Lok Sabha Election LIVE: PM Modi holds roadshow in Kolkata

With only three days left for the seventh and the final phase of polling for the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Tuesday transferred three police officers in West Bengal, an official said.

The poll panel on Tuesday removed the Superintendent of Police (SP) of Sunderban police district Koteshwar Rao, Minakhan SDPO under Basirhat police district Aminul Islam Khan and IC of Rahra police station Debashis Sarkar to non-election related posts, he added.

“Suggestions for the replacements in these three posts were sought from the state secretariat by Wednesday,” he said.

AAP MP Raghav Chadha says, “People are giving immense love and blessings to Arvind Kejriwal and Bhagwant Mann in Punjab. A historic mandate was given in 2022 elections (in Punjab), similarly, people of Punjab are going to give a historic mandate to Aam Aadmi Party in these Lok Sabha elections.”

Calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi “anti-people”, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Tuesday said he is misleading people in the name of religion to remain in power.

Addressing an election rally here, she said that PM Modi ignored the people of Himachal and did not even send a penny for the victims of the monsoon disaster that hit the hill state last year.

“Hindu religion has taught us to live an honest life but the BJP is doing politics in the name of religion,” she said and wondered if any religious person will not be moved by the disaster.

The BJP-led Centre neither declared the monsoon calamity a national disaster nor gave any special package to the state, the Congress general secretary said, adding that they tried to topple the democratically-elected Congress government in the state.

Priyanka Gandhi was referring to the political crisis involving the six Congress rebels who recently joined the BJP.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Chandeshwar Prasad of the Janata Dal (United) won the Jehanabad Lok Sabha seat for National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in a photo finish after a protracted counting of votes, defeating Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) nominee and strongman Surendra Prasad Yadav by 1,751 votes.

Five years later, the common refrain here is that Chandeshwar Prasad might find it tough to retain the seat, given the changed poll arithmetic.

While RJD has again fielded Surendra Prasad Yadav, an MLA and former minister in the state, Arun Kumar, who had won the seat for the NDA in 2014, is in the fray on Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) ticket.

The field is further crowded with former MLA and RJD rebel Munilal Yadav in the fray as an Independent and Ashutosh Kumar, a local Bhumihar community leader, fighting as an Independent.

“Chandeshwar Prasad won the last election riding the Modi wave. But he disappointed us by not visiting our village, like others, after winning the elections. We don’t know how looks like,” says Mevalal Chaudhary (49) of Kako village.

Munshi Prasad (54) of the same village chips in, “Surendra Yadav, who is currently MLA of Belaganj in Gaya, keeps on visiting the villages wherever he is invited.”

RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav on Tuesday predicted yet another volte-face by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, claiming that the JD(U) president would take a “big decision” once Lok Sabha poll results were out.

Talking to reporters, Yadav, who had lost his job as Deputy CM following Kumar’s abrupt return to NDA in January, also claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will not return to power.

“Modi has lost. He will not be the Prime Minister after June 4. The country will have a new government, sensitive to the crying need for job creation,” said Yadav.

The RJD leader was replying to queries on Modi’s claim, in an interview, of NDA’s return to power with “a big surprise” in West Bengal, currently ruled by Mamata Banerjee, whose Trinamool Congress is an INDIA partner.

Voter turnout of 63.37% recorded in phase-6, says EC

During a public rally in Jadavpur, PM Modi says, “…CAA is a law to give citizenship not to snatch away citizenship of anyone but TMC is spreading misinformation about it to scare their votebank…”

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge dismissed the BJP’s ‘400 paar’ claim as “bakwas”, or nonsense, and said the party will not cross 200 seats in the Lok Sabha polls.

Addressing the media in Amritsar, Kharge said the BJP’s seats were declining as compared to the last elections while the Congress and the INDIA bloc were making gains.

The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance has been claiming that it will get over 400 seats in the Lok Sabha elections.

Replying to a question on it, Kharge asked the basis of such claims by the BJP.

“When your (seats) are declining and ours are increasing. Forget ‘400 paar’, it is ‘bakwas’. They cannot even form the government and will not go beyond 200 seats,” Kharge said.

On a day when Prime Minister Narendra Modi campaigned in West Bengal for the last phase of polling, the Congress on Tuesday asked why he was “defaming” Bengal and has “frozen” MGNREGA funds for the state for almost three years now.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh asked why the prime minister is campaigning without showing sensitivity to the people of Bengal by addressing the damage caused by Cyclone Remal instead.

