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opposition parties are hailing their alliance in India’s capital Delhi, and hoping they can deny Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s and his party a third consecutive clean sweep of the region in the ongoing elections.

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Samajwadi Party leader Dimple Yadav who will be visiting Varanasi, Minister in Uttar Pradesh government Ravindra Jaiswal said the duo should also visit 'Tehkhana' in Gyanvapi complex and should have a glimpse of a God's idol present in the basement.

PDP president Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday staged protest amid polling in Jammu Kashmir's Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha seats.

Polling began on Saturday morning for six Lok Sabha constituencies and 42 assembly seats in Odisha amid tight security arrangements, an official said. Voting started at 7 am in Sambalpur, Keonjhar, Dhenkanal, Cuttack, Bhubaneswar and Puri Lok Sabha seats along with 42 assembly segments that make up these Lok Sabha constituencies.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday said when the country was ruled by the Congress and state by the Samajwadi Party, one's day would begin with news about corruption cases and end with that of terrorist blasts. The chief minister's remark came during a public meeting at Pipraich in Gorakhpur parliamentary constituency where he was seeking votes for BJP candidate and sitting MP Ravi Kishan Shukla.

Election Commission has asked concerned Chief Electoral Officers and state authorities to take adequate measures to manage the adverse impact of hot weather or rainfall wherever predicted in the sixth phase of Lok Sabha polls.

elections got underway at 7 am on Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged voters to come out in large numbers and exercise their franchise.

2024 Lok Sabha elections, covering 58 seats spread over six states and the union territories of Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir will be held on Saturday. Among the prominent candidates in the fray are former chief ministers Mehbooba Mufti (Jammu and Kashmir) and Manohar Lal Khattar (Haryana), union ministers Dharmendra Pradhan, Deepender Hooda, Naveen Jindal, Bansuri Swaraj, Manoj Tiwari, Kanhaiya Kumar, Bhartruhari Mahtab and JP Aggarwal States where polling will be held in the sixth phase are Bihar (8 seats), Haryana (10), Jharkhand (4), Odisha (6), Uttar Pradesh (14), West Bengal (8), Delhi (7). Polling will also be held in Anantnag-Rajouri seat of J&K where Mufti is the PDP candidate. Unlike in 2014 and 2019, when BJP had won all seven seats in Delhi, this time the battle is not easy for the party as AAP and Congress have joined hands with the former contesting four seats and the latter three.

Mamata Banerjee alleged at a public rally on Friday that the Calcutta High Court's order on the cancellation of OBC certificates was the result of a "conspiracy" by the BJP to create division between Muslims and Tapshilis (scheduled castes). «I will give justice to people. There are Tapshilis, Adivasis and Muslims. I will not deprive anyone of their rights,» Banerjee said, speaking in a public rally at Joynagar in the South 24 Parganas district. Cancellation of the certificates would affect many Hindus as well as minorities other than Muslims too, she said, affirming that her government would move the Supreme Court against the order of the high court, which cancelled around half a million OBC certificates issued after 2010, citing violation of reservation rules.

Modi alleged on Friday that Congress has reached a level of craziness where it intends to terminate India's nuclear weapons if it comes to power, restore Article 370 that gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir, and annul Citizenship Amendment Act. At an election rally in Mandi, he also attacked those who had used unsavory language against BJP candidate and actor Kangana Ranaut during the campaign. «You have seen Congress rule for decades. Congress likes a Bharat which is poor, citizens are surrounded by problems… Hence, it wants to bring back the old situation in the country. It wants to put reverse gear in the country's progress. Hence, Congress is saying if it comes to power, it will bring back Article 370 and annul CAA… It has reached a level of craziness where it is saying it will terminate India's nuclear weapons. They are making these announcements in their election campaign,» Modi said. The prime minister further charged Congress with being staunchly communal and practices appeasement politics for vote bank.

Modi alleged on Friday that Congress has reached a level of craziness where it intends to terminate India’s nuclear weapons if it comes to power, restore Article 370 that gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir, and annul Citizenship Amendment Act. At an election rally in Mandi, he also attacked those who had used unsavory language against BJP candidate and actor Kangana Ranaut during the campaign. “You have seen Congress rule for decades. Congress likes a Bharat which is poor, citizens are surrounded by problems… Hence, it wants to bring back the old situation in the country. It wants to put reverse gear in the country’s progress. Hence, Congress is saying if it comes to power, it will bring back Article 370 and annul CAA…. It has reached a level of craziness where it is saying it will terminate India’s nuclear weapons. They are making these announcements in their election campaign,” Modi said. The prime minister further charged Congress with being staunchly communal and practices appeasement politics for vote bank.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had "betrayed" the youth dreaming of serving the country by «forcibly» imposing the Agnipath scheme and asserted that an INDIA bloc government will ensure justice for them. Gandhi shared a video of his recent interaction on a tempo with some youth, who wanted to join the armed forces but could not do so because of the Agnipath scheme being introduced. In a post on X in Hindi along with the video, the former Congress chief said that while travelling on a 'Deshbhakti Ka Tempo', he got to know closely about the sufferings of the youth. «Narendra Modi has betrayed the youth who dream of serving the country in the army and has forcibly imposed the Agnipath scheme on them,» he said.

