Elections 2019 LIVE: Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi on Friday accused the Election Commission of behaving as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “publicity commission” and claimed that the BJP was “shamelessly using” government machinery.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday hit out at the Congress party over controversial remarks by its senior leader, Sam Pitroda, on the 1984 riots. He said the “Hua to hua” comment on the anti-Sikh riots showed the “character and mentality” of the party.
While Modi hit out at the Congress during an election rally in Haryana’s Rohtak on Friday, top leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), including Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, also slammed the opposition party.
BSP supremo Mayawati has once again raked up Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s caste and has asked if the RSS would have let him become the PM if he was of a backward caste. “Modi ji is not an OBC since birth that is why he has not gone through pain that they go through. He should have not given ‘jaativaad’ comment on our gathbandhan,” she said.
She said that Modi’s dream of becoming the PM again would not be fulfilled and said the the kind of language he is using against the opposition shows he is not sure of winning the election. Mayawati has repeatedly alleged that Modi calls himself “backward” for political gain despite being from an upper caste.
The war of words over the vulgar pamphlet about AAP leader Atishi, which the party alleges was circulated by BJP’s Gautam Gambhir, continues with Delhi deputy CM Manish Sisodia saying the party would file a defamation case against the former cricketer. Gambhir has strongly denied the charge and sent a defamation notice to Atishi, Arvind Kejriwal and Sisodia on Thursday and said he would quit politics if the charge against him is proven.
He said he feels ashamed that AAP stooped to such a level. “I feel ashamed that my state has a CM like Kejriwal. If they have proof against me they should go to the courts and I will reply to them. I belong to a family that has 5 women and I have always been taught to respect women,” he said. Friday is the last day of campaigning for the sixth phase of Lok Sabha elections, which will be held in 59 constituencies spread across six states on Sunday. The second last phase of polls is set to decide the fate of SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, Union minister Maneka Gandhi, Congress leader Digvijaya Singh and his rival from BJP Pragya Thakur among others.
Voting will be held in 14 seats of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana’s ten seats, four each in Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal, seven in Delhi and four in Jharkhand. Bharatiya Janata Party had won 44 of the 59 seats going to polls on May 12. Congress’s east UP in-charge Priyanka Gandhi is geared up for a hectic day on Friday with rallies scheduled in UP’s Jaunpur, Pratapgarh and Sultanpur. In Sultanpur, Gandhi will hold a roadshow in support of Sanjay Singh, who has been pitted against her aunt Maneka Gandhi.
The Congress leader will also address a public meeting in Sidharthnagar, Basti, Sant Kabir Nagar and Bhadoi. The grand old party is quite hopeful in eight seats of Madhya Pradesh — Bhind, Bhopal, Dewas, Guna, Gwalior, Morena, Rajgarh and Sagar. Out of these eight seats, the BJP had failed to win only Guna in 2014. In fact, the BJP had won 27 out of the 29 seats in the state.
Similar to Gujarat, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, a direct contest between the BJP and Congress is expected in MP. A total of 979 candidates are in the fray. A survey report issued by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) states that of the 967 candidates, 311 are crorepatis. The states have also beefed up their security for the sixth phase. While over 71,000 security personnel will be deployed by Centre in West Bengal to ensure violence-free elections, 60,000 personnel, including the Home Guards and paramilitary forces, will be on duty in New Delhi.
To avoid improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in the Maoist-affected Jangalmahal area of Bengal, security personnel have been directed not to move in vehicles, officials said. In Delhi, a public notice will be issued by poll authorities on Saturday to disseminate information to voters about the option of using NOTA (none of the above) if they wish to reject all candidates. The metro train services in Delhi will also begin from 4 am, two hours earlier than regular timing, on May 12 so that the staff deployed for election duty can avail the facility for travelling.
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