Elections 2024 Highlights | May 18: Campaigning For 5th Phase Of LS Polls End; PM Modi, Rahul Gandhi, Kejriwal Hold Rallies In Delhi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be conducting a roadshow in the national capital today. As per BJP, the prime minister will be addressing an election rally in Ghonda, North-east Delhi to boost the chances for BJP candidate Manoj Tiwari.

As per reports, a four-layer security cordon comprising of special protection group (SPG), security wing of the Delhi Police, and the local police will be in place for the Prime Minister's addresses at the rally at DDA ground. Furthermore, over 2,000 security personnel and traffic police will be deployed in and around the venue for crowd management.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's rallies have also made their way to the national capital. Gandhi is scheduled to campaign at Delhi's Chandni Chowk and North-west Delhi to boost the prospects of candidates JP Agarwal and Udit Raj, respectively.

Just days before Phase 5 of the Lok Sabha Elections, Congress candidate Kanhaiya Kumar was assaulted by seven to eight people during a rally. As per the viral video being circulated, he was assaulted and had black ink thrown at him.

The incident took place at New Usmanpur area in East Delhi on Friday.

A total of eight states and union territories will be heading to the polls for Phase 5 of the Lok Sabha Elections 2024 for 49 seats. These states are -

• Maharashtra

• Uttar Pradesh

• West Bengal

• Bihar

• Jammu and Kashmir

• Ladakh

• Jharkhand

• Odisha

"Not too many more vibrant democracies in the world than India. And we applaud the Indian people for exercising, you know, their ability to vote, and to have a voice in their future government. And we wish them well throughout the process, of course,” stated White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby to reporters during a press briefing.

AICC General Secretary KC Venugopal has predicted a win for the INDIA Bloc as the Lok Sabha Elections enter the last three phases. As per Venugopal, the opposition alliance is all set to win 300 seats and form the government after June 4.

As per the latest reports, not only is India the world's largest democracy, it is also one of the first countries to use an EVM. As per a report by NDTV, the Electronic Voter Machines were introduced in India well before the IT revolution.

As per the data released by Election Commission of India, the voter turnout for Phase 4 stood at 69.16 percent. As per the press released on Friday, the voter turnout for the 2024 elections was slightly higher than the one reported in 2019.

Arvind Kejriwal's PA Bibhav Kumar has filed a counter-complaint against Swati Maliwal stating that the Rajya Sabha MP is "trying to falsely implicate" him to "Create undue pressure".

Following these allegations, Swati Maliwal has accused AAP was taking a "U-Turn", days after they admitted in a press conference that Kumar had misbehaved with the AAP MP.

The Supreme Court Of India has sought the response of the Election Commission over the delay in releasing the voter turnout for the various phases of the Lok Sabha Elections.

A bench comprising of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra have given the poll body a week's time to submit their response.

Following a night of unrest and violence, India has issued an advisroy and emergeny helpline for students in Kyrgyzstan and urged them to stay "indoors". Along with India, Pakistan has also issued a similar advisory in the wake of violence against international students in the capital city of Bishkek.

Ahead of Phase 5 of the Lok Sabha Elections 2024, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge has stated that the INDIA Bloc will win in Maharashtra and defeat the BJP government in the state

"INDIA alliance will win 46 out of 48 seats in Maharashtra. People are saying this themselves. Our alliance will win maximum seats and defeat BJP," stated Kharge.

The Lok Sabha Elections are halfway done with just three phases remaining. For the Lok Sabha Elections 2024 Phase 5, a total of 49 constituencies in eight states will be heading to the polls.

AAP MP Raghav Chadha arrived at Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's residence on Saturday morning. The Rajya Sabha MP has been missing from the public eye due to his visit to the UK, where he underwent eye surgery.

Lok Sabha Elections 2024 will take place in a single phase on May 25 in the sixth of the seven phases of the ongoing general election. All seven Lok Sabha seats will vote in an interesting fight between the BJP and the INDIA block as Congress and AAP will be fighting together against the BJP.

Maharashtra Chief Electoral Officer S Chockalingam has called for special initiatives to boost participation of voters, including house-to-house outreach programmes.

Elections to 13 Lok Sabha constituencies in north Maharashtra and Mumbai Metropolitan Region will be held on May 20.

Chockalingam proposed engaging society secretaries and presidents as Booth Level Officers (BLO) to facilitate urban voter turnout. To augment voter awareness, Chokkalingam suggested leveraging the influence of celebrities through social media campaigns.