“Today’s questions for the outgoing Prime Minister in West Bengal – Does the PM value Bengali lives? Why is the outgoing PM always defaming Bengal? Why have MGNREGA funds for Bengal remained frozen for almost 3 years?” he asked.

Ramesh said in April 2021, as India was facing a devastating second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, the prime minister was found “recklessly campaigning” for the West Bengal assembly elections rather than leading the country’s response to the pandemic.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday held a roadshow in support of Trinamool Congress candidate Saugata Roy in Dum Dum Lok Sabha constituency near here.

The TMC supremo walked from Birati Banik More to Airport gate number two on Jessore Road, a distance of nearly four kilometres, along with party leaders and workers.

The roadshow in Dum Dum Lok Sabha constituency was held in support of the TMC’s veteran leader and candidate Saugata Roy, who is seeking a fourth consecutive term from the seat.

The Andhra Pradesh high court on Tuesday granted anticipatory bail to YSR Congress party lawmaker Pinnelli Ramakrishna Reddy from Macherla assembly constituency in Palnadu district in three more cases filed against him by the police, people familiar with the matter said.

The MLA was earlier granted bail on Thursday in a case pertaining to destruction of an electronic voting machine inside a polling booth on May 13.

A single judge bench of the state high court headed by Justice Venkata Jyothirmayi passed interim orders, directing the police not to take any action against the MLA till 10 am on June 5, a day after the declaration of results for the assembly and Lok Sabha elections in the state.

She also asked Ramakrishna Reddy not to resort to any steps intimidating the opponents and threaten the witnesses. She directed that he stayed back in district headquarters of Narsaraopet and not to enter Macherla town till June 6 when the model code of conduct comes to an end. She asked him to appear before the superintendent of police at Narasraopet every day, till June 6.

Accusing the ruling JMM and Congress in the state of having ‘looted the state’, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Tuesday that action against the ‘corrupt’ would be intensified after June 4.

Addressing BJP’s Mahavijay Sankalp Rally at Dumka in tribal-dominated Santhal Parganas division in the state, the prime minister also alleged that the tribal population in the area was decreasing due to influx of infiltrators from Bangladesh.

“JMM has taken away your ration. I send free ration from Delhi, but they are pilferaged. Truckloads of ration is recovered but no action is taken. There is massive corruption in Jal Jiwan Mission meant to provide drinking water. I will not let them to take away your ration and water. After June 4, action against the corrupt would get intensified. This is Modi’s guarantee,” said Modi.

The prime minister’s remark comes at a time when former chief minister Hemant Soren is in jail and rural development minister and senior Congress leader Alamgir Alam in ED custody in connection with alleged land and tender scam, respectively. Dumka is family bastion of Soren family, from where Hemant’s sister-in-law, Sita Soren, is contesting on BJP ticket.

Taking swipe at the JMM and Congress over recovery of cash, Modi said discovery of mountain of notes was a revelation for him.

Buxar is barely 125 kms from Varanasi, the constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. And that is what BJP candidate Mithilesh Tiwari, who is contesting for the first time in place of two-time MP and Union minister Ashwini Choubey, draws strength from to sail through in what is turning out to be a tough three-cornered contest.

Talk to locals and their pain spills over, as they draw comparison between Varanasi and Buxar, which are so near and yet so far. “Even for medical treatment, people have to go to Banaras. People won from here, but did not do what Buxar deserved,” said Ramanand Mishra, a retired teacher.

Suman Kumar, who studies in Banaras, calls Buxar “a developmental desert”. “It should have been a satellite town of Banaras, but the fate of the ‘Namami Gange’ project can say it all,” he said, pointing to an open British-era drain flowing straight into the Ganga at Nath Baba ghat just opposite the SDO residence.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi ended a culture of appeasement that prospered during the opposition-ruled era, besides ensuring equitable public service delivery, irrespective of caste or creed, Union Minister Jitendra Singh said on Tuesday.

The Centre, under the prime minister’s leadership, ensured that all eligible people got benefits of different government schemes.

“Prime Minister Modi has ended a culture of appeasement that prospered during the opposition-ruled era. Now the government works to empower the last person in the last queue. There is no discrimination with anybody when it comes to the distribution of benefits of government schemes to eligible beneficiaries. There is equitable public service delivery to all,” Singh told PTI.

He said all people, irrespective of caste, creed or religion, are now getting the government benefits timely.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday flayed the TMC government in West Bengal for “snatching the rights of OBC youths” to facilitate its appeasement politics and “vote jihad”.

