THE HEADLINES:-
- Nearly 61 per cent voter turnout recorded in second phase of Lok Sabha Election.
- Prime Minister and Senior BJP leader Narendra Modi and Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to hold election rallies in Maharashtra today.
- Two terrorists killed in encounter with security forces in Baramulla district of Jammu and Kashmir.
- Odisha and Gangetic West Bengal likely to witness severe heatwave conditions during next few days.
- In IPL Cricket, Punjab Kings defeat Kolkata Knight Riders by 8 wickets.
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A voter turnout of 60.96 per cent was recorded in the second phase of the Lok Sabha Election yesterday. In this phase, 88 Lok Sabha seats went to polls. Polling remained largely peaceful with voters from various walks of life participating enthusiastically despite the heat wave. Voting took place on twenty seats of Kerala, 14 seats of Karnataka, 13 seats of Rajasthan, eight seats each of Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, six seats of Madhya Pradesh, five seats each in Assam and Bihar, three seats each of West Bengal and Chhattisgarh and one seat each in Manipur, Tripura and Jammu and Kashmir. The polling for the Betul Parliamentary Constituency of Madhya Pradesh, which was scheduled in the second phase will now be held in the third phase due to the demise of the BSP candidate.
The Election Commission said, 102 villages in the Bastar division of Chattisgarh witnessed polling in Lok Sabha for the first time.
Our correspondent reports that some of the prominent candidates whose political fate was sealed in the EVMs are Congress leader Rahul Gandhi from Wayanad in Kerala, CPl’s Annie Raja, who also contested from Wayanad, Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar from Thiruvananthapuram, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor from Thiruvananthapuram, Tejasvi Surya of BJP from Bengaluru South & Hema Malini of BJP from Mathura. Other key candidates included BJP’s Arun Govil from Meerut, ex-Karnataka CM HD Kumaraswamy from Mandya and Pappu Yadav from Purnea.
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Prime Minister and Senior BJP leader Narendra Modi will address a public rally at the Tapovan grounds in Kolhapur city this evening. Mr. Modi is canvassing for Mahayuti candidates Sanjay Mandlik of Kolhapur constituency and Dhairyasheel Mane of Hatkanangle. In Kolhapur, the Congress has fielded Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj, scion of the Kolhapur royal family against Shiv Sena’s sitting MP Sanjay Mandlik. Meanwhile, Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi will campaign in the Latur district to support the party’s candidate Dr Shivaji Kalge. In Latur, the Bharatiya Janata Party has nominated sitting MP Sudhakar Shrangare against Dr Shivaji Kalge. Polling on the Kolhapur, Hatkanangle and Latur Lok Sabha seats will be held in the third phase on the 7th of May.
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In Gujarat, political campaigning has picked up momentum. Senior BJP leader Amit Shah and Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will campaign in support of their party’s candidates today. The entire state will go for polls on the 7th of May.
“Senior BJP leader Amit Shah will address three marathon rallies in favour of BJP candidates at Porbandar, Bharuch and Panchmahal today. In the evening, Mr. Shah will hold a road show in Vadodara. On the other hand, Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will also campaign for the first time in South Gujarat. She will address the election rally at Dharmpur in Valsad district today. From Congress, Senior Congress leader Mukul Wasnik, and State Congress leader Shaktisinh Gohil will also participate in election campaigning Congress today. Aparna Khunt, Akashvani News, Ahmedabad.”
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In Assam, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge will address an election rally for the party’s Barpeta Lok Sabha candidate today. He will also interact with mediapersons in Guwahati before wrapping up his visit. Assam Chief Minister and senior BJP leader Himanta Biswa Sarma will also hold rallies. Election in the third phase in Assam will cover four Lok Sabha seats.
