Lok Sabha Election 2019 LIVE: The Election Commission (EC) has banned Punjab Minister and Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu for violating Model Code of Conduct during an election rally in Bihar’s Katihar when he urged Muslims to not split their votes. He also asked them to do mass voting for the Congress so as to throw Prime Minister Narendra Modi out of power. Taking cognisance of the matter, the poll panel has banned him from campaigning from tomorrow, 10 am.
Former India opener Gautam Gambhir, who was recently inducted into the Bharatiya Janata Party, has been fielded from East Delhi, while Meenakshi Lekhi has been given the New Delhi seat again.
Hours after Priyanka Gandhi accused Smriti Irani of distributing shoes in Amethi “to insult Rahul Gandhi”, Union Textiles Minister asked why was the Congress leader acting when its Irani who has been an actor. “Actor main reh chuki hoon toh natak Priyanka ji bilkul na karein,” she said.
The Congress is expected to name boxer Vijender Singh, the Beijing Olympic Games bronze medallist, as its South Delhi candidate. The party is likely to make an announcement shortly.
The Election Commission has filed two FIRs against Union minister and BJP’s Asansol candidate Babul Supriyo. The first complaint has been filed for violating model code of conduct by playing the party theme song composed by him, despite poll body’s ban. The second report is in connection with snatching an EC official’s camera while he was recording Supriyo’s campaign rally.
A decision on Priyanka Gandhi’s candidature from Varanasi will be announced in a day or two. In the next 24 to 48 hours, Congress sources said, the party will decide if Gandhi will be fielded against PM Modi.
Addressing a rally in Maharashtra on Sunday, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) minister Pankaja Munde said that “a bomb should have been attached to Rahul Gandhi” as an answer to people who seek evidence of India’s strike in Pakistan. “We did surgical strike after cowardly attack on our soldiers. Some people ask what was surgical strike and what’s the evidence? I say we should’ve attached a bomb to Rahul Gandhi, and should have sent him to another country. Then they would have understood,” she said.
Congress in-charge for east UP, Priyanka Gandhi, attacked the BJP government for “not just betraying Amethi but the entire nation”. “PM Modi has not visited a single village in Varanasi. Let them beg for votes, Amethi and Raebareli will never bow down in front of anyone,” she said.
Countering PM Modi’s ‘diwali nuclear button’ comment, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti said Pakistan has not kept their nuclear weapons for Eid. “Every other day they (Pakistan) talk about nuclear button. But that doesn’t mean they have reserved it for Eid,” she said. Addressing an election rally in Rajasthan’s Barmer town on Sunday, PM Modi had said the strategic experts earlier used to warn that Pakistan had the nuclear button. “What do we have then? Have we kept our nuclear bomb for Diwali,” he asked, while affirming that India had the capability to launch nuclear attacks from land, air and sea.
Putting to rest speculation that he may be disqualified from the poll process, the Election Commission has deemed valid Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s nomination from Amethi.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in an election rally referred to the Sri Lanka bomb blasts to say the situation in India was similar before the BJP came to power in 2014. Modi, who was in Maharashtra, said India’s enemies were sure that he would hunt them out and take action against them. Modi will now move to Rajasthan for rallies in Jodhpur and Udaipur.
UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and eastern UP incharge Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will hold a rally in Rae Bareli, while Rahul Gandhi will address voters in Barabanki, Raebareli and Sultanpur districts.
Bharatiya Janata Party chief Amit Shah at a press conference in Kolkata attacked the Mamata Banerjee government, saying voters must not live in fear and weed out the TMC. He will be covering four districts in today’s campaign — Uluberia in Howrah, Rampurhat, Krishnanagar in Nadia and Burdwan.
Moreover, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will conduct simultaneous rallies in Bengal alongside Shah. Adityanath will first address the public at North 24 Parganas’ Bangaon city and then take his rallies forward to Baharampur, Burdwan Purba and Hooghly.
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