Morning News -

THE HEADLINES:-

All arrangements put in place for fifth phase of Lok Sabha elections tomorrow.
Campaigning in full swing for remaining phases of parliamentary polls; Prime Minister and senior BJP leader Narendra Modi to address public meetings in Jharkhand and West Bengal today.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s close aide, Bibhav Kumar remanded to police custody for five days in connection with Swati Maliwal assault case.
IMD forecasts heavy rains in southern regions of the country during next three days.
In IPL Cricket, Royal Challengers Bengaluru beat Chennai Super Kings by 27 runs to enter the playoff stage.

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All arrangements have been put in place for the fifth phase of Lok Sabha elections tomorrow. Forty-nine constituencies spread over six states and two Union Territories will go to polls in this phase.

These are 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. Campaigning for this phase ended yesterday. A total of 695 candidates are in the fray for this phase.

In Maharashtra, 13 constituencies which will go to polls tomorrow include Dhule, Dindori, Nashik, Palghar, Bhiwandi, Kalyan, Thane and six parliamentary constituencies in Mumbai. Our correspondent reports that voting will take place on 24 thousand 579 polling stations.

“A total of 41,897 Ballot Units and 24,579 Control Units and VVPAT have been arranged for the polling in 13 constituencies in Maharashtra tomorrow. There are 160 critical polling booths in this phase. Web casting facilities have been established to monitor the polling booths. In Mumbai, around 600 BEST buses will be provided free of cost to help voters with disabilities to reach polling stations. Prarthna, Akashvani News, Mumbai.”

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In Jharkhand, polling parties are reaching their respective polling stations in Lok Sabha constituencies of Chatra, Koderma and Hazaribagh. About 148 polling personnel along with a sector officer were transported through helicopter in the far flung Latehar and Chatra districts of the state for the polling.

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Campaigning is in full swing for remaining sixth and seventh phases of parliamentary polls. Prime Minister and senior BJP leader Narendra Modi will address public meetings in Jharkhand and West Bengal today.

In Jharkhand, Mr Modi will address an election rally in Jamshedpur. BJP’s Bidyut Varan Mahto is contesting from the Jamshedpur Lok Sabha seat against Jharkhand Mukti Morcha’s I.N.D.I.A. nominee Sameer Mohanti who is a sitting MLA from Baharagoda, legislative assembly seat. Mr. Mahto who is a sitting Lok Sabha member from Jamshedpur is seeking re-election for the third consecutive term from Jamshedpur Parliamentary seat.

Mr. Modi will also address three public meetings in Purulia, Bishnupur and Kharagpur this afternoon.

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In Uttar Pradesh, Union Home Minister and senior BJP leader Amit Shah will address political rallies in Prayagraj and Jaunpur districts while Chief Minister of the state Yogi Adityanath will campaign in Azamgarh, Jaunpur, Pratapgarh and Prayagraj districts for the party candidates. Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav will campaign in Ghazipur and Ballia districts for the BJP cndidates.

On the other hand opposition leaders Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav will joinly campaign in Prayagraj district for I.N.D.I.A candidates. Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav will later campaign in Phoolpur constituency also. Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh will be campaigning in Maharajganj constituency.

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Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha constituency in Odisha is going for polls in the 6th phase of general elections on 25th of this month. Ruling BJD, Congress and BJP are in a fierce fight to win the constituency as it is considered as the epicentre of politics in the state.

High voltage campaign by leaders of various political parties is on in all the seven assembly segments coming under this Lok Sabha constituency.

“Bhubaneswar, the capital and largest city of Odisha, is historically known as the Chakra Kshetra and Ekamra Kshetra. It is home to nearly 700 temples, earning it the nickname of City of Temples. After the 2008 delimitation, seven Assembly seats came under the Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha constituency, which are Jayadev, Bhubaneswar Central, Bhubaneswar North, Ekamra Bhubaneswar, Jatni, Begunia and Khordha. A major change in the politics of Odisha and in the Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha seat occurred when Naveen Patnaik formed the Biju Janata Dal in 1997. In the 1998 Lok Sabha election, the BJD, riding on the popularity of legendary leader Biju Patnaik and under the leadership of Naveen Patnaik, achieved a spectacular success. Dr Prasanna Kumar Patasani won the Lok Sabha election on a BJD ticket. He won the Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha constituency five times in a row in 1998, 1999, 2004, 2009 and 2014. In the 2019, two former officers of the Indian Administrative Service and the Indian Police Service contested from the Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha seat. The BJP gave a ticket to former IAS officer Aparajita Sarangi from this seat. Aparajita Sarangi was the Commissioner of the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation. She won with 4,86,991 votes, while former IPS officer Arup Patnaik of the BJD came second with 463,152 votes.

This election, BJP has again given ticket to sitting MP Aparajita Sarangi, while BJD has given ticket to Manmath Kumar Routray and Syed Yashir Nawaz is contesting as a Congress nominee. Prakash Dash,Akashvani News,Bhubaneswar.”

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A total of 889 candidates from eight states and Union Territories will contest elections in the Sixth Phase of Lok Sabha Elections. This includes 20 contesting candidates for the adjourned poll in Anantnag-Rajouri Parliamentary Constituency of Jammu and Kashmir. The Election Commission said in a statement that a total of 1978 nominations were filed for 58 Constituencies going for polls in this phase.