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In Madhya Pradesh, around 58.26 polling was recorded at the six Lok Sabha constituencies of the State during the second phase of polling yesterday. The highest 66.72 per cent polling was recorded in Hoshangabad, while Rewa had the lowest turnout of 49.44 per cent. Damoh recorded 56.33 per cent, Khajuraho 56.91 per cent, Satna 61.33 per cent and Tikamgarh recorded 59.23 per cent voting. Meanwhile, in the fourth and final phase of Lok Sabha elections for Madhya Pradesh, nomination papers of 90 candidates in eight Lok Sabha constituencies were found valid after scrutiny, while 11 were rejected. Candidates will be able to withdraw their names till Monday. Voting for the fourth phase will be held on the 13th of May.
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Kerala recorded a voter turnout of 70.35 per cent in the Lok Sabha polls held yesterday to all the 20 constituencies in a single phase. The voting percentage is likely to change as the final figure is yet to come because of late evening voting, informed the Office of the State Chief Electoral Officer.
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In Jammu and Kashmir, the second phase of voting for the 18th Lok Sabha Elections concluded peacefully in Jammu Parliamentary Constituency yesterday. Akashvani Jammu Correspondent reports that despite scorching hot weather, enthusiastic voters from Jammu, Samba, Reasi, and Rajouri came out in record numbers to cast their ballots. Long queues formed at polling stations as people eagerly waited for their turn, with youth and first-time voters excitedly participating in the festival of democracy. The district of Jammu, along with Samba, Reasi, and a part of Rajouri district, witnessed a remarkable voter turnout of 71.91%.
Voting was held across 2416 polling stations, all equipped with necessary facilities. Additionally, 1364 polling stations were live webcasted and more than 15 thousand polling staff performed the poll duty.
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Dharwad Parliamentary Constituency is one of the 14 seats going to the polls on May 7th in Karnataka. Situated in the North bordering Maharashtra, Dharwad acted as a gateway between the Malenadu, the western hills and Bayaluseeme, the plains in the interior region. It was a place to rest after a long trip. The Parliamentary Constituency was carved out in its present shape in 2008 and the first election was held in 2009.
“Dharwad Parliamentary Constituency is facing its fourth election in 2024. In the previous four elections held before and after delimitation, BJP candidate and Union Minister Prahlad Joshi had won in 2004, 2009, 2014 and 2019. In this election, Vinod Asooti from the Congress party is fighting his first Parliamentary election from Dharwad. There are 17 candidates in fray in this election that includes six Independents. The constituency has over 18 lakh 31 thousand voters. Out of them the young voters number around 47000 and those above the age of 85 are 18,626. In the 2019 Lok Sabha election Prahlad Joshi had defeated Vinay Kulkarni from Congress with a margin of over two lakh five thousand votes. Vinay Kulkarni is the present MLA from Dharwad Rural Assembly constituency. There are eight Assembly segments in the Dharwad Lok Sabha constituency and both Congress and BJP had won four seats each in the Assembly election held last year. Sudhindra Akashvani News Bengaluru.”
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The Indian Air Force (IAF) and Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to leverage DigiLocker’s secure and accessible document repository services at Vayu Bhawan in New Delhi yesterday. With the MoU, the IAF has embarked on a transformative digital journey by integrating with the DigiLocker platform. This is a flagship initiative under the Digital India programme.
The Ministry of Defence said, this integration will revolutionize the way critical service documents of IAF personnel, both serving and retired. The Ministry said that now, authorized IAF departments and divisions will be able to seamlessly upload digital records, certificates, and vital documents to the national DigiLocker repository, ensuring secure storage and easy accessibility.
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In the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, two terrorists were killed in an encounter with security forces in Nowpora area of Sopore in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district yesterday. The identity of the slain terrorists is being ascertained. Arms and ammunition including incriminating materials were recovered from their possession. The encounter broke-out on Thursday after a joint team of Police, Army and CRPF launched a cordon and search operation in Nowpora.
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The India Meteorological Department, IMD has issued a red alert for severe heatwave conditions in Odisha and Gangetic West Bengal for the next few days. The IMD said, heat wave conditions are expected in isolated pockets over Bihar, Jharkhand, Telangana, Rayalaseema, Interior Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, East Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Mahe, Konkan, West Uttar Pradesh, Coastal Andhra Pradesh and Yanam till the 30th of this month.
