Modi protected interest of '15 selected people': Rahul
Firing a fresh salvo at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday accused him of shielding the interest of “15 selected people” and leaving “high and dry” farmers and the poor.
Mr. Gandhi was addressing an election rally Lakhimpur to boost the prospects of the party’s candidate for the Kheri Lok Sabha seat Zafar Ali Naqvi and its nominee for the Nighasan Assembly bypoll Atal Shukla.
Claiming that Mr. Modi during his last visit to Kheri had assured farmers in Uttar Pradesh that they will get their sugarcane dues within 14 days, the Congress chief asked, “Has any assurance come true in five years?”
BJP contesting on 437 seats, highest ever in its history
The BJP has fielded 437 candidates in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the highest number of seats the party has contested so far and perhaps for the first time more than its principal rival Congress.
The BJP had contested 427 seats in 2014 and won 282 of them, while the Congress had fielded candidates in 450 seats and bagged just 44.
Political observers say the BJP contesting on more seats than the Congress as a result of its expansion across the country post 2014. The party also lost its ally in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, where the party is contesting on all seats.
Similarly, the Congress is contesting on less number of seats than the BJP this time because it has allied with more parties as compared to 2014.
In Karnataka, where the party had contested on all seats in 2014, is now in alliance in with the JD(S). The party has expanded its alliance in Bihar with the entry of new partners. —PTI
AAP to move high court on Bidhuri’s nomination
Bharatiya Janata Party’s South Delhi candidate Ramesh Bidhuri. File
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday said it would move high court challenging the returning officer’s decision to accept the nomination papers of Ramesh Bidhuri, the BJP candidate from South Delhi Lok Sabha constituency.
The party, in a statement, said it would move the high court since the returning officer “erred in overlooking glaring discrepancies in Mr. Bidhuri’s nomination and it is a fit case for legal challenge”.
The party listed some of the grounds on which it will challenge the decision.
“The BJP candidate has failed to declare in particulars of pending criminal proceedings, particularly CC No. 303/2018 filed in P.S. Kazimahammadpur, Muzaffarpur, Bihar, under Sections 504, 506, 153 and 153(a) of the Indian Penal Code, 1860,” it said.
Mr. Biduri also failed to disclose particulars of LIC policy for sum assured of ₹1,00,000 with premium of ₹2,829 half yearly, though the same was disclosed in the Form 26 Declaration in 2014, the party claimed.
The candidate has intentionally left blank Paragraph 6A, despite being required to fill up. In Paragraph No. 4 with respect to his income tax return, the candidate has disclosed a false total income of ₹8,79,150 for the year 2013-14 as opposed to the amount of ₹6,16,995 demonstrated by his Form 26 Declaration for the year 2014, the AAP said.
“In Paragraph No, 4 in respect of his spouse’s income tax return, the candidate has disclosed a false total income of ₹1,68,000 for the year 2013-14 as opposed to the NIL income demonstrated in his Form 26 Declaration for the year 2014,” the AAP alleged. —PTI
Sitting BJP MP files papers from Mandi Lok Sabha seat
BJP’s sitting Mandi parliamentarian Ram Swaroop Sharma filed his nomination papers from the seat on Wednesday.
A total of four candidates filed their papers in Himachal Pradesh on Wednesday. With this, the number of candidates who have filed their papers has risen to 15.
At the time of filing papers, Ram Swaroop Sharma (60) was accompanied by Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, former CMs Shanta Kumar, Prem Kumar Dhumal, BJP HP affairs incharge Tirath Singh Rawat, State BJP chief Satpal Satti, Ministers Govind Thakur and Ram Lal Markandey and MLAs from Mandi district.
Earlier, addressing the gathering before filing papers, the CM claimed that BJP would win over 400 seats in the Lok Sabha polls. It is the need of hour that a stable government should be at the Centre and only the BJP can provide the stable government headed by Narendra Modi, he added.
Similarly, Ses Ram (48) filed his papers as Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate and Dharmendra (49) filed his nomination as an independent candidate from the seat.
Besides Sanjiv Guleria (58) filed his nomination as an independent candidate from Kangra Lok Sabha seat. —PTI
Like BJP, Congress believes in threatening rivals: Akhilesh Yadav
Akhilesh Yadav
After keeping the Congress out of his alliance with the BSP, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav Wednesday attacked the party over its big ego and also accused it of ditching partners and threatening rivals.