The last date for filing nominations for this phase was 6th May.

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The Election Commission’s concerted crackdown on money power and inducements in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections has resulted in seizures by the agencies worth 8 thousand 889 crore rupees. The poll body said in a statement that enhanced vigil against inducements including drugs and psychotropic substances has resulted in big seizure actions and continuous surge. Drug seizures worth over three thousand 958 crore rupees amount to 45 percent of seizures.

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The Election Commission has issued a show cause notice to West Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumdar for alleged violation of the Model Code of Conduct. The Commission said, it has received a complaint from Trinamool Congress wherein it is alleged that the BJP published an advertisement in the Anandabazar and Pratidin newspapers on the 5th of this month containing, false, unverified and misleading statement to unduly influence the minds of the voters.

The poll body has sought a response from Mr Majumdar by 21st of this month as to why the advertisement is not treated as violation of the Model Code of Conduct.

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A District Court in Delhi has sent Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s close aide, Bibhav Kumar, to five-day police custody after he was arrested in connection with AAP Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal’s assault case.

Bibhav was produced before the Tis Hazari court yesterday. Metropolitan Magistrate Gaurav Goyal remanded him to five-day police custody for questioning. He is scheduled to be produced before the court on 23rd of this month, after the expiration of his remand.

Earlier, Ms Maliwal had filed a complaint against Bibhav Kumar allegaing harassment and torture at Mr. Kejriwal’s residence on the 13th of this month.

Meanwhile, Kumar has also filed a counter complaint against Ms Maliwal alleging that she illegally entered the Chief Minister’s house on the day when the incident occured.

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Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for the Ministry of Law and Justice, Arjun Ram Meghwal has said that the Government replaced the colonial era criminal justice system to provide justice to people in a time bound manner. Speaking at the inaugural session of second Conference titled ‘India’s Progressive Path in the Administration of Criminal Justice System’ at IIT-Guwahati yesterday, Mr. Meghwal, pointed out the need for changes in the Criminal Justice system, which was initially brought into effect from the perspective of colonial rulers and lacked Indian spirit and ethos.

The Minister said that the new laws, Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023; Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam 2023 are people centric and the Union Government adopted these news laws in right time as India is developing at a fast pace.

As notified, these new criminal laws are to take effect from 1^st of July this year.

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India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecasts extremely heavy rainfall for the next three days in the southern regions of the country, while heavy to very heavy rainfall is likely to continue over south Peninsular India during the next five days. The MeT department said that isolated extremely heavy rainfall is also very likely over Tamil Nadu and Kerala till the 21st of this month. Southwest Monsoon is likely to advance into the South Andaman Sea, some parts of Southeast Bay of Bengal, and Nicobar Islands during the next 48 hours.

Talking to Akashvani News, senior scientist, RK Jenamani said that heat wave to severe heat wave conditions are likely to continue over the plains of Northwest India.

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In IPL Cricket, Royal Challengers Bengaluru beat Chennai Super Kings by 27 runs in a do-or-die game at the M. Chinnaswami Stadium in Bengaluru, to enter the playoffs.

Put into bat first, Bengaluru posted a total of 218 for 5 but they need to stop CSK below 201 to stay alive in the playoffs race. Faf du Plessis scored 54 off 39 while Virat Kohli played 47 off 29 balls for the team.

In reply, CSK could score 191 for seven in stipulated 20 overs with the help of Rachin Ravindra’s 61 off 37 balls and failed to reach in the top four.

With the win, RCB joined Kolkata Knight Riders, Rajasthan Royals, and Sunrisers Hyderabad in the playoffs while CSK were eliminated.

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TODAY’S NEWSPAPERS HEADLINES:-

Under the headline, “Star-studded lineup for tomorrow’s vote” The Pioneer has written about the political heavyweights whose fate will be decided in Phase 5 of the Lok Sabha Elections.

The Hindu quotes the Election Commission as saying that poll-related seizures estimated at nearly 9,000 crore rupees, is the highest in any election so far.

India and Pakistan have asked their students in Kyrgyztan to stay indoors, after mob violence targetting international students, specially from South Asia, was reported, writes The Asian Age.

The India Meteorological Department has issued a ‘Red’ alert in Delhi NCR as temperature may rise another notch today. Reports Hindustan Times.

And finally, The Indian Express carries the story and photograph of Libia Lobo Sardesai, who will turn 100 on May 25. Her role as the ‘underground voice of Goa’s liberation struggle’ will be commemorated with a large mural across the road from her home in Goa.

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THE HEADLINES ONCE AGAIN:-

All arrangements put in place for fifth phase of Lok Sabha elections tomorrow.
Campaigning in full swing for remaining phases of parliamentary polls; Prime Minister and senior BJP leader Narendra Modi to address public meetings in Jharkhand and West Bengal today.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s close aide, Bibhav Kumar remanded to police custody for five days in connection with Swati Maliwal assault case.
IMD forecasts heavy rains in southern regions of the country during next three days.
In IPL Cricket, Royal Challengers Bengaluru beat Chennai Super Kings by 27 runs to enter the playoff stage.