Polling for the third phase of Lok Sabha election in 93 constituencies spread across 11 states and union territories is underway today.
Both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah cast their votes urging people to exercise their franchise.
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The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had won an overwhelming majority on these seats, including all in Gujarat, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh, in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
With the BJP securing Surat unopposed, voting for the 25 seats in PM Modi’s home state of Gujarat is underway today, besides 11 seats in Maharashtra, 10 seats in Uttar Pradesh (UP), the remaining 14 of the 28 in Karnataka, seven in Chhattisgarh, five in Bihar, four each in Assam and West Bengal, and two in Goa.
The union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (2 seats) and nine seats in Madhya Pradesh (MP), including Betul where elections were deferred, will also go to polls on Tuesday.
A number of key candidates including Shah, Jyotiraditya Scindia (Guna in Madhya Pradesh), Mansukh Mandaviya (Porbandar in Gujarat), Parshottam Rupala (Rajkot in Gujarat), Pralhad Joshi (Dharwad in Karnataka), SP Singh Baghel (Agra in Uttar Pradesh), Dimple Yadav (Mainpuri in UP and Supriya Sule (Baramati in Maharashtra) are contesting today.
Former Indian cricketer and TMC leader Yusuf Pathan’s is up against Congress leader Adhir Chowdhury for the Baharampore Lok Sabha seat.
You can track all live updates on the third phase of the polling here.
NDA won’t get 150 seats: Rahul Gandhi
The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will not even get 150 seats in the Lok Sabha polls, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said on Monday, alleging that PM Modi has made up his mind to change the Constitution, something that will deprive tribals and other sections of their rights.
Addressing two poll rallies in Madhya Pradesh — at Jobat in Alirajpur district which comes under the Ratlam Lok Sabha seat and Segaon under the Khargone constituency — Gandhi reiterated that the Opposition INDIA bloc will ensure the 50% cap on reservation is removed in the interest of the people if voted to power at the Centre.
“These Lok Sabha elections are for saving the Constitution which the BJP and RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) want to scrap, change and throw away,” Gandhi, who was carrying a copy of the Constitution in his hand, alleged at Jobat.
“BJP leaders have clearly said they will change the book (Constitution). They have given the slogan of ‘abki baar, 400 paar’. Leave aside 400, they won’t even get 150 seats.”
After ₹35 crore cash recovery, ED nabs Cong leader’s secretary
The Enforcement Directorate arrested Sanjeev Lal, personal secretary to Jharkhand rural development minister Alamgir Alam, and his domestic help Jahangir Alam late on Monday night after recovery of ₹35.23 crore cash from house in Ranchi.
On Monday, the ED had raided a 2BHK flat in Ranchi which was allegedly occupied by Alam, as part of a money laundering investigation into alleged irregularities in the state rural development department.
ED had recovered over ₹32 crore cash apart from ₹3 crore from some other premises that were searched by the central agency. The total cash recovery stands at ₹35.23 crore, the people aware of the details said.
Alamgir Alam, meanwhile, has denied any wrongdoing on his part.
Steel trunks filled with recovered cash were taken away from the residence by ED officials on Monday night. The recovery is in connection with the ongoing investigation into the case of Virendra K Ram, the chief engineer at the Jharkhand rural development department.
How cohesive are INDIA, NDA in 3rd phase polling
In a data story, we see that the Congress-led INDIA bloc will contest the third phase of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections in a less cohesive manner than the BJP-led NDA.
To be sure, the conflict within both these alliances is more muted in the third phase of the elections than it was in the second phase with some likely to be entirely notional.
The INDIA bloc has fielded 108 candidates for the 93 parliamentary constituencies (PCs) voting today, 15 candidates more than the seats on offer.
While 13 PCs have two INDIA bloc candidates, Barpeta PC in Assam has candidates from three parties contesting elections.
INDIA bloc parties being in an intra-alliance conflict in 14 of 93 PCs (15% of PCs) is an improvement in comparison to the second phase of polls when there was an intra-alliance contest in 40 of the 88 PCs (45.5%). Such conflicts were limited to 12 of the 112 PCs (10.7%) of the first phase.
