won the seat and defeated Abhimanyu Sethi of the BJP. The BJD has repeated Manjulata Mandal in this election. The BJP has also repeated Avimanyu Sethi. Congress has fielded a senior leader and former MP Ananta Prasad Sethi from the seat. The BJD is quite strongly entrenched in the Lok Sabha constituency as the party had won six out of the seven Assembly segments in 2019 elections. Several strong candidates have been renominated by the ruling BJD in the Assembly elections being held simultaneously. They are expected to poll more votes for the party nominee in the Lok Sabha election. The constituency has assumed immense significance for the BJP also as party state president Manmohan Samal has entered the fray from Chandbali Assembly seat which comes under Bhadrak Lok Sabha constituency. Prakash Dash, Akashvani News, Bhubaneswar.”
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The Supreme Court today refused urgent listing of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s plea seeking extension of his interim bail by seven days for undergoing certain medical tests. Refusing to accept Kejriwal’s application, Supreme Court registry said since he has been given liberty to move trial court for regular bail, the plea is not maintainable. Delhi Chief Minister had got interim bail from Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta on May 10th and was asked to surrender to Tihar jail on June 2nd. The bench had on May 17th reserved verdict on Kejriwal’s challenge to the validity of his arrest by ED in a PMLA case linked to Delhi liquor scam. Refusing to accept application, the apex court said that since the verdict is already reserved on challenge to arrest, Kejriwal’s plea for extension of interim bail has no relation to main petition.
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Two Maoists, including a female rebel, were killed in an encounter with security forces in Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh today. The encounter took place this morning in the forests of Baddepara in Madded area. A reward of 8 lakh rupees was declared on the female Naxalite killed in the encounter. Police have recovered the bodies of the killed Maoists along with two weapons from the spot.
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Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena has ordered paid leave for workers at the construction site from 12 noon to 3 pm in view of extreme heatwave conditions in the national capital. Mr. Saxena directed Delhi Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar to issue necessary directions for protecting labour and supervisory staff from extreme heat conditions. He also asked Chief Secretary to convene immediate meeting of officers of all public works department in this regard. Mr. Saxena further directed to arrange earthen pots with drinking water at bus queue shelters to provide relief to bus passengers and passersby. Water sprinklers tankers should be deployed to cool down ambient temperature on the roads.
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The State Bank of India (SBI) released a report anticipating India’s GDP growth 7.4 percent in the fourth quarter of the financial year 2023-24, while the overall growth could touch 8 percent. The report released by the SBI’s Economic Research department highlights the potential impact of global economic resilience on India’s growth trajectory. The report identifies a consistent growth trend across both urban and rural sectors in India. Urban economic momentum is indicated by strong performance in passenger vehicle sales, airport passenger traffic, GST collections, credit card transactions, petroleum consumption, and toll collection.
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IAS Pradip Kumar Tripathi has been appointed as Secretary to Lokpal till 30th of next month. The Appointment Committee of the Cabinet has also approved the appointment of IAS Rakesh Ranjan as Chairman of Staff Selection Commission (SSC).
IAS Amit Yadav of 1991 batch has been appointed as Officer on Special Duty in the department of Social Justice and Empowerment department. He will take over as Secretary after superannuation of incumbent secretary Saurabh Garg on 31st of July.
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Telangana state government and main political parties are making elaborate arrangements for the decadal celebrations of the State Formation Day. The state government is making arrangements for a grand public event at the Secunderabad parade grounds to mark the ten years of Telangana separate state formation.
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India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast that heat wave to severe heat wave conditions prevailing over Northwest and Central India are likely to reduce gradually from tomorrow.
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Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic advanced to the second round of French Open with straight-sets victory in Paris last night. He began his French Open title defence with a solid win over Pierre-Hugues Herbert his opening-round match. 37-year-old Djokovic will now face Spaniard Roberto Carballes Baena in the second round.
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THE HEADLINES ONCE AGAIN:
- Campaigning for seventh and last phase of Lok Sabha elections in full swing as only two days left for canvassing.
- Prime Minister and Senior BJP leader Narendra Modi says Central government has provided pucca houses to 4 crore poor people and tap water connection to over 12 crore homes.
- Supreme Court rejects Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s plea seeking seven day interim bail extension.
- Two Maoists killed in an encounter with security forces in Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh.
- IMD says severe heat wave conditions prevailing over Northwest and Central India to reduce from tomorrow.
- And in French Open Tennis, Novak Djokovic advances to second round with straight-sets victory in Paris.
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