Morning News -

THE HEADLINES:

Over 60 percent voter turn out recorded in fifth phase of Lok Sabha elections.
Campaigning in full swing for remaining two phases of parliamentary polls; Prime Minister and senior BJP leader Narendra Modi to address 4 public meetings in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh today.
IMD issues red alert for severe heatwave conditions in Northwest India, north Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat for next three days.
Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Ali Sabry says, India is marching towards economic glory, which is good for region.
Second stage of Archery World Cup 2024 to begin today at Yecheon in Korea.
In IPL cricket, Kolkata Knight Riders to take on Sunrisers Hyderabad in first qualifier in Ahmedabad this evening.

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A total of 60.09 per cent of voter turnout was recorded in the fifth phase of Lok Sabha Elections yesterday. In this phase, 49 Parliamentary Constituencies spread over six States and two Union Territories went to polls. Polling remained largely peaceful with voters from all walks of life participated enthusiastically despite the heat wave condition in several parts of the country.

According to Election Commission, Baramulla in Jammu and Kashmir recorded the highest percentage of voter turnout with 56.73 per cent. While, Bihar saw a voter turnout of 54.85 percent, Jharkhand saw a poll percentage of 63.07 percent, Ladakh recorded 69.62 percent of voter turnout, Maharashtra recorded around 54.29 per cent, Odisha saw 67.59 per cent of voter turnout, Uttar Pradesh recorded around 57.79 percent and West Bengal saw a turnout of around 74.65 percent.

A total of 695 candidates were in the electoral fray in this phase of elections. The voting took place peacefully on 14 seats of Uttar Pradesh, 13 of Maharashtra, seven of West Bengal, five each of Odisha and Bihar, three seats of Jharkhand along with one each in Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

With the conclusion of this phase, polling for General Elections is now completed in 25 States and UTs and 428 Parliamentary Constituencies. Polling is also complete for State Legislative Assemblies of Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Andhra Pradesh and 63 assembly seats of Odisha State Assembly.

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Campaigning is in full swing for remaining two phases of parliamentary polls. Prime Minister and senior BJP leader Narendra Modi will address 4 public meetings in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh today.

In Bihar, Mr Modi is scheduled to first visit Motihari, where he will hold an election rally at Gandhi Maidan in Purvi Champaran Lok Sabha constituency in support of BJP candidate.

The second rally of the Prime Minister will be held in Goriyakothi under Maharajganj parliamentary constituency this afternoon. Mr. Modi reached Patna yesterday evening on a two-day visit to Bihar. He held a meeting of party functionaries at state BJP headquarters in Patna in the presence of state BJP Chief Samrat Choudhary and other senior leaders. He discussed strategy for remaining phases of Lok Sabha elections. The Prime Minister also paid rich tributes to former senior BJP leader and former Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar Sushil Kumar Modi, who passed away recently. He visited the residence of the late senior BJP leader at Rajendra Nagar in Patna and consoled bereaved family members.

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Senior BJP leader and Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary will address public meetings today in Bettiah, Sugauli and Raxaul.

RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav will hold public meetings in Ziradei, Motihari and Sheohar in support of Grand Alliance candidates.

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Prime Minister and senior BJP leader Narendra Modi will interact with more than 25 thousand women today in his parliamentary constituency Varanasi. Many other prominent leaders will also campaign for their party candidates today in Uttar Pradesh.

“Prime Minister and senior BJP leader Narendra Modi will address a political rally in Prayagraj district of Uttar Pradesh this afternoon. He will reach Varanasi in the evening and will attend the ‘Matri Shakti Sammlelan’ at Sampurnanand Sanskrit University. Mr Modi will interact with the women — housemakers, doctors, leaders, teachers, business owners, advocates, and athletes during the program. Women will play every role in this one hour long Sammelan including comparing and other activities. Prime Minister will stay in Varanasi tonight and tomorrow he will address two more rallies in Uttar Pradesh. Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath will address rallies in Balrampur, Siddharth Nagar, Sant Kabir Nagar, Basti, Varanasi and Azamgarh today. On the other hand, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav will address political rallies in Azamgarh and Bhadohi districts. His wife Dimple Yadav will also campaign in Azamgarh. Bahujan Samaj party Supremo Mayawati will address a rally in Jaunpur district. SUSHIL CHANDRA TIWARI AKASHVANI NEWS LUCKNOW.”

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In Punjab, out of 328 candidates contesting the Lok Sabha elections, 159 belong to various national and regional political parties, while 169 are trying their luck as independent candidates. However, in the history of the state’s Lok Sabha elections, so far only three independents have managed to reach Parliament. The polling in the state will be held on 1st June in the seventh and last phase.

“Bhartiya Janata Party, Indian National Congress, Aam Aadmi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and Shiromani Akali Dal have fielded their candidates in all the 13 Lok Sabha constituencies. Shiromani Akali Dal Amritsar candidates are contesting in 12 constituencies while in Khadoor Sahib the party has extended its support to candidates of Waris Punjab De outfit. The Marxist Communist Party’s lone candidate is in Jalandhar while the Communist Party of India is contesting from Amritsar, Khadoor Sahib and Faridkot. Apart from five ministers and three MLAs from the Aam Aadmi Party, the fate of the state president of Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party and Shiromani Akali Dal Amritsar is also at stake. Bhartiya Janata Party is ahead in giving tickets to women and has given tickets to three women leaders in Patiala, Bathinda and Hoshiarpur, while Congress has fielded women candidates in Faridkot and Hoshiarpur. The Aam Aadmi Party has not given tickets to even a single woman candidate. Shishu Sharma Shantal, Akashvani News, Jalandhar.”