Addressing an election rally in Barasat, Modi, without naming West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, criticised her for questioning the judges of the Calcutta High Court and wondered if the TMC would now “let loose its goons on judges” following unfavourable rulings.

“The court has exposed the treachery of the Trinamool Congress with the OBCs. The party snatched the rights of OBC youths to support its appeasement politics and ‘vote jihad’. The TMC has betrayed the OBCs of West Bengal,” he asserted.

The Calcutta High Court had last week struck down the OBC status of several classes in West Bengal granted since 2010, finding such reservations to vacancies in services and posts in the state illegal.

Banerjee had said she will “not accept” the ruling, dubbing it as a verdict passed under the influence

The world is in a tense situation with ongoing conflicts unlikely to end quickly and India in this scenario needs a stable government and a strong and powerful leader “with networking, standing and respect”, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Tuesday.

Interacting with a selective group of media persons here, he said there are ongoing conflicts in Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Gaza-Iran and there are issues on the Indian borders too, adding a clear message should go that India has a strong leadership.

“The world is in a tense situation and the ongoing conflicts would not end so quickly and that’s why India needs a stable government, a strong and powerful leader with networking, standing and respect,” he said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meditate at Rock Memorial, a monument built in tribute to Swami Vivekananda, in Kanyakumari following the culmination of the Lok Sabha polls campaign on May 30, BJP leaders said on Tuesday.

He will meditate from the evening of May 30 to the evening of June 1 at Dhyan Mandapam, the place where Vivekananda — a spiritual icon admired by Modi — is believed to have had a divine vision about ‘Bharat Mata’, they said.

The prime minister had gone on a similar meditation exercise in a Kedarnath cave after the 2019 poll campaign.

Party functionaries said Modi’s decision to pick the spot in Kanyakumari for his spiritual sojourn underscores his commitment to bringing to fruition Vivekananda’s vision for the country.

He has been sounding confident about returning to power for a third term after the votes are counted on June 4. The last phase of polling is scheduled for June 1. Campaigning for polls ends two days before elections.

Trinamool Congress leader Derek O’Brien on Tuesday said the outgoing Lok Sabha has many “dubious firsts”, and accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of turning Parliament into a “deep, dark chamber”.

In a post on X, the Parliamentary Party Leader of the TMC in Rajya Sabha also said that this was the first time that no deputy speaker was appointed, and the prime minister did not answer a single question.

“Mr Narendra Modi, since you are in my city today, care to tell us all why you have mocked Parliament and turned it into a deep dark chamber,” he said.

“There was a time before Independence when Bengal used to give employment to lakhs of people. Today, most of the factories of Bengal are shut. The youth of the state is compelled to migrate from here. I want to ask you that who is responsible for the deterioration of Bengal. First Congress looted Bengal, then Left looted the state and now TMC is looting the state with both hands,” says PM Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) addressing a public gathering in West Bengal’s Barasat.

Women of Sandeshkhali have been seeking justice but TMC is maligning them: PM Modi at rally in Bengal’s Barasat.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi speaks on PM Modi’s ‘Parmatma’ statement, he says, “…Everyone else is biological but Narendra Modi ji is not biological. He has been sent by his ‘parmatma’ to help Ambani & Adani but ‘parmatma’ has not sent him to help the farmers and labourers. If ‘parmatma’ had sent him them he would have helped the poor and the farmers. Yeh kaise ‘parmatma’ hain? Yeh Narendra Modi ji wale ‘parmatma hain.”

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In the culmination of his election campaign, PM Modi will visit Kanyakumari from 30th May to 1st June

In Kanyakumari, PM Modi will visit the Rock Memorial and will meditate day and night at the same place where Swami Vivekanand did meditation, at the Dhyan Mandapam from 30th May evening to 1st June evening.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday asserted that Naveen Patnaik will become former CM of Odisha after June 4, exuding confidence about the BJP forming the next government in the state by securing more than 75 seats in the 147-member assembly.

Shah, addressing an election rally at Chandbali under the Bhadrak Lok Sabha constituency, also claimed that the saffron party is set to win 17 of the 21 Lok Sabha seats in Odisha.

“Come June 4, and Naveen babu will no longer remain the chief minister, he will become the former CM… BJP is set to win 17 Lok Sabha seats and 75 assembly constituencies in Odisha,” he said.

Shah also said the BJP will ensure that the next chief minister is fluent in Odiya, and understands the state’s language, culture and tradition.