What to Watch Out ForOnce arch-rivals, Mulayam and Mayawati to share stage at Mainpuri rally today
At loggerheads for decades, SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav and BSP chief Mayawati are scheduled to share the dais at a joint rally of the SP-BSP-RLD alliance in the Samajwadi Party citadel of Mainpuri today.
The rally today will nothing short of a historic moment as Mulayam Singh Yadav and Mayawati have been bitter rivals since 1995 when SP cadres allegedly attacked the state guest house where the BSP chief had been camping with her supporters.
Rallying ahead: Reports, however, suggest that Mulayam Singh Yadav was not too keen on his attendance but was cajoled by his son and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav who confirmed the SP founder's presence at the Mainpuri rally.
The SP supremo had also stayed away from three joint rallies earlier in Deoband, Badaun and Agra citing “health issues".
Besides Mulayam Singh Yadav and Mayawati, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav and Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Ajit Singh will also be addressing the rally.Back from ban: This will be the BSP chief Mayawati’s first rally after the 48-hour campaigning ban enacted by the Election Commission. Back from the ban, Mayawati on Thursday lashed out at BJP and its leaders for levelling "unfounded" charges on opposition parties, including allegations that they were abusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
"Besides levelling unfounded allegations in these elections, BJP leaders, including PM Modi, have had no control over their tongue...like the charge that Opposition abuses them. This is most indecent and unrestrained," Mayawati said in a statement issued here in Hindi.What You May Have MissedSecond phase of Lok Sabha polls clocks 66% voter turnout
High-voter turnout rate marked the second phase of the Lok Sabha election in several of the 95 constituencies, which went to the polls.
This included Manipur and the union territory of Puducherry, which saw a 80% voter turnout. The average voter turnout, clocked at 66%, was however, a dip from 2014’s 69%.In round two: Barring Maharashtra, the poll percentage in rest of the 11 states was in excess of 60 while in Puducherry it was 80.47.
The 38 constituencies of Tamil Nadu, which voted for the first time since the deaths of prominent leaders like Jayalalithaa and M. Karunanidhi, clocked a turnout of 71%. Vellore constituency, however, did not vote after President Ram Nath Kovind heeded the Election Commission’s recommendation to countermand the poll over the alleged use of money power to influence voters.
The 18 Assembly segment in Tamil Nadu, where simultaneous by-polls were held, saw voter turnouts of 71.62%. These bye-elections will eventually decide the fate for the AIADMK government in the state.
Turnout rates in Jammu and Kashmir’s Srinagar, however, were a dismal 14.8%, a sharp drop from 25% recorded in 2014. No votes were cast in as many as 90 polling booths in the constituency. Meanwhile, the state’s Udhampur constituency, which also went to the polls, recorded 66.67%.The untoward: Except for a few sporadic incidents of violence in West Bengal and Manipur and EVM glitches in some seats, polling was by and large peaceful.
Technical glitches in the Electronic Voting Machines marred voting in seven states, delaying polls in several constituencies in Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Bihar and Jammu and Kashmir. Deputy Election Commissioner Sudip Jain said a total of 1000 ballot units, 769 control units 2,766 paper trail machines were replaced.
