Jaipur:

Senior BJP leader and Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday said “bumper voting” has taken place in the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections and claimed that people were heard chanting “Modi, Modi” after casting their votes.

Twelve parliamentary seats in Rajasthan were among the 102 that went to polls in the first phase of the seven-phase elections.

Addressing an election rally when voting was underway in the seats, Mr Shah said, “In the first phase, bumper voting is taking place across the country. Whoever goes in, comes out shouting ‘Modi, Modi.” The rally took place in Bhopalgarh in the Pali parliamentary constituency, which will go to polls in the second phase on April 26.

Targeting the Congress, Shah said members of the party did not attend the Ayodhya Ram temple consecration ceremony as they were “afraid of the minority vote bank”. Referring to the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title suit, he said the case was kept in limbo for many years but when Narendra Modi was elected prime minister for the second time, the case was decided and the Ram temple constructed.

The BJP leader said after “500 years”, Ram Lalla celebrated his birthday (Ram Navami) at the new temple.

“When the Congress got the invitation for the Pran Pratishtha Mahotsav (consecration ceremony), they (the party’s leaders) did not go. They were afraid of their vote-bank, they are afraid of the minority vote-bank. We are not afraid,” he said.

Hitting out at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over the OBC (other backward classes) issue, Shah said it was the Congress that opposed the Mandal Commission report. Prime Minister Modi has worked to honour members of the backward classes and has given constitutional status to the Backward Classes Commission, he said.

The BJP leader said that “37 per cent of MPs are OBC, 27 (Union) ministers are OBC and the prime minister himself is an OBC”.

Referring to Modi’s terms as the chief minister of Gujarat and then prime minister, Shah said Modi has been working for the country without taking any holiday for the last 23 years, whereas Gandhi goes on vacation abroad every three months.

“There are two people, one is Modi who has been serving ‘Bharat Mata’ for 23 years without taking any holiday, and the other is Rahul Baba who goes on vacation to Thailand…abroad every three months,” he said.

“On one side, there is the Nehru-Gandhi family that ruled for 55 years and four generations, and on the other, Narendra Modi has brought crores of poor people out of poverty in 10 years. While the Congress has been involved in scams and corruption worth Rs 12 lakh crore, there is no allegation of corruption against Narendra Modi,” Shah said.

He also said that Prime Minister Modi was the biggest supporter of reservations for scheduled castes (SC) scheduled tribes (ST) and OBC.

“I am asked why do we (BJP-led NDA) have to get more than 400 seats. I tell you, be it OBC, SC or ST, Narendra Modi is the biggest supporter of reservations. Congress asks why the number of seats should cross 400, we crossed 300 and have abolished Article 370, made India’s economy the fifth largest, did the work of ‘one pension, one rank’, abolished triple talaq, worked to give 33 per cent reservation to women in the Lok Sabha and states assemblies, passed CAA and brought UCC,” Shah said.

He said that Modi has worked to protect the country and make it prosperous.

Shah appealed to voters to support BJP’s Pali candidate PP Chaudhary. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

A total of 102 seats across 21 states and Union Territories are going to polls in the first phase of Lok Sabha election today. These include all the 39 seats in politically significant Tamil Nadu and several in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Maharashtra. 

Here are some of the prominent leaders contesting in this phase: 

Nitin Gadkari (BJP): Nagpur

The country’s longest serving minister for road transport and highways, Nitin Gadkari is eyeing a hat-trick from Nagpur, which sent him to Lok Sabha in 2014 and 2019. Mr Gadkari’s work in expanding India’s road connectivity has drawn praise even from his political rivals. A former BJP national president, Mr Gadkari faces Congress’s Vikas Thakre in the high-profile seat. Mr Thakre is a former Nagpur mayor and sitting MLA from Nagpur West.

Union Minister Kiren Rijiju is the BJP’s candidate from Arunachal West, a seat he won in the 2014 and 2019 general elections. A former Law Minister, he currently holds the Earth Sciences and Food Processing Industries portfolios. Challenging him in Arunachal West this time is former Chief Minister and Congress candidate Nabam Tuki.

