The Congress party has rejected Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s claims that their election manifesto proposes the redistribution of wealth. Senior party leader Jairam Ramesh accused the Prime Minister of spreading ‘lies’ to divert attention from the real issues of the Lok Sabha polls.
BRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao asserted his resilience against the Congress government’s threats of imprisonment, declaring that he cannot be erased from Telangana’s history. He urged the people to grant more Lok Sabha seats to BRS, claiming its strength lies within Telangana. KCR denounced the Congress government for breaking promises and using derogatory language against him.
The Matuas of Bengal are back in the national spotlight due to the Citizenship (Amendment) Rules, 2024, and their significance as a vote bank. The politics around their votes is complex, involving issues of citizenship, communal polarization, political deification of Matua icons, and factionalism within the Thakur family. The citizenship question remains unresolved, with confusion and fear among the community about the application process and potential disenfranchisement. Communal polarization has also been used to mobilize Matua votes, with the BJP strategically categorizing migrants as either infiltrators or refugees based on their religious identities. Political leaders are also strategically deifying Matua icons like Harichand and Guruchand Thakur, using their names, images, and teachings for electoral success. Finally, factionalism within the Thakur family, the heirs of Harichand, is transforming Matua politics, with the BJP and TMC factions using them to reach out to voters.
On the last day of campaigning for Phase 2 of the Lok Sabha elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will hold public meetings and rallies across the country. Modi will address public meetings in Surguja, Chhattisgarh; Sagar and Betul, Madhya Pradesh; and hold a roadshow in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. Gandhi will resume campaigning after a brief break due to illness and will address public meetings in Amravati and Solapur, Maharashtra. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court will pronounce directions on a batch of pleas seeking complete cross-verification of votes cast using EVMs with VVPATs. Prime Minister Modi also alleged that the Congress attempted to extend reservation benefits based on religion and give them to Muslims.
Four days prior to the East Tripura Lok Sabha constituency polling, Tripura’s parliamentary affairs minister, Ratan Lal Nath, announced a ₹2 lakh reward for the booth with the highest voter turnout percentage in the Khowai Assembly constituency on April 26th. The minister also expressed confidence that the opposition INDIA bloc alliance will be defeated in the Lok Sabha polls.
Videos of extensive cleaning and renovation work at Rahul Gandhi’s house in Amethi, Uttar Pradesh, have emerged on social media, prompting speculation about his possible candidature in the upcoming Lok Sabha (LS) polls. Although the Congress party has yet to announce its candidates for Amethi and Rae Bareli, party workers remain optimistic that Gandhi will contest from the traditional party stronghold he lost to BJP’s Smriti Irani in the 2019 elections. Gandhi has not explicitly ruled out the possibility of contesting from Amethi, stating that such decisions would be made by the party’s central election committee. The renovation work at Gandhi’s house has further fueled speculation among party cadres, who believe it could be a sign of upcoming visits related to election campaigning. While the polling date for Amethi is set for May 20, the party is expected to announce its candidates for the two VIP seats on or after April 26, once polling for Wayanad concludes.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has expelled former deputy chief minister K S Eshwarappa for six years for contesting as an independent candidate in the Lok Sabha polls. Eshwarappa, who was the party’s state unit president, has been expelled for violating party discipline. He had earlier blamed state BJP president B Y Vijayendra and his father, veteran party leader B S Yediyurappa, for his son K E Kantesh being denied a ticket to contest from Haveri.
