The Congress party is expected to announce its nominees for the Amethi and Rae Bareli Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh on April 27th. The party’s central election committee is scheduled to meet to finalize candidates for the remaining seats in the state as well as in Punjab. These seats have been traditionally considered strongholds of the Gandhi family, with Rahul Gandhi representing Amethi and Sonia Gandhi serving as an MP for Rae Bareli. In the 2019 elections, Rahul Gandhi lost his Amethi seat to BJP’s Smriti Irani but won from Wayanad in Kerala.
Meanwhile, the second phase of Lok Sabha elections took place on April 26th, covering 88 constituencies across 13 states. According to the Election Commission, approximately 61% of voters exercised their franchise. The highest voting percentage was recorded in Tripura at 78.53%, while the lowest turnout was in Uttar Pradesh at 53.80%. The turnout in Manipur, which has been affected by ethnic violence, was 77.18%.
In a separate development, the Supreme Court has upheld the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) system of polling, rejecting a plea to revive paper ballots. The court stated that human errors are possible in the EVM-VVPAT system, but maintained that there is no evidence to suggest systemic manipulation or tampering. The court emphasized that blind distrust of any institution or system hinders progress.
