Uttar Pradesh villages boycott polls over devpt issues
Voters in Garhi herbal village of Sadabad in Uttar Pradesh have boycotted election due to lack of development in Hathras, HT reported.
Meanwhile, people of Bilna village in Amroha boycott polls. The polling booth was in the village for the past 35 years and this time it has been shifted to a village 5km from there. No proper connecting roads, public transport, etc. also added to their woes.
JUST IN: Multiple incidents of violence reported from Dinajpur in West Bengal.
JUST IN: Sitting MP and CPM candidate Mohammed Salim reportedly injured in attack on his vehicle. Stones were pelted at his car.
JUST IN: Villagers in Raiganj allege booth capturing by Trinamool Congress. Protesters block highway, lathicharged by security forces. Villagers are alleging violence and intimidation, CNN-News18 reports.
BJP MP and candidate from Mathura Hema Malini: Development in Mathura is all due to my efforts. The SP-BSP are only engaged in fighting with each other. There is a huge Modi wave here.
BJP General Secy candidate from Raiganj constituency Debasree Chaudhuri: TMC workers are trying to capture booths at Raiganj Coronation High School. They were campaigning among Muslims there. This isn't election campaign.
JUST IN: CPM candidate and sitting MP Md Salim's vehicle attacked in Raiganj, West Bengal, India Today reports.
SP-BSP-RLD alliance will be wiped out after polls, says Rajnath Singh
Launching a scathing attack on the SP-BSP-RLD alliance, home minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday said that it would be wiped out after the elections.
“Once bitter enemies, two parties with opposite ideologies have come together to counter PM Narendra Modi. They were aware that they will not be able to fight Modi on their own and that is why they have come together,” said Rajnath Singh, who was addressing a rally in Shahjahanpur, seeking votes for BJP’s candidate Arun Sagar.
“No party has the courage to counter Modi and that is why parties across India are coming together,” he added.
“The turnout and the trends of the first phase have given a clear indication of a ‘Modi wave’ and that is why they (other parties) have again started the EVM cry. I cannot understand when they win, the EVMs are perfect and when we win, they start saying that the EVMs are tampered with,” he said.
JUST IN: Train services temporarily suspended for security reasons in Kashmir, reports suggest.
Update: Polling has temporarily halted at booth number 217 in Solapur's Shastri Nagar due to fault in electronic voting machine (EVM).
JUST IN: Election Commission flying squad has seized Rs 11.85 lakh cash in Sion area of Mumbai City district. More details awaited, ANI reports.
JUST IN: BJP worker found dead in Bengal, BJP blames TMC workers.
Update: Voter turnout till 10 am in Bihar is 19.5%.
JUST IN: A polling official deputed at polling booth number 186 in Kanker of Chhattisgarh dies of heart attack during election duty.
Protests erupt in Darjeeling
Protests erupted in Chopra under Darjeeling constituency after villagers took a person to the police. Villagers alleged that the person, said to be a Trinamool Congress supporter, was obstructing them from casting their votes.
The villagers were being led by policemen to a booth after they blocked NH31, alleging they were not allowed to cast their votes. While they were being led to the polling station, the villagers stopped on the way, said they don’t have any faith on the state police and began demanding that central forces escort them.
Karnataka CM HD Kumaraswamy after casting his vote in Ramanagara: Dynasty politics isn't an important issue now, the country's problems are the main issue. Only because of dynasty politics & regional politics, this country developed in several states.We're not bothered about criticism from the BJP.
Update: Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) chief TTV Dinakaran casts his vote at a polling station in Besant Nagar in Chennai South parliamentary constituency.
Interesting trivia about Phase 2
Voting for the second phase of Lok Sabha elections is underway. Here are some interesting nuggets about this phase:
* 95 Lok Sabha constituencies across 11 states and one UT to go to polls.
* Nearly 15.80 crore voters to decide fate of 1,629 candidates.
* More than 1.81 lakh polling booths set up for the purpose.
