NewDelhi: Top political leaders will continue with their Lok Sabha election campaigns on Friday, crisscrossing the country to woo the voters.
Top Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress leaders are set to hold rallies across Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh on May 3. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address election meetings at Hindon, Sikar and Bikaner while BJP president Amit Shah will hold a meeting on the same day in Jhunjhunu. Shah will later head for rallies in Lucknow and Jharkhand’s Koderma, Ranchi and Khunti. UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath will also hold rallies in Raebareli, Banda and Fatehpur, before heading to Jharkhand’s Hazaribagh.
Congress chief Rahul Gandhi will also address an election meeting in Rajasthan’s Bharatpur and Rewa district. Meanwhile, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will continue with her Raebareli tour, holding roadshows and meeting party workers across the Lok Sabha constituency currently held by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi.
Upping the glam quotient, Bollywood actor Sonakshi Sinha will hit the political trail, joining her mother and Samajwadi Party candidate Poonam Sinha for a roadshow in Lucknow.
SP chief will hold a rally in Barabanki while BSP supremo Mayawati will address public meetings in Sultanpur and Siddharthnagar. Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani will be in New Delhi’s Raghuveernagar.
More than half of the country has exercised their right to vote in the four phases of the seven-phased Lok Sabha poll. The remaining fifth, sixth and seventh phase will take place on May 6, 12 and 19 respectively. Counting of votes will take place on May 23.
* Election Commission to decide on Sadhvi Pragya’s petition today. The poll panel had banned the BJP candidate from Bhopal from electioneering for 72 hours for her remarks on former ATS chief Hemant Karkare and Babri mosque demolition. The ban came into force at 6.00 AM Thursday. In the review petition, Sadhvi Pragya has requested that the ban be reduced to 12 hours.
* Jharkhand: Naxals blew up the BJP office in Kharsawan of Saraikela with cane bombs around 12:30 am on Friday. Kharsawan falls under Khunti Lok Sabha constituency, where party president Amit Shah is scheduled to hold a rally today. Former Jharkhand chief minister and BJP leader Arjun Munda, who is contesting from Khunti in the Lok Sabha poll, functioned out of the office.
* The Election Commission of India (ECI) has asked for details of expenses of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray`s rallies, Additional Chief Electoral Officer Dilip Shinde said on Thursday, reported. Thackeray reportedly conducted nearly a dozen public rallies for the Lok Sabha election although his party did not field a single candidate for the polls.
*A video of some Congress leaders, including former ministers N Cheluvarayaswamy and P M Narendraswamy, former legislator H C Balakrishna, Ravi Ganiga and Malavalli Shivanna at a dinner reportedly hosted by Sumalatha at a private hotel on Tuesday, has surfaced, reported news agency. Sumalatha, the widow of actor-turned politician M H Ambareesh, is contesting the Lok Sabha poll from Karnataka’s Mandya as an independent candidate. Congress has down played the meeting.
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