The Evening Wrap: Campaigning ends for fifth phase of Lok Sabha poll

Campaigning for the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha election ended on Saturday. A total of 49 seats, including the high-profile constituencies of Amethi and Rae Bareli, will vote in this phase on May 20. The campaigning saw high-pitched rhetoric by both the BJP and the INDIA bloc. While Prime Minister Narendra Modi attacked the Congress, claiming that the UPA government had wanted to allocate 15% of the budget to Muslims, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge widened the gamut of poll guarantees of his party when he promised 10 kg of free grains to the poor instead of the five kg being given at present. Mr. Modi, while campaigning in Uttar Pradesh on Friday, also claimed that the Congress and the Samajwadi Party will run a bulldozer over the Ram temple if elected to power, prompting the Congress to complain to the Election Commission on Saturday. Of the 49 seats going to the polls on Monday, the BJP had won 32 in 2019, while the Congress got only Rae Bareli. This time, the BJP is contesting in 40 seats while the Congress has limited itself to just 18 seats, leaving the rest to its allies. For this phase, which has the least number of constituencies going to the polls, 695 candidates, including 82 women, are in the fray. Some of the star candidates include the Congress’ Rahul Gandhi from Rae Bareli, the BJP’s Smrti Irani from Amethi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh from Lucknow, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal from Mumbai-North, Omar Abdullah from Baramulla and the RJD’s Rohini Acharya from Saran in Bihar. Arvind Kejriwal dares PM Modi to get AAP leaders arrested; says they will visit BJP headquarters on Sunday Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Saturday that he and other AAP leaders would go to the BJP headquarters on Sunday “so that the prime minister can send anyone he wants to jail”. The BJP is saying they will send AAP MP Raghav Chadha and Delhi ministers Atishi and Saurabh Bharadwaj to jail too, he claimed at a press briefing hours after his aide Bibhav Kumar was arrested in connection with the alleged assault on his party’s parliamentarian Swati Maliwal. Kejriwal, who is also the AAP national convener, however, asserted that his party could not be crushed by sending its leaders to jail. Swati Maliwal assault case: Bibhav Kumar arrested, his anticipatory bail plea infructuous, says court The anticipatory bail plea of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s aide Bibhav Kumar, accused of assaulting AAP Rajya Sabha member Swati Maliwal, has become infructuous as he has been arrested, a Delhi court observed on Saturday. Kumar was arrested on Saturday, two days after an FIR was registered against him at the Civil Lines police station. Additional Sessions Judge Sushil Anuj Tyagi, while dictating the order to the court staff on the anticipatory bail plea, noted that Additional Public Prosecutor Atul Kumar Srivastava appeared through videoconferencing around 4.45 pm and informed the court that Kumar has already been arrested in the case. “On court query, the additional public prosecutor for the state submitted that the applicant was arrested at about 4:15 pm,” the judge said. The judge noted Srivastava’s submissions that Kumar’s wife had been duly informed about his arrest. “Since, the applicant (Kumar) has already been arrested, the present application is disposed of being infructuous,” the court said. “Copy of this order be also sent to the investigating officer or station house officer concerned for information and necessary action,” it said. Modi’s ‘dhakad’ government brought down wall of Article 370: PM in Ambala Prime Minister Narendra Modi sharpened his attack on the Congress on Saturday and said it was his dhakad (strong) government that brought down the wall of Article 370 and as a result, Kashmir is now moving ahead on the path of development. Mr. Modi said the history of the Congress has been of betraying India’s forces and soldiers as he referred to the “Jeep scandal”, the “first scam” during the grand old party’s rule. “Could a weak government have changed the situation in Jammu and Kashmir?” Mr. Modi asked the gathering, addressing his first Lok Sabha poll rally in Haryana. Referring to Haryana contributing a sizable number of soldiers in the armed forces, he said when the Congress was in power, mothers in Haryana were a worried lot thinking about their children’s safety. “Have such things stopped now or not?” he asked the audience that responded with a loud “yes”. “Modi’s dhakad [strong and decisive] government brought down the wall of Article 370 and Kashmir is now moving ahead on the path of development,” the Prime Minister said. He said Pakistan, which earlier had bombs in its hands, now has a “bheekh ka katora” [begging bowl] in its hands. “When there is a dhakad sarkar, the enemy is terrified,” Modi said. Poll roundup: Former Vice-President Mohammad Hamid Ansari, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and former Union Minister Murli Manohar Joshi successfully cast their votes via postal ballots from their residences on Thursday and Friday ahead of the