To increase voter convenience, he stressed the need for comfortable polling station facilities, including provisions for drinking water, toilets, and wheelchair accessibility, use of QR codes and Google Maps to facilitate easy location of polling stations.

-PTI

Breaking News - Bibhav Kumar, former PS of Arvind Kejriwal has been detained by Delhi Police in relation to the assault case filed by AAP MP Swati Maliwal

Breaking his silence on the charges against Prajwal Revanna, the former PM stated that action against Revanna should be taken if he is found guilty. The JD(S) leader added that the charges against his son - MLA H.D. Revanna have been "created".

Speaking at a rally in Malegaon, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has stated that India has no place for those who praise Pakistan.

"I ask those pro-Pakistan to go beg in that country, no place in India for those who shower praise on that nation," stated the UP CM.

Speaking at a rally in UP's Balrampur, Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav has claimed that the BJP has already lost the 2024 elections.

"BJP is not losing the election but has already lost it. The people of the entire country have understood that their (BJP) countdown has begun by the language they are using. They had their peak, now they are sliding down," he stated.

Former vice president Mohammad Hamid Ansari, former prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh, former deputy prime minister LK Advani and former Union minister Dr Murli Manohar Joshi have cast their votes using the home voting facility, the Delhi poll body said. 

The office of the chief electoral officer (CEO) of Delhi on Thursday kicked off the home voting facility for elderly voters and persons with disabilities (PwDs) and it will go on till May 24.

According to the data shared by the office, 1409 voters cast their ballots from the comfort of their homes across all seven parliamentary constituencies in Delhi on Friday, which was the second day of the facility being started.

- PTI

Punjab CM and AAP leader Bhagwant Mann said while addressing a public gathering in Kaithal, Haryana. “This election is not just a general election but to save the country which is standing at the edge where it has to choose either the dictatorship or the elected people through democracy who will work as per the public needs. This election is to save the democracy. Several BJP leaders have said that they will change the Constitution and therefore they are asking people to give them 400 seats.”

Union Home Minister and BJP leader Amit Shah addressed a public gathering in UP's Banda where he said, "On June 4, Modiji will be becoming the prime minister for the third time. For one minute, let's just imagine that if INDI alliance gets majority, then who will be their PM? Is there anyone? Sharad Pawar? Mamata Banerjee? Can Lalu Yadav be the PM? Stalin? Uddhav Thackeray? When journalists asked them about their PM candidate, they said we will take turns during the five-year term. Rahul Baba (Gandhi), this is not a general store, this is a huge nation and to run a country you need a strong PM, someone with 56-inch chest."

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi on Saturday held a roadshow to support party candidate and her close aide Kishori Lal Sharma at their key constituency Amethi in Uttar Pradesh.

PM Modi on saturday during a rally in Haryana's Ambala stated that the concern about the welfare of farmers is a priority of his government.

"I give you all a guarantee... your dreams are my resolution. 24 by 7 for 2047. There are four pillars of 'Viksit Bharat' - poor, youth, women and farmers. Modi wants to strengthen all these pillars in such a way that my country, my 'Hindustan' becomes strong," said PM Modi.

From Ambala rally, PM Modi attacks Congress over Bofors, submarine, helicopter 'scams'.

Former CM Manohar Lal Khattar was also present in the rally and addressed the audience after PM.

BJP national president JP Nadda addressed a public rally in Himachal Pradesh’s Kunihar town where he said, “India’s common man once believed that nothing was going to change. But in the last 10 years, citizens have gained enough strength under PM Modi to fulfill the 'sankalp' of 'Viksit Bharat'. This is the face of changing India.”

UP CM Yogi Adityanath on Saturday held a rally in Mumbai where he stated, "This election is now a contest between 'Ram bhakts' (Ram devotees) and 'Ram drohis' (those who oppose Ram). Those who are patriots are also devotees of Lord Ram, and those who are devotees of Lord Ram are also patriots

Prime Minister Narendra Modi Saturday kept up the attack on the Congress, saying it should forget the "dream" of bringing back Article 370 as it has been "buried" in the "kabristan (graveyard)".

Addressing a rally at Gohana, his second of the day in Haryana, Modi referred to the Lok Sabha polls as a "kurukshetra (battle)" in which "there is development on one hand and 'vote jihad' on the other".

Striking a chord with the locals, Modi referred to Gohana's famous "Matu Ram ki jalebi" to target the opposition.

Attacking the INDIA bloc, he said they have a formula of having five prime ministers in five years if they come to power. "Ask them is the prime minister's post our Matu Ram ki jalebi".