Among BJP’s most-watched candidates in this Lok Sabha election, K Annamalai is the party’s Tamil Nadu unit chief and has gained significant popularity through his articulation of the party’s stand on key issues. A former IPS officer, the 39-year-old quit the service in 2019 before his plunge in politics. An engineering graduate, he also holds an MBA from IIM-Lucknow. The DMK has fielded Ganapathi P Rajkumar to take on Mr Annamalai in Coimbatore. A former mayor of the city, Mr Rajkumar was earlier with AIADMK. He holds degrees in Arts and Law and a doctorate in journalism and mass communication.

Gaurav Gogoi, Congress, Jorhat

Among Congress’s prominent young faces, Gaurav Gogoi is a two-time MP from Assam’s Kaliabor and managed to win despite a BJP wave in the 2014 and 2019 polls. This time, he is contesting from Jorhat after the Kaliabor seat ceased to exist following delimitation. Once a Congress bastion, Jorhat was won by the BJP in the last two Lok Sabha elections. In fact, Mr Gogoi’s father and Assam’s former Chief Minister, late Tarun Gogoi, has also represented the seat twice. The BJP has retained its sitting MP, Topon Kumar Gogoi, in Jorhat.

Tamilisai Soundararajan, BJP, Chennai South

A BJP veteran who has served as its Tamil Nadu chief, Ms Soundararajan was named Telangana Governor in 2019 and also held the additional charge of Puducherry Lieutenant Governor. With the BJP pushing hard to emerge as a formidable force in Tamil Nadu, she has been brought back to the poll arena. A doctor by qualification, Ms Soundararajan has also taught in a Chennai medical college before her full-time stint in politics. She is up against sitting MP and DMK candidate Thamizhachi Thangapandian.

Nakul Nath, Congress, Chhindwara

Sitting MP from Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh, Nakul Nath is eyeing another win this time. The son of Congress veteran Kamal Nath, he is a businessman and among the richest MPs in the country. The Chhindwara seat has been represented as many as nine times by his father, who is campaigning extensively for him. The BJP has fielded Vivek Sahu to take on Mr Nath in the Congress stronghold. A prestige battle, the BJP is pushing hard to clinch Chhindwara this time.

K Kanimozhi, DMK, Thoothukkudi

A two-time Rajya Sabha MP, Ms Kanimozhi was elected to Lok Sabha in 2019. Among the most prominent voices of the Opposition in Parliament, she is also DMK’s key face in the national capital. In her maiden Lok Sabha contest, she had won the 2019 election with a margin of over 3 lakh votes, with the BJP’s Tamilisai Soundararajan finishing second. DMK chief and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin’s half-sister, Ms Kanimozhi is up against the AIADMK’s Sivasamy Velumani and SDR Vijayaseelan, the Tamil Manila Congress candidate backed by BJP.

Sarbananda Sonowal, BJP, Dibrugarh

Twenty years after he won the Dibrugarh Lok Sabha seat as an Asom Gana Parishad candidate, Sarbananda Sonowal is back, this time as the BJP’s poll pick. A Union Minister and a former Assam Chief Minister, Mr Sonowal is a sitting Rajya Sabha MP. He is up against Assam Jatiya Parishad’s Lurinjyoti Gogoi, who is backed by the INDIA bloc parties. Mr Gogoi, a prominent face of the anti-CAA agitation in Assam, started his political career as a student leader with All Assam Students’ Union, like his heavyweight opponent Mr Sonowal.

Jitin Prasada, BJP, Pilibhit

Two years after his switch to the BJP ahead of the 2022 Uttar Pradesh election, Jitin Prasada has got a poll pass for Pilibhit, where the BJP replaced sitting MP Varun Gandhi. Once a trusted aide of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Mr Prasada won in the 2004 and 2009 Lok Sabha polls, but faced defeats in the 2014 and the 2019 elections. Following his switch to the BJP, he was appointed a minister in the Yogi Adityanath government. The Brahmin leader is up against Samajwadi Party’s five-time MLA and former minister Bhagwat Saran Gangwar, who is also being backed by the Congress, and Bahujan Samaj Party’s Anis Ahmed Khan.

