Ten opposition parties once again approach EC over faulty EVMs
After filing a review petition with the Supreme Court over faulty EVMs, ten opposition parties have now approached the EC once again demanding matching of VVPAT slips with minimum 50% of the votes cast through EVMs.
Opposition parties have been demanding greater transparency in the election process along with measures to ensure free and fair voting to ‘save democracy”. The SC had asked the EC to consider increasing random matching of voting slips from one to five booth per assembly.
The EC faces a logistical challenge in accepting the opposition demand claiming the results will get delayed. The opposition is willing to accept the delay for the sake of democracy, said Dinesh Trivedi, MP and TMC candidate from Barrackpore, West Bengal.
Meanwhile, the EC has ordered re-polling in Raiganj, West Bengal
PM lands in Kannauj to support the fight against Dimple Yadav
The prime minister arrived in Kannauj, U.P, a constituency which has remained loyal to the Samajwadi Party for the last 20 years. In 2014, Subrat Pathak BJP lost by just 19,000 votes to the Mulayam Singh Yadav’s bahu and wife of former CM Akhilesh Yadav.
Considered a safe seat of the SP, the BJP is leaving no stone unturned to spring a major surprise and have roped in PM Modi to visit and support Pathak’s campaign. Coming in the wake of the highly publicized and successful roadshow in Varanasi, BJP high command is confident of a resurgence in public sentiment in its favour in Kannauj.
Addressing the rally, PM Modi began by praising the crowd for braving the heat before turning the heat on the Samajwadi Party. He reached out to the people speaking how his party had given a gas cylinder to the woman of the house, a house to the man, a toilet in the house to the girls in the family, the benefit of the Ayushman Bharat scheme, and the direct transfer scheme for farmers.
He reiterated his party’s commitment to fighting terror saying he would not allow any compromise on national security.
Congress pushes Priyanka Gandhi’s “Ab hoga NYAY” message to rural masses before Phase 4
With two days to go before India votes in Phase 4 of polls, the Congress seems to have woken up to the fact that the core message of the Nyuntam Aay Yojana – NYAY may not be reaching the voters or may not be having the intended impact.
After holding back Priyanka Gandhi from taking on PM Modi in Varanasi, the Congress high command released a personalized message through a short audio clip where Priyanka appeals to the voters on the benefits of the NYAY scheme and how the cash benefit will directly reach the bank accounts of those who need it most.
The audio message has been circulated to over 40 lakh voters spread over Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, and Rajasthan where a large segment of rural poor shall vote in the fourth phase on 29 April.
Nyunatum Aay Yojana (NYAY) is the Indian National Congress party’s flagship social program promise to eliminate poverty. As per News18, NYAY was proposed by Priyanka Gandhi who insisted a clear amount be defined so voters could gauge the impact on their lives. Towards this, party president Rahul Gandhi had written a letter to voters titled, “Garibi par vaar, Bhattar Hazaar.” Under NYAY, Rs 6,000 per month or 72,000 per annum will be transferred directly through bank transfer to 20% of the population belonging to the extremely poor category.
The feedback received from voters by Priyanka and other party cadres is the message has not percolated down to many sections, and so, the party decided to rope in Priyanka to lend her voice in the appeal to voters in the coming poll phases.
Celebrities voice support for Kanhaiya Kumar
Kanhaiya Kumar, the CPI candidate from Begusarai, is reaching for the stars with the help of stars. Rarely does one see the level of diverse celebrity endorsement in political rallies for a newcomer as the kind Kanhaiya has received.
In the dust-laden back streets of Begusarai, Kanhaiya Kumar positions himself as the son-of-the-soil who took up the voice of the masses in the central stage of Delhi. Celebrities like Prakash Raj have camped for a week in Begusarai to ensure Kanhaiya receives the endorsement and support. Other stars to reach Begusarai in Kanhaiya’s support are actress Shabana Azmi, her husband and poet Javed Akhtar, actress Swara Bhaskar. For the first time, a political candidate has been able to raise Rs 70 lakh through online crowdfunding and could have raised a higher figure but for the EC restriction.