BJP and the INDIA bloc partners pitted in a direct, one-on-one contest in all the seven Lok Sabha constituencies. A total of 1.52 crore voters, including 82 lakh male and 69 lakh female voters as well as 1,228 third gender, are eligible to cast their votes at more than 13,000 polling booths in 2,627 places across the seven seats. Voting will start from 7 am with special arrangements at the polling booths to help the voters exercise their franchise amid scorching heat.

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah opened up to the public at an event here on Thursday night, recalling his failed 'love story' due to casteism in society. During an event on inter-caste marriage on the occasion of 'Buddha Poornima', the full moon night when Gautam Buddha was born, the chief minister went on a flashback to his college days. «I wanted to have an inter-caste marriage but it did not happen. The girl did not accept it,» Siddaramaiah said. Elaborating further, he said, «When I was studying I had fallen in love with a girl. Don't mistake me. I had thought of marrying her but her family and also the girl did not agree. Hence, the marriage did not happen.

Giriraj Singh's comment on Muslim reservation, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Friday launched a scathing attack on BJP by claiming that 'India becoming Pakistan is result of the party mirroring the logic of partition.' «In fact, the sad thing is, India becoming Pakistan is the result of the BJP mirroring the logic of partition...We want to see everyone included in the narrative of Indian progress. It is simply not fair for a minister to say India becoming Pakistan when one thing we stand for in the Indian alliance is the opposite of the logic that the BJP is pursuing which mirrors the logic of Pakistan,» said Tharoor. Earlier during the day, BJP leader Giriraj Singh claimed that reservation given to Muslims is an attack on Hindus. «The time has come that the reservations given to the Muslims should be rethought about. Reservation given to them is an attack on the Hindus...If all the Hindus do not unite & fight against the Muslim reservation then in the coming days India will become Pakistan...» said Singh.

Uttar Pradesh on Saturday will determine the fate of several high-profile candidates, including former Union Minister Maneka Gandhi, who is contesting on a Bharatiya Janata Party ticket from Sultanpur, one of fourteen seats up for grabs in this phase. Gandhi is aiming for her ninth term in the Lok Sabha, and is up against the Samajwadi Party's Ram Bhual Nishad and the Bahujan Samaj Party's Uday Raj Verma. During a campaign event, Pilibhit MP and Maneka's son, Varun Gandhi, said,«Elections are going on everywhere in the country...but there is only one region in the country where people don't call their MP, Sansad ji, Mantri ji, or by her name, but call her mata ji.»

North East Delhi, is set to witness another eventful Lok Sabha election as it goes in to the big polls on May 25. One of the reasons it has successfully become an important seat is because of the main contenders, two prominent Biharis: BJP's Manoj Tiwari and Congress' Kanhaiya Kumar. North East Delhi constituency comprises 10 segments including Burari, Timarpur, Seemapuri (SC), Rohtas Nagar, Seelampur, Ghonda, Babarpur, Gokalpur (SC), Mustafabad and Karawal Nagar. It is to be noted that of the 10, only three are held by BJP (Rohtas Nagar, Ghonda, Karawal Nagar) and remaining seven have AAP MLAs.

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Friday asserted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi «owed an explanation to the country's women» for having campaigned in favour of sex scandal accused Prajjwal Revanna. Speaking to PTI-Video during his visit to Patna, Tharoor alleged that accusations against Revanna had been known to the BJP which chose to ignore these because of «political cynicism». «It is now well known that videotapes of Revanna were made available to a BJP leader in Karnataka where the party displayed political cynicism by keeping mum and having a truck with the Janata Dal (Secular),» he said. Referring to a rally of Modi in the Hassan constituency for Revanna who has been on the run since the matter came to light, Tharoor said, «The prime minister of the country clearly owes an answer to the country's women for canvassing in favour of such a candidate».

electoral legacy like no other constituency in Delhi. From greats like Sucheta Kripalani to Atal Bihari Vajpayee and even L K Advani, this constituency, even this time will play a key role in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. The 2019 polls saw Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Meenakshi Lekhi emerge victorious, beating Congress' Ajay Makan. This time, the battle is all set to take stage on May 25 between the saffron party's debutant Bansuri Swaraj, daughter of former external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, and Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) Somnath Bharti.

political battle in the country is set to end soon as voting for the sixth and penultimate phase of Lok Sabha polls will be held on May 25, Saturday. The phase will be polling across 58 constituencies in six states and two Union territories, including all the seven seats in Delhi and the Jangal Mahal region in Bengal. Besides the national capital, polling will be held Saturday in 14 seats in Uttar Pradesh, all 10 seats of Haryana, eight seats each in Bihar and West Bengal, six seats in Odisha, four seats in Jharkhand and one seat in Jammu and Kashmir. Simultaneously, polling will be held for 42 assembly constituencies in Odisha. Click here to participate in our Lok Sabha Elections Survey to gauge the mood of the nation

Puri Lok Sabha constituency, nestled within the vibrant state of Odisha, holds significance as one of the 21 parliamentary constituencies. Encompassing parts of Khurda, Nayagarh, and Puri districts, it represents a diverse demographic.