“Like the BJP, the Congress too believes in threatening political opponents,” he said at an election meeting in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh.
“We had an alliance with the Congress, but found that their ego is too big,” the SP president said. —PTI
Udit Raj joins Congress, says will work to defeat ‘anti-Dalit BJP’
Udit Raj after meeting the Congress president Rahul Gandhi at the latter’s residence on Wednesday.
Sitting North-West Delhi MP Udit Raj, who quit the BJP on Tuesday after being denied the party ticket from the constituency, on Wednesday joined the Congress, with the message that he would work to defeat the “anti-Dalit BJP” in this Lok Sabha elections.
Till the last day of filing nominations for Delhi's seven Lok Sabha seats that go to the polls on May 12, Mr. Udit Raj waited for some communication from the BJP. After meeting Congress president Rahul Gandhi at the latter’s residence on Wednesday morning, he addressed a press conference along with Congress leaders K.C. Venugopal, Sheila Dikshit and Randeep Surjewala at the Congress headquarters.—Our Correspondent
‘No choice’ for opposition parties, accept defeat: Modi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi
Lashing out at the opposition parties who claimed that the Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) were being manipulated, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday the mahamilawats have realised that they stand no chance after three phases of elections and are looking for excuses to defend their poor show.
Addressing a rally in Lohardaga, Mr. Modi said the opposition parties have no option but to accept the defeat. At a press meet on Tuesday, leaders of several major opposition parties raised a doubt over the credibility of the EVMs, renewing their demand for verification of the machines.—PTI
After three phases, confident of BJP forming next govt: Amit Shah
BJP president Amit Shah. File
BJP chief Amit Shah said that after three phases of voting in the Lok Sabha polls he is confident that his party will win the elections with a huge margin and form a government with full majority.
Mr. Shah visited Varanasi, the parliamentary constituency represented by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and inaugurated a media centre of the party on Tuesday. He also opened the election office of Mr. Modi at Mehmoorganj.
“Looking at the voting in the first three phases, I believe that the BJP is going to form the next government with full majority,” Shah told reporters at the launch of the media centre.
In Uttar Pradesh, the BJP and its ally will perform far better than the SP-BSP alliance and would win most of the seats of the state, he said. - PTI
Voting leapfrogs, surpasses 2014 turnout in Ernakulam
Marking an improvement in voter turnout, around 76.48% of voters exercised their franchise in the Ernakulam Lok Sabha constituency on Tuesday. During the 2014 election, the poll percentage in the constituency was 73.58%.
Among the seven Assembly constituencies that fall under the Ernakulam constituency, Paravur recorded the highest voter turnout of 81.62%, followed by Kalamassery with 79.05%. While 75.79% voters exercised their voting rights at Thrikkakara, it was 75.9% at Thripunithura and 75.48% in the coastal constituency of Vypeen.
Voters turned up at polling stations in large numbers right from the morning hours. Young voters too queued up enthusiastically in most polling stations. Long queues of voters could be seen at any given time which resulted in the overall improved polling. A large number of voters with disabilities too joined the democratic process as the district administration made special arrangements for identifying them and extending transport facilities to them.
The long wait of voters in queues for casting votes, when compared to the 2014 elections, was attributed to the introduction of Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT), and each voter took around three minutes to complete the job, said presiding officers of some polling stations.
Tussle between coalition leaders will intensify after LS poll results: BSY
Reiterating that the JD(S)-Congress coalition rule in the State will end shortly, B.S. Yeddyurappa, State BJP president, has said that the tussle between leaders of both parties will intensify following the announcement of the result of the Lok Sabha election.
Speaking to presspersons after voting in his native Shikaripur in Shivamogga Lok Sabha constituency on Tuesday, he claimed that many MLAs in the Congress are unhappy with the style of functioning of Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy.
The pre-poll alliance between the Congress and the JD(S) for the Lok Sabha elections has also triggered discontent in both parties, he said.
“The discontent will result in the Congress and the JD(S) losing several key constituencies in the State. There will be a serious blame game between the leaders of both the parties and it will result in the collapse of the coalition government,” he said.
