Updated – May 26, 2024 06:38 am IST

Published – May 26, 2024 06:36 am IST

A child holds a placard depicting PM Modi and BJP election symbol during a public meeting addressed by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for Lok Sabha polls, in Varanasi.
| Photo Credit:
PTI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address election meetings in Mirzapur, Ghosi and Bansgaon in Uttar Pradesh today (May 26, 2024). Union Home Minister Amit Shah is set to address three rallies – two in Bihar and one in Punjab. BJP chief J. P. Nadda is scheduled to address three rallies in Jehanabad, Bhojpur and Nalanda in Bihar. Meanwhile, the Congress has turned its attention to Himachal Pradesh, with Rahul Gandhi set to address two rallies today. Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge addressed a rally in Rohru, Himachal Pradesh, yesterday.

Also Read: China encroached on our land but PM Modi is silent: Mallikarjun Kharge

Tthe sixth phase of the General Elections 2024 on Saturday saw 59% voter turnout in 58 constituencies across six States and two Union Territories. Jangal Mahal region in West Bengal saw 78.09% polling. Jharkhand recorded a turnout of 62.74%, Uttar Pradesh 54.03%, Bihar 53.30%, Jammu and Kashmir 52.28%, Haryana 58.37%, Odisha 60.07% and Delhi 54.48%, according to the figures released by the Election Commission as of 7.45 p.m. yesterday.

Also Read: Highlights from the sixth phase of polling

The EC also came out yesterday with constituency-wise data on the number of votes cast in the first five phases of the elections. The EC said it has decided to further expand the format of the turnout data to include the absolute number of voters in every constituency.

Also Read: EC releases data on number of votes cast in first 5 phases of Lok Sabha polls

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New Delhi:

Sixteenth Finance Commission Chairman Arvind Panagariya on Saturday cast his first vote in the national capital.

“Most likely, I have the distinction of being the oldest first-time voter at my polling booth. Real proud of it!!,” Panagariya said in a post on X.

Most likely, I have the distinction of being the oldest first-time voter at my polling booth. Real proud of it!! pic.twitter.com/UvmQ6FWJZI

— Arvind Panagariya (@APanagariya) May 25, 2024

Mr Panagariya, at 71, had on Friday said he was excited to cast his first-ever vote.

Mr Panagariya is a Professor of Economics and the Jagdish Bhagwati Professor of Indian Political Economy at Columbia University. He was appointed the chairman of the 16th Finance Commission on December 31 last year

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

Kolkata:

The BJP’s Lok Sabha candidate from Jhargram had to run away from the Mangalapota area of ​​Garbeta in West Midnapore district as stones were thrown at him and his security personnel during the sixth phase of polling on Saturday. 

Dramatic visuals showed security personnel carrying shields trying to protect the candidate, Pranat Tudu, as some people chase after him and a large stone hits a person just centimetres away. As a few more stones rained down around them, the candidate, security officers and some media personnel can be seen making a run for it. 

While Mr Tudu has blamed “Trinamool Congress (TMC) goons” for the incident and claimed two of his security personnel suffered head injuries and had to be hospitalised, the ruling party in Bengal said his security officers assaulted a woman while she was waiting in line to cast her vote outside a polling booth. This, they said, triggered a protest. 

In a post on X, the BJP’s Bengal co-incharge, Amit Malviya, also blamed the TMC for the attack and claimed that people are voting to “kick out” Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s party.

Mamata Banerjee is murdering democracy in Bengal. Now, TMC goons attack BJP’s Jhargram (a Tribal seat) candidate and ABP Ananda’s crew. Despite attempts to preclude people from casting vote, West Bengal has one of the highest voter turnout across the country. People are voting to… pic.twitter.com/ZMdTPhxiYw

— Amit Malviya (मोदी का परिवार) (@amitmalviya) May 25, 2024

‘Threw Bricks’

According to the BJP, Mr Tudu was on his way to some polling booths in Garpeta after receiving reports that the party’s agents were not being allowed inside. 

“All of a sudden, TMC goons who had blocked the roads started hurling bricks at my car. When my security personnel tried to intervene, they were injured. Two CISF jawans accompanying me received head injuries and had to be hospitalised,” Mr Tudu was quoted as saying by news agency PTI. 

The TMC, however, claimed Mr Tudu’s security personnel attacked a woman who was waiting in line to vote. “The villagers got enraged and staged a protest,” a party leader said. 

Vehicles being used by media personnel were also vandalised by the crowd. A police team has been sent to the area to control the situation, the PTI report said. 

The Jhargram Lok Sabha constituency was one of 18 won by the BJP in West Bengal in 2019, up from only two in the general elections before that. The BJP candidate in 2019, Kunar Hembram, had beaten the Trinamool pick, Birbaha Saren, by a margin of only about 12,000 votes.

The contest this time is between Mr Tudu, Kalipada Soren of the Trinamool Congress and Sonamamu Murmu (Tudu) of the CPM.