* Tamil Nadu, where all seats but one are going to polls, 67,664 polling booths have been set up. The state has the most number of booths in poll going states Thursday.
* With 970, Puducherry has the least number of polling booths in this phase.
* Election in Vellore constituency of Tamil Nadu was cancelled by EC as it felt excessive use of money power has vitiated the poll process.
* No fresh date has been announced as yet.
* Fearing law and order issues, election to Tripura (East) has been postponed to April 23.
* Out of the total electors, 8,02,60,815 are men, 7,76,62,567 women and 11,136 are transgenders. EC identifies them as 'others'.
(Source: Election Commission).
Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy: I urge citizens to vote for the future and development of the country depends on them. It’s my personal request, not only for me but this elections is important for everyone, several problems need to be solved.
DMK chief MK Stalin: The Election Commission isn’t behaving in a neutral fashion, The EC needs to be impartial. We can only complain but the corrective mechanism can be done by EC. Tainted EVMs must be changed.
Polling percentage recorded till 9 am
Assam (5 seats): 9.51%
J&K (2 seats): 0.99%
Karnataka (14 seats): 1.14%
Maharashtra (10): 0.85%
Manipur (1): 1.78%
Odisha (5): 2.15%
Tamil Nadu (38): 0.81%
Tripura (1): 0.00%
Uttar Pradesh (8): 3.99%
West Bengal (3): 0.55%
Chhattisgarh (3): 7.75%
Puducherry: 1.62%
Courtesy: ANI
15,000 MCC violation cases filed in Maharashtra
Over 15,000 cases of alleged violation of the Model Code of Conduct have been registered in Maharashtra since March 10, PTI reports. Valuables worth Rs 118.12 crore have been seized.
“The enforcing departments [Income Tax and police] also lodged total 15,095 FIRs against the offenders for violating the model code of conduct, with most of the cases pertaining to storage and distribution of illicit liquor, followed by possession of firearms,” said Additional Chief Electoral Officer Dilip Shinde.
Uttar Pradesh villages boycott polls over devpt issues
Voters in Garhi herbal village of Sadabad in Uttar Pradesh have boycotted election due to lack of development in Hathras, HT reported.
Meanwhile, people of Bilna village in Amroha boycott polls. The polling booth was in the village for the past 35 years and this time it has been shifted to a village 5km from there. No proper connecting roads, public transport, etc. also added to their woes.
JUST IN: Multiple incidents of violence reported from Dinajpur in West Bengal.
JUST IN: Sitting MP and CPM candidate Mohammed Salim reportedly injured in attack on his vehicle. Stones were pelted at his car.
JUST IN: Villagers in Raiganj allege booth capturing by Trinamool Congress. Protesters block highway, lathicharged by security forces. Villagers are alleging violence and intimidation, CNN-News18 reports.
BJP MP and candidate from Mathura Hema Malini: Development in Mathura is all due to my efforts. The SP-BSP are only engaged in fighting with each other. There is a huge Modi wave here.
BJP General Secy candidate from Raiganj constituency Debasree Chaudhuri: TMC workers are trying to capture booths at Raiganj Coronation High School. They were campaigning among Muslims there. This isn't election campaign.
JUST IN: CPM candidate and sitting MP Md Salim's vehicle attacked in Raiganj, West Bengal, India Today reports.
SP-BSP-RLD alliance will be wiped out after polls, says Rajnath Singh
Launching a scathing attack on the SP-BSP-RLD alliance, home minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday said that it would be wiped out after the elections.
“Once bitter enemies, two parties with opposite ideologies have come together to counter PM Narendra Modi. They were aware that they will not be able to fight Modi on their own and that is why they have come together,” said Rajnath Singh, who was addressing a rally in Shahjahanpur, seeking votes for BJP’s candidate Arun Sagar.
“No party has the courage to counter Modi and that is why parties across India are coming together,” he added.