Polling in Chattisgarh’s Rajnandgaon district was also marred by an IED blast triggered by Naxals. No casualties were however reported.Trade across Line of Control suspended, govt says it is being used by Pak-based groups to fuel terror
Trade across the Line of Control with Pakistan has been suspended by the central government with effect from midnight on Thursday as it said that there are reports that it is being misused on a "very large scale". “During ongoing probe of certain cases by NIA, it has been brought out that significant number of trading concerns engaged in LoC trade are operated by persons closely associated with banned terror organisations involved in fuelling terrorism/separatism," the home ministry said adding that the routes were being misused to funnel illegal weapons, narcotics and fake currency, among other items.Jet Airways employees' union seeks govt intervention to avoid Kingfisher-like collapse
A day after the 25-year-old Jet Airways suspended operations, the officers and employees’ union of the airline on Thursday sought government intervention to avert a Kingfisher-like collapse of the carrier, which could not take off after halting operations temporarily in October 2012. Jet Airways Officers & Staff Association president Kiran Pawaskar also alleged some "motives" behind the series of developments at the carrier, which he said led to the temporary shutdown, and demanded a probe. "The situation is very bad for employees. As many as 16,000 permanent employees don't have work today. I told the management that efforts should be made to resume operations as early as possible," Pawaskar, who is also an NCP lawmaker, said.News18 Election Tracker: News18’s interview with Mamata Banerjee and another EC banI know why Modi went from being chaiwala to chowkidar, says Mamata Banerjee
Prime Minister Narendra Modi changed his campaign pitch from chaiwala in 2014 to chowkidar in 2019 since you can’t heat up the same tea twice, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee said in an interview to News18 Network editor-in-chief Rahul Joshi. Brushing aside the BJP’s challenge in Bengal, Banerjee also expressed confidence that the next government at the Centre would be a non-NDA, non-UPA one. “The BJP has only three seats in the Assembly and two in the Lok Sabha (from Bengal). They are welcome to dream (of being the opposition party in the state). But the reality is different," she said. Interestingly, the TMC chied also said that in the event where BJP’s rival parties clinch a victory, a leader will be chosen based on the common minimum programme. “Whether it's AP, Telangana, Odisha, Bihar or Assam, we will all sit down and choose our leader together, based on the common minimum programme. I can't predict what is going to happen," she said when asked if she would extend her support to Rahul Gandhi as the prime ministerial candidate. Read excerpts of the interview here.Torture, treatment, threat: Three ts of Sadhvi Pragya's first election campaign
On the first day of her election campaign, BJP Bhopal candidate Pragya Thakur narrated the tale of her alleged custodial torture. “On day one I wasn’t asked anything, was beaten up by leather belts, wasn’t offered food for 24 hours. I was offered only water," she said even as many criticise the BJP’s for choosing her as a candidate. She also launched personal attacks at Digvijaya Singh, the Congress candidate from the parliamentary seat. Thakur is a key accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast, in which six people were killed and over 100 injured.EC bans Congress’ ‘Chowkidar chor hai’ ad in Madhya Pradesh after BJP files complaint
In a crucial verdict amid the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, chief electoral officer of Madhya Pradesh on Thursday banned the ‘Chowkidar Chor Hai’ advertisement used by Congress in its poll campaign in the state. The poll watchdog’s decision to ban the ad, which had been approved by Media Certification and Monitoring Committee (MCMC), was made over a complaint by the BJP state unit. “We had approached the MP chief electoral officer (CEO) with an appeal against the said advertisement," BJP office bearer advocate Om Prakash Srivastava told News18 The complaint was made on the grounds that Article 375 “allows government officers to only permit things within the ambit of the constitutional provisions" and adding the term ‘chor’ isn’t permissible under Article 19 (2), which deals with the Freedom of Speech.News18 Election Lab: Will BJP’s fresh push for Citizenship Amendment Bill hurt its prospects in the 5 Assam seats?
The fray for the second phase of polling in Assam included five candidates from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), five from the INC, four from All India Trinamool Congress (AITC), two from All India Forward Bloc (AIFB) and one from All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF). In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP secured the first position in the state by winning seven seats and had a vote share of 36.51 per cent. The party won by an average margin of 6.89 per cent of votes. How is it likely to fare this time given its manifesto promise to implement the contentious Citizenship Amendment Bill? Read Nikita Vashishth’s analysis here.Report about Mueller probe on Russian interference in 2016 Presidential elections released on Thursday
The report by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III about the probe into Russia’s involvement in the 2016 elections was released on Thursday. As per the report, although a concerted effort had been made to interfere in the election in which Donald Trump was voted President, there seemed to be no criminal conspiracy between his campaign and Russia. The report, however, indicated that Trump had made an effort to impede the probe and even detailed the US President’s dramatic reaction when he learnt of Mueller’s appointment. “Oh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my presidency," Trump had said when then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions informed him of the appointment. Mueller had examined 10 actions by Trump to determine whether he had sought to obstruct justice, but the probe remained inconclusive. On Reel
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