polls scheduled in Delhi on May 25. The Office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Delhi announced that the second day of home voting facility for elderly voters and Persons with Disability (PwDs) was completed successfully. The exercise will continue till May 24. Polls are scheduled in the national capital on May 25. Election-time seizures in this Lok Sabha polls will soon cross a staggering ₹9,000 crore, the highest in any elections so far, the Election Commission (EC) said on Saturday. The poll body said that agencies have made seizures worth ₹8,889 crore so far and at ₹3,958 crore, drugs amounted to 45% of the loot. The seizures included ₹849.15 crore in cash, liquor worth ₹814.85 crore, drugs worth ₹3,958.85 crore and precious metals worth ₹1,260.33 crore. The Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad, Narcotics Control Bureau and the Indian Coast Guard, in joint operations, have made three high-value seizures of drugs in just three days, amounting to ₹892 crore, the EC said in a statement. In Brief: Nine devotees charred to death in Haryana’s Nuh Nine devotees, including a ten-year-old girl, were charred to death and 14 sustained burn injuries when a tourist bus carrying them went up in flames on Kundli-Manesar-Palwal Expressway in Haryana’s Nuh in the early hours of Saturday. The bus, carrying around 60-odd tourists, was on its way to Punjab’s Hoshiarpur from Mathura in Uttar Pradesh when it caught fire around 2 a.m,, said the police. Six females and three males sustained serious burn injuries and declared brought dead at hospital. The injured were admitted to Nalhar Medical College in Nuh for treatment and were out of danger, the police added. India asks students in Kyrgyzstan to stay indoors The Embassy of India in Kyrgyz Republic has advised Indian students to stay indoors, amidst reports of mob attacks against students from Pakistan. “The situation is presently calm but students are advised to stay indoors for the moment and get intouch with the Embassy in case of any issue. Our 24x7 contact number of 0555710041,” the Indian embassy announced on X on Saturday. The announcement was followed messages from social media handles purportedly belonging to Indian students. It is understood that the frenzied attacks are fuelled by social media rumours which started after a skirmish between local Kyrgyz residents and foreign students in one of the hostels for foreign students. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. [logo] The Evening Wrap 18 May 2024 [The Hindu logo] Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day’s biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. [View in browser]( [More newsletters]( Campaigning ends for fifth phase of Lok Sabha poll [Campaigning for the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha election ended]( on Saturday. A total of 49 seats, including the high-profile constituencies of Amethi and Rae Bareli, will vote in this phase on May 20. The campaigning saw high-pitched rhetoric by both the BJP and the INDIA bloc. While Prime Minister Narendra Modi attacked the Congress, claiming that the UPA government had wanted to allocate 15% of the budget to Muslims, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge widened the gamut of poll guarantees of his party when he promised 10 kg of free grains to the poor instead of the five kg being given at present. Mr. Modi, while campaigning in Uttar Pradesh on Friday, also claimed that the Congress and the Samajwadi Party will run a bulldozer over the Ram temple if elected to power, prompting the Congress to complain to the Election Commission on Saturday. Of the 49 seats going to the polls on Monday, the BJP had won 32 in 2019, while the Congress got only Rae Bareli. This time, the BJP is contesting in 40 seats while the Congress has limited itself to just 18 seats, leaving the rest to its allies. For this phase, which has the least number of constituencies going to the polls, 695 candidates, including 82 women, are in the fray. Some of the star candidates include the Congress’ Rahul Gandhi from Rae Bareli, the BJP’s Smrti Irani from Amethi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh from Lucknow, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal from Mumbai-North, Omar Abdullah from Baramulla and the RJD’s Rohini Acharya from Saran in Bihar. Arvind Kejriwal dares PM Modi to get AAP leaders arrested; says they will visit BJP headquarters on Sunday Delhi Chief Minister [Arvind Kejriwal said on Saturday that he and other AAP leaders would go to the BJP headquarters]( on Sunday “so that the prime minister can send anyone he wants to jail”. The BJP is saying they will send AAP MP Raghav Chadha and Delhi ministers Atishi and Saurabh Bharadwaj to jail too, he claimed at a press briefing hours after his aide Bibhav Kumar was arrested in connection with the alleged assault on his party’s parliamentarian Swati Maliwal. Kejriwal, who is also the AAP national convener, however, asserted that his party could not be crushed by sending its leaders to jail. Swati Maliwal assault case: Bibhav Kumar arrested, his anticipatory bail plea infructuous, says court The anticipatory bail plea of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s