“The turnout and the trends of the first phase have given a clear indication of a ‘Modi wave’ and that is why they (other parties) have again started the EVM cry. I cannot understand when they win, the EVMs are perfect and when we win, they start saying that the EVMs are tampered with,” he said.
JUST IN: Train services temporarily suspended for security reasons in Kashmir, reports suggest.
Update: Polling has temporarily halted at booth number 217 in Solapur's Shastri Nagar due to fault in electronic voting machine (EVM).
JUST IN: Election Commission flying squad has seized Rs 11.85 lakh cash in Sion area of Mumbai City district. More details awaited, ANI reports.
JUST IN: BJP worker found dead in Bengal, BJP blames TMC workers.
Update: Voter turnout till 10 am in Bihar is 19.5%.
JUST IN: A polling official deputed at polling booth number 186 in Kanker of Chhattisgarh dies of heart attack during election duty.
Protests erupt in Darjeeling
Protests erupted in Chopra under Darjeeling constituency after villagers took a person to the police. Villagers alleged that the person, said to be a Trinamool Congress supporter, was obstructing them from casting their votes.
The villagers were being led by policemen to a booth after they blocked NH31, alleging they were not allowed to cast their votes. While they were being led to the polling station, the villagers stopped on the way, said they don’t have any faith on the state police and began demanding that central forces escort them.
Karnataka CM HD Kumaraswamy after casting his vote in Ramanagara: Dynasty politics isn't an important issue now, the country's problems are the main issue. Only because of dynasty politics & regional politics, this country developed in several states.We're not bothered about criticism from the BJP.
Update: Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) chief TTV Dinakaran casts his vote at a polling station in Besant Nagar in Chennai South parliamentary constituency.
Interesting trivia about Phase 2
Voting for the second phase of Lok Sabha elections is underway. Here are some interesting nuggets about this phase:
* 95 Lok Sabha constituencies across 11 states and one UT to go to polls.
* Nearly 15.80 crore voters to decide fate of 1,629 candidates.
* More than 1.81 lakh polling booths set up for the purpose.
* Tamil Nadu, where all seats but one are going to polls, 67,664 polling booths have been set up. The state has the most number of booths in poll going states Thursday.
* With 970, Puducherry has the least number of polling booths in this phase.
* Election in Vellore constituency of Tamil Nadu was cancelled by EC as it felt excessive use of money power has vitiated the poll process.
* No fresh date has been announced as yet.
* Fearing law and order issues, election to Tripura (East) has been postponed to April 23.
* Out of the total electors, 8,02,60,815 are men, 7,76,62,567 women and 11,136 are transgenders. EC identifies them as 'others'.
(Source: Election Commission).
Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy: I urge citizens to vote for the future and development of the country depends on them. It’s my personal request, not only for me but this elections is important for everyone, several problems need to be solved.
DMK chief MK Stalin: The Election Commission isn’t behaving in a neutral fashion, The EC needs to be impartial. We can only complain but the corrective mechanism can be done by EC. Tainted EVMs must be changed.
Polling percentage recorded till 9 am
Assam (5 seats): 9.51%
J&K (2 seats): 0.99%
Karnataka (14 seats): 1.14%
Maharashtra (10): 0.85%
Manipur (1): 1.78%
Odisha (5): 2.15%
Tamil Nadu (38): 0.81%
Tripura (1): 0.00%
Uttar Pradesh (8): 3.99%
West Bengal (3): 0.55%
Chhattisgarh (3): 7.75%
Puducherry: 1.62%
Courtesy: ANI
15,000 MCC violation cases filed in Maharashtra
Over 15,000 cases of alleged violation of the Model Code of Conduct have been registered in Maharashtra since March 10, PTI reports. Valuables worth Rs 118.12 crore have been seized.
“The enforcing departments [Income Tax and police] also lodged total 15,095 FIRs against the offenders for violating the model code of conduct, with most of the cases pertaining to storage and distribution of illicit liquor, followed by possession of firearms,” said Additional Chief Electoral Officer Dilip Shinde.