Karti Chidambaram, Congress, Sivaganga

Congress’s Karti Chidambaram will be looking to retain the Sivaganga seat in Tamil Nadu. The seat, won by him in the 2019 election, elected his father and former Home Minister P Chidambaram as many as seven times. Karti Chidambaram had suffered a crushing defeat in Sivaganga in 2014, finishing fourth, but made a strong comeback to win the seat in 2019. This time, the 46-year-old is up against AIADMK’s A Xavierdas and the BJP’s Devanathan Yadav T.

Guwahati:

Assam is all set to witness direct and triangular contests for the first of the three-phased Lok Sabha polls in five constituencies to decide the fate of 35 candidates, including that of Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal.

Polling will begin at 7 am and conclude at 5 pm in Dibrugarh, Jorhat, Kaziranga, Sonitpur and Lakhimpur.

A total electorate of 86,47,869, comprising 43,64,859 women who outnumber the 42,82,887 male voters, and 123 third genders, are eligible to exercise their franchise in 10,001 polling booths.

Voting will be held amid tight security, with 60 companies of security forces deployed across the five constituencies.

The BJP is contesting in all the five seats, the Congress in four and supporting the Assam Jatiya Parishad contestant in one, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in two and the All India Trinamool Congress and CPI(M) in one seat each.

A direct contest is on the cards between the BJP and Congress in Jorhat, Kaziranga and Lakhimpur while in Dibrugarh and Sonitpur, there is likely to be a triangular fight among the ruling party, Congress, AJP and AAP.

The prestigious Dibrugarh constituency has three candidates in fray with Union minister Sarbananda Sonowal, a Rajya Sabha MP, pitted against the United Opposition Forum, Assam candidate Lurinjyoti Gogoi of the AJP and Aam Aadmi Party’s Manoj Dhanowar.

In Jorhat, four candidates are in contention, with Lok Sabha’s Deputy Leader of the Opposition Gaurav Gogoi locked in a direct contest with sitting BJP MP Topon Gogoi.

Mr Gogoi had to shift his constituency to Jorhat from Kaliabor, which has been renamed as Kaziranga following a delimitation exercise in the state last year.

In Kaziranga, BJP’s Rajya Sabha MP Kamakhya Prasad Tasa is locked in a direct contest with former Congress MLA Roselina Tirkey, with both candidates belonging to the tea workers’ community.

Kaziranga has the highest number of 11 candidates in the fray.

In Sonitpur, also renamed from the earlier Tezpur after delimitation, there are eight nominees with a triangular contest likely between BJP MLA Ranjit Dutta, Congress candidate Prem Lal Ganju and AAP’s Rishiraj Kaundinya.

Lakhimpur has nine contestants, prominent among them being sitting BJP MP Pradan Baruah and Uday Shankar Hazarika of the Congress.

Assam Chief Electoral Officer Anurag Goel said all arrangements have been made for conducting the polls in a free, fair, safe and peaceful manner.

Live monitoring and webcasting will be available in all the 5,509 polling stations, as per the EC’s direction, he said.

Out of the 10,001 polling booths in the first phase, 92 are model polling stations, 11 are People with Disability (PwD)-managed ones and 752 are female-managed booths.

A total of 40,004 polling and presiding officers will be engaged, and Ballot Units (BUs), Control Unit (CUs) and VVPATs will be put to use.

Assured Minimum Facilities (AMF) like provision for drinking water, adequate furniture, waiting shed, toilet, lighting, creche for children, signage and ramps will be available at all the polling stations, officials said.

Besides, arrangements like transport facility for the elderly, assistance from volunteers and provision for wheelchairs have made at the booths.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)