aide Bibhav Kumar, accused of assaulting AAP Rajya Sabha member Swati Maliwal, [has become infructuous as he has been arrested]( a Delhi court observed on Saturday. Kumar was arrested on Saturday, two days after an FIR was registered against him at the Civil Lines police station. Additional Sessions Judge Sushil Anuj Tyagi, while dictating the order to the court staff on the anticipatory bail plea, noted that Additional Public Prosecutor Atul Kumar Srivastava appeared through videoconferencing around 4.45 pm and informed the court that Kumar has already been arrested in the case. “On court query, the additional public prosecutor for the state submitted that the applicant was arrested at about 4:15 pm,” the judge said. The judge noted Srivastava’s submissions that Kumar’s wife had been duly informed about his arrest. “Since, the applicant (Kumar) has already been arrested, the present application is disposed of being infructuous,” the court said. “Copy of this order be also sent to the investigating officer or station house officer concerned for information and necessary action,” it said. Modi’s ‘dhakad’ government brought down wall of Article 370: PM in Ambala Prime Minister Narendra Modi [sharpened his attack on the Congress]( on Saturday and said it was his dhakad (strong) government that brought down the wall of Article 370 and as a result, Kashmir is now moving ahead on the path of development. Mr. Modi said the history of the Congress has been of betraying India’s forces and soldiers as he referred to the “Jeep scandal”, the “first scam” during the grand old party’s rule. “Could a weak government have changed the situation in Jammu and Kashmir?” Mr. Modi asked the gathering, addressing his first Lok Sabha poll rally in Haryana. Referring to Haryana contributing a sizable number of soldiers in the armed forces, he said when the Congress was in power, mothers in Haryana were a worried lot thinking about their children’s safety. “Have such things stopped now or not?” he asked the audience that responded with a loud “yes”. “Modi’s dhakad [strong and decisive] government brought down the wall of Article 370 and Kashmir is now moving ahead on the path of development,” the Prime Minister said. He said Pakistan, which earlier had bombs in its hands, now has a “bheekh ka katora” [begging bowl] in its hands. “When there is a dhakad sarkar, the enemy is terrified,” Modi said. Poll roundup: - Former Vice-President Mohammad Hamid Ansari, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and former Union Minister Murli Manohar Joshi successfully [cast their votes via postal ballots]( from their residences on Thursday and Friday ahead of the polls scheduled in Delhi on May 25 . The Office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Delhi announced that the second day of home voting facility for elderly voters and Persons with Disability (PwDs) was completed successfully. The exercise will continue till May 24. Polls are scheduled in the national capital on May 25. - Election-time seizures in this Lok Sabha polls [will soon cross a staggering ₹9,000 crore]( the highest in any elections so far, the Election Commission (EC) said on Saturday. The poll body said that agencies have made seizures worth ₹8,889 crore so far and at ₹3,958 crore, drugs amounted to 45% of the loot. The seizures included ₹849.15 crore in cash, liquor worth ₹814.85 crore, drugs worth ₹3,958.85 crore and precious metals worth ₹1,260.33 crore. The Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad, Narcotics Control Bureau and the Indian Coast Guard, in joint operations, have made three high-value seizures of drugs in just three days, amounting to ₹892 crore, the EC said in a statement. In Brief: Nine devotees charred to death in Haryana’s Nuh Nine devotees, including a ten-year-old girl, were [charred to death]( and 14 sustained burn injuries when a tourist bus carrying them went up in flames on Kundli-Manesar-Palwal Expressway in Haryana’s Nuh in the early hours of Saturday. The bus, carrying around 60-odd tourists, was on its way to Punjab’s Hoshiarpur from Mathura in Uttar Pradesh when it caught fire around 2 a.m,, said the police. Six females and three males sustained serious burn injuries and declared brought dead at hospital. The injured were admitted to Nalhar Medical College in Nuh for treatment and were out of danger, the police added. India asks students in Kyrgyzstan to stay indoors The Embassy of India in Kyrgyz Republic has [advised Indian students to stay indoors]( amidst reports of mob attacks against students from Pakistan. “The situation is presently calm but students are advised to stay indoors for the moment and get intouch with the Embassy in case of any issue. Our 24x7 contact number of 0555710041,” the Indian embassy announced on X on Saturday. The announcement was followed messages from social media handles purportedly belonging to Indian students. It is understood that the frenzied attacks are fuelled by social media rumours which started after a skirmish between local Kyrgyz residents and foreign students in one of the hostels for foreign students. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. 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