- PTI

Speaking at a small public gather in New Delhi, Kejriwal said, “They (BJP) say that Arvind Kejriwal has to go to jail once again on June 2. Putting me in jail is in your hands now. If you want Arvind Kejriwal to go to jail, then press the button of lotus (BJP symbol). Those who want their son and brother, Arvind Kejriwal, to stay outside, press the button for broom (AAP symbol).”

“People have understood what the intention of the BJP is. They want to finish the Constitution. They want to end rights given to people, and reservation given to women, SCs, STs and OBCs. When this information reached the public, they stopped speaking on it,” said former Chhattisgarh CM and Congress leader Bhupesh Baghel.

Addressing people in North East Delhi, PM Modi stated, "These elections are to save poor and middle-class from forces conspiring to snatch their assets." He added, "India needs a strong govt, I'm fortunate to be the chosen one to serve this country."

Further PM Modi claimed, "It is Modi's guarantee to work 24/7 for 2047," as he added, "I live for democracy; democracy runs in my veins."

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday claimed that Narendra Modi is refusing to have a debate with him as the prime minister cannot answer questions about his "links" with a few favoured businessmen and how he "misused" electoral bonds.

Addressing a public meeting organised by the Congress in Delhi, he urged workers of his party and of the Aam Aadmi Party to work together and ensure victory for their alliance on all seven Lok Sabha seats in the national capital.

"It's interesting that I'll vote for AAP and Arvind Kejriwal will vote for Congress in these elections," he said.

Gandhi said the first aim of everyone should be to save the Constitution from those "hell-bent on destroying it".

Attacking the prime minister, the Congress leader said, "PM Modi is giving non-stop interviews to his favourite journalists but he will not have a debate with me because he knows he cannot answer my questions."

"PM Modi talks about the Congress getting tempo-loads of money from Adani-Ambani, but he doesn't dare to get it probed," he said.

"I'm ready to debate with PM Modi whenever and wherever he wants, but I'm sure he won't come. The first question I would ask PM Modi is what is his relationship with Adani, next I want to ask him about electoral bonds," the former Congress chief said.

National Conference vice president Omar Abdullah requested the central government to lift the ban on Jamaat-e-Islami immediately after the Lok Sabha elections conclude and he added, "it should contest the upcoming state elections. They have supported other candidates in the past but not fought elections themselves."

The Election Commission on Saturday issued two separate show-cause notices to West Bengal BJP chief Sukanta Majumdar for "misleading" advertisements targeting the state's ruling TMC.

The poll watchdog has sought his response as to why the two advertisements should not be treated as violative of the model code of conduct and its advisory to political parties.

Majumdar has been asked to respond by 5 pm on May 21.

- PTI

The Election Commission on Saturday censured TMC leader Humayun Kabir for allegedly threatening voters and rival party workers through statements based on religious lines.

Responding to a show-cause notice issued to him on the matter, Kabir had defended himself and said his remarks were deliberately taken in isolation to make it seem as a threat and a violation of the model code of conduct.

Congress Lok Sabha candidate from Amritsar Gurjeet Singh Aujla told PTI on Saturday about an alleged firing near his rally in Ajnala earlier today.

Aujla said, “Today, we had a rally in Ajnala. An attack was carried out when the rally was going on by the men of AAP Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal. This is ‘goonda-tantra’. This is a big failure on the part of the police. We demand that the Election Commission take immediate action.”

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal addressed a public gathering in Delhi's Hari Nagar on Saturday evening where he stated, “They (BJP) accuse us of scams worth Rs 100 crore, but they have not found a single penny. They put Sanjay Singh and me in jail. They have even put my PA (Bibhav Kumar) in jail. Now they are saying that they will put Raghav Chadha, Atishi and Saurabh Bharadwaj in jail. Is he (PM Modi) the Prime Minister or ‘thanedar’?”

Campaigning concluded on Saturday for the fifth phase of Lok Sabha polls covering 49 constituencies in six states and two UTs including the high-profile Rae Bareli and Amethi seats from where former Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Union Minister Smriti Irani are in the fray respectively.

On Monday, polling will be held in 13 seats in Maharashtra, 14 in Uttar Pradesh, seven in West Bengal, five in Bihar, three in Jharkhand, five in Odisha and one each in J-K and Ladakh. This round covers the least number of seats (49) in the seven-phase election.

The parties also wrapped up canvassing in 35 assembly constituencies in Odisha, where BJD president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is among the candidates.

Security has been stepped up in West Bengal's seven constituencies, with over 57 per cent of the polling stations identified as sensitive in the fifth phase, the highest till now in this election.