Of the 8,337 candidates contesting in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, as many as 1,644 have criminal cases registered against them, according to an analysis of the data shared by the poll rights body Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).

Among these candidates, 1,188 face serious criminal charges, including allegations related to murder, attempted murder, crimes against women and hate speech.

In phase 1, out of 1,618 candidates analysed, 252 have criminal cases and 161 serious criminal cases.

In the second phase, 1,192 candidates were analysed with 250 of them facing criminal charges and 167 serious criminal cases.

In phase 3, out of 1,352 candidates, 244 have criminal cases and 172 serious criminal cases.

Phase 4 had the highest number — of the 1,710 candidates analysed, 360 have criminal charges against them and 274 serious criminal charges.

Phase 5 included 695 candidates, of which 159 have criminal cases and 122 serious criminal cases.

In phase 6, out of 866 candidates analysed, 180 have criminal cases and 141 have serious criminal cases.

In phase 7, 199 out of 904 candidates face criminal charges and 151 have serious criminal cases against them.

Overall, affidavits of 8,337 candidates out of a total of 8,360 candidates were analysed by the ADR.

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

New Delhi:

The Election Commission on Thursday directed the Union home ministry to retain 25 companies of central forces in Andhra Pradesh even after counting of votes on June 4 following post-poll violence in the state as it conveyed its displeasure to the state chief secretary and the police chief over the incidents.

In a statement, the EC said “without mincing any words”, it directs the chief secretary and the director general of police to ensure that such violence is not repeated and all SPs to be tasked with take pre-emptive measures to avoid such a situation in future.

The poll authority had summoned chief secretary K S Jawahar Reddy and DGP Harish Gupta to Nirvanchan Sadan here to seek “personal explanation” over the incidents of violence reported on Monday and Tuesday.

“The Commission decided to direct the Ministry of Home Affairs to retain the 25 CAPF (central armed police force) companies in Andhra Pradesh for 15 days after counting, to control any violence after declaration of results,” the poll panel said.

It said the state government had requested that central forces be retained for 15 days post counting.

Post-poll violence was reported in parts of Andhra Pradesh on Monday and Tuesday where Lok Sabha and assembly polls were held simultaneously on Monday.

The leaders of the ruling YSRCP and opposition TDP have levelled allegations against each other for the incidents.

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

Srinagar:

A voter turnout of more than 36 per cent took place in the redrawn Srinagar Lok Sabha seat without any untoward incident on Monday, the highest since 1996 when the constituency in Jammu and Kashmir recorded nearly 41 per cent polling.

The Srinagar constituency recorded 36.58 per cent voting till 8 pm, the Election Commission of India said.

This was the first general election in the valley after the abrogation of Article 370 and the enactment of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, the EC said in a statement.

Voting took place in the districts of Srinagar, Ganderbal, and Pulwama, and partly in Budgam and Shopian districts at around 2,135 polling stations across the Srinagar parliamentary constituency with live webcasting at all the polling stations.

Polling started at 7 am with long queues of enthusiastic voters waiting to cast their votes, the statement said.

Voters of Srinagar, Budgam, Ganderbal, Pulwama, and Shopian showed up in record numbers to cast their votes in a show of faith and enthusiasm in the election process, it added.

According to the EC, the highest polling in this constituency in the last 34 years has been in 1996 when nearly 41 per cent voters used their franchise.

In 2019, 14.43 per cent votes polled whereas the figure in previous parliamentary elections stood at 25.86 per cent (2014), 25.55 (2009), 18.57 (2004), 11.93 (1999) and 30.06 per cent (1998), the statement said.

National Conference candidate Aga Ruhullah, PDP’s Wahid Para, JK Apni Party’s Ashraf Mir and DPAP’s Amit Bhat are among 24 candidates fighting from the Srinagar seat. In the 2019 general elections, only 12 candidates were in the fray from the seat.

The Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency was redrawn after the delimitation and parts of Budgam in central Kashmir were taken away from it, while Pulwama district and parts of Shopian district were added.

Polling and security personnel worked tirelessly to ensure that an atmosphere of calm, peace and festivities welcomed voters at the polling stations, the EC added.

More than 8,000 polling staff were on duty to cater to the over 17.47 lakh-strong electorate.

Command-and-Control centres have been working 24×7 in Srinagar as well as Jammu since March 16, the date of announcement of the general elections, to ensure free and fair elections, the EC said.

In order to ensure inclusive voting, polling stations managed by women, specially abled persons and youths were set up. There were 21 green and eco-friendly polling stations, it added.

The Commission has enabled Kashmiri migrant voters residing at various relief camps in Delhi, Jammu, and Udhampur to also have the option of voting in person at designated special polling stations or using postal ballot.

As many as 21 Special Polling Stations were established at Jammu, one at Udhampur and four at Delhi.

Planned, consistent and targeted interventions to promote voter awareness as part of SVEEP activities has contributed to the noteworthy rise in voter turnout, the EC said.

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

Leh:

What should have been a direct contest between the BJP and the Congress in the Ladakh Lok Sabha constituency is now a three-corner fight with an alliance of local groups fielding an Independent to challenge the national parties.

The seat, the largest in the country in terms of area (173.266 square kilometers), goes to polls on May 20 — the first major electoral battle in the region after it was carved out of Jammu and Kashmir and granted Union Territory status in 2019. While the BJP has fielded Tashi Gyalson, chief executive councilor-cum-chairman of the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (Leh), from the seat after dropping sitting MP Jamyang Tsering Namgyal, the Congress has nominated Tsering Namgyal as its candidate. Springing a surprise, the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA) fielded Haji Haneefa Jan, the Kargil district president of the National Conference (NC), which like the Congress is a constituent of the INDIA bloc.

The Congress has won the seat for the highest number of times — six — and had fielded Tsering Namgyal, the leader of opposition in the LAHDC, according to an agreement with the NC, as they were members of the INDIA bloc and the Leh Apex Body (LAB).

It was the LAB and the KDA that were spearheading the agitation in support of various demands of the Ladhaki people, including statehood and sixth schedule of the Constitution, for the past four years. But it hit a block in March after the BJP-led Centre did not agree with the demands.

However, now with the KDA fielding Jan, the challenges for the Congress as well as the BJP has increased in this seat that has more than 1.84 lakh voters — a majority (95,926) in Muslim-dominated Kargil district and 88,877 in Leh district. The resentment against the BJP over its government at the Centre not fulfilling the demands is palpable and the party, which is eyeing a third consecutive term from Ladakh, has rushed Union Minister Kiren Rijiju to handle the situation. He arrived in the Union Territory (UT) on Saturday.

The agitation had intensified on March 6 with Leh observing a complete shutdown followed by a 66-day hunger strike which was suspended three days ago in view of the Lok Sabha elections. Renowned educationist and social reformer Sonam Wangchuk, who was also part of it, ended his 21-day hunger strike on March 26.

Talking to reporters after arriving here on Saturday, Kiren Rijiju said, “…all the