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Seven Lok Sabha seats of Delhi will go to polls on the sixth phase on the 25th of this month. These constituencies are Chandni Chowk, North East Delhi, East Delhi, New Delhi, North West Delhi, West Delhi and South Delhi. In our series covering profiles of key constituencies across States and Union Territories during the Lok Sabha elections, today we bring you a report on the Chandni Chowk parliamentary seat in the national capital.

“Created in 1956, Chandni Chowk is the smallest Lok Sabha constituency in the country in terms of area. With Red Fort, Jama Masjid, Fatehpuri Masjid, Sheesh Ganj Gurudwara, Gauri Shankar Temple, Jain Temple, and quite a few churches including St Stephen Church all located in this area, Chandni Chowk is a symbol of communal harmony. In the last general elections in 2019, Chandni Chowk witnessed a poll percentage of 62.68 per cent. The then BJP candidate Dr Harsh Vardhan won elections with a margin of over two lakh 28 thousand votes. This time, backed by the Aam Aadmi Party, Congress has fielded Jai Prakash Agarwal, who has previously represented this constituency in 1984, 1989 and 1996. BJP has fielded Praveen Khandelwal who is the Secretary-General of traders’ organization CAIT. In the past couple of years, Chandni Chowk, which is one of the busiest and oldest markets of the country, has seen a huge facelift. However, traffic snarls remain a matter of concern. Chandni Chowk constituency also faces numerous issues such as dilapidated infrastructure, pollution, parking problem as well as clean water and sewage system. The constituency has an electorate of over 16 lakh 45 thousand comprising 8.83 lakh male voters, 7.62 lakh female voters, and around 168 third-gender voters. There are over 23 thousand elderly and Persons with Disabilities and 22 thousand 517 First Time Voters.This is Pallavi Parmar for Akashvani News, Delhi “

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India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a red alert for severe heatwave conditions over the plains of Northwest India, north Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat for the next three days. The IMD said, heat wave to severe heat wave conditions are likely to prevail over Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, West Rajasthan, West Uttar Pradesh, East Rajasthan and northwest Madhya Pradesh till 24th of this month. We spoke to senior scientist at IMD RK Jenamani about the prevailing heatwave:

The weather department also forecasts a gradual rise of about 2-3 degrees Celsius over many parts of Northwest and Central India for the next four days.

Yesterday, maximum temperatures were in the range of 43-47 degrees Celsius over Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, Rajasthan, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Vidarbha region and plains of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand recorded maximum temperatures of around 40-42 degrees Celsius.

Pre-monsoon showers have intensified in the southern parts of India with the advancement of the southwest monsoon into some parts of the Maldives and the Comorin area, the South Bay of Bengal, the Nicobar Islands, and the South Andaman Sea. An orange alert for heavy rainfall has been issued for Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Karaikal, Mahe, Coastal and South Interior Karnataka till Friday. These regions are expected to witness heavy to very heavy rainfall, while Kerala will experience extremely heavy rainfall till tomorrow. The IMD also forecast the formation of a low-pressure area over Southwest Bay of Bengal tomorrow.

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Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Ali Sabry has said that India is marching towards economic glory, which is good for the region including countries like Sri Lanka. Talking to a news agency, he said, Sri Lanka is also looking at a lot of investment in ports, renewable energy, and other infrastructure.

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The second stage of the Archery World Cup 2024 will begin today at Yecheon in Korea. India have sent the same 16 member team that took part in the first stage in Shanghai, China last month. The Indian contingent emerged as the champion team in the first stage, with a total of eight medals, including five gold medals, two silver, and one bronze. This was India’s highest medal tally at any single edition of an archery World Cup.

The second stage of the 2024 Archery World Cup will conclude on Sunday. Stage three of the prestigious tournament will be held in Antalya, Turkiye, while the final stage will be held in Tlaxcala, Mexico.

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In IPL cricket, Sunrisers Hyderabad will face Kolkata Knight Riders in Qualifier 1 at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad this evening. The match will start at 7:30 PM.

The second Qualifier will be played between Rajasthan Royals and Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the same venue tomorrow. The final match will be played on Sunday.

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TODAY’S NEWSPAPERS HEADLINE:

” ‘Turnout up in Phase-5″notes Hindustan Times. The paper writes ”Baramulla sees impressive participation in the poll process.”
”Polling goes south as mercury heads north” leads the Pioneer.
“Iran’s President Raisi, Foreign Minister, others found dead at the site of copter crash” says the Asian Age.” Khamenei loyalist Mokhber appointed interim Iran President” notes the Tribune.
“Prime Minister Modi slams Mamata on jobs scam at rally, TMC hits back” reports Hindustan Times.
“Modi praises banking sector for crossing 3 lakh crore rupees net profit,” says the Statesman.
“New government’s budget likely on July 10 -12” speculates Financial Express.
“Taunted as a child, Deepthi strikes World Para Athletics gold” reports the Indian Express.
And finally, “Close for summer vacation, Delhi government tells schools still functioning” states the Times of India.

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THE HEADLINES ONCE AGAIN:

Over 60 percent voter turn out recorded in fifth phase of Lok Sabha elections.
Campaigning in full swing for remaining two phases of parliamentary polls; Prime Minister and senior BJP leader Narendra Modi to address 4 public meetings in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh today.
IMD issues red alert for severe heatwave conditions in Northwest India, north Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat for next three days.
Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Ali Sabry says, India is marching towards economic glory, which is good for region.
Second stage of Archery World Cup 2024 to begin today at Yecheon in Korea.
In IPL cricket, Kolkata Knight Riders to take on Sunrisers Hyderabad in first qualifier in Ahmedabad this evening.

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