“Heatwave to severe heat wave conditions will prevail over Gangetic West Bengal, Odisha and in isolated pockets over Sub-Himalayan West Bengal during the same period. The Weather department further forecast a fresh spell of rainfall accompanied by thunderstorms, lightning and gusty winds in adjoining Central India till tomorrow, plains of Northwest India till Sunday and Western Himalayan Region till the 29th of this month. On hot and humid weather, the IMD has said, these conditions are very likely to prevail over Tripura, Kerala, Mahe, Coastal Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Karaikal, Assam, Meghalaya, Konkan and Goa till the 28th of April. Meanwhile, the IMD also said Delhi will witness a generally cloudy sky with light rain today. The maximum temperature in the national capital is likely to hover around 39 degrees Celsius for the next two days. Chirag Jha, Akashvani News, Delhi.”
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Taiwan was hit by a series of at least 10 earthquakes of varying magnitude in the early hours today, with the strongest reaching 6.1 magnitude.
According to the island’s Central Weather Administration, the earthquakes occurred around 40 kilometers from Hualien City on the east coast, at a depth of 18.9 kilometers.
Taiwan’s National Fire Agency said there were no immediate reports of damage. According to Media reports, no tsunami warning reports followed the earthquakes, which triggered mobile phone alarms in capital Taipei, and came just several days after dozens of quakes shook the island.
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In Archery, India’s Jyothi Surekha Vennam and Abhishek Verma stormed into the compound mixed team final at the Archery World Cup Stage 1 in Shanghai yesterday. In a close match, the world No.2 Indians triumphed over their Mexican opponents, Andrea Becerra and Lot Maximo Ortiz, 155-151. Vennam and Verma will face the lower-ranked Estonian siblings, Robin Jaatma and Lisell Jaatma in the final clash today.
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In IPL Cricket, Punjab Kings defeated Kolkata Knight Riders by 8 wickets in Kolkata last night.
Chasing a target of 262 runs, Punjab achieved the score for the loss of two wickets in 18.4 overs. Jonny Bairstow was the top scorer for Punjab, remaining unbeaten at 108 runs. Shashank Singh made 68 runs.
Delhi Capitals will take on Mumbai Indians in Delhi this afternoon. The match will start at 3.30 PM. In another match, Lucknow Super Giants will lock horns with Rajasthan Royals in Lucknow this evening. The match is scheduled to begin at 7.30 PM.
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TODAY’S NEWSPAPERS HEADLINES:-
⦁ “189 seats sealed as Phase 2 ends”, is a top headline in Hindustan Times.
⦁ “SC rejects return to ballots, says distrust of EVMs blind”, “Refuses 100% verification of VVPAT slips”, writes The Times of India.
⦁ “Your focus is on power, not work”, the Delhi High Court delivers a scathing critique of jailed Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and his government over the failure to provide essential supplies such as books and uniforms to students in municipal schools, says Hindustan Times.
⦁ A headline in The Asian Age reads, “CBI unearths Sandeshkhali arsenal; raids Shahjahan’s aide, recovers arms, bombs; calls NSG for backup”.
⦁ “US, China draw red lines but move forward on repairing soured ties”, reports The Tribune.
⦁ And Finally, the Election Commission has roped in ‘National Icons’ to educate people on the importance of ballot, reports The Hindu, under the headline, “Celebs and brands campaign to get India to vote”.
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THE HEADLINES ONCE AGAIN:-
- Nearly 61 per cent voter turnout recorded in second phase of Lok Sabha Election.
- Prime Minister and Senior BJP leader Narendra Modi and Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to hold election rallies in Maharashtra today.
- Two terrorists killed in encounter with security forces in Baramulla district of Jammu and Kashmir.
- Odisha and Gangetic West Bengal likely to witness severe heatwave conditions during next few days.
- In IPL Cricket, Punjab Kings defeat Kolkata Knight Riders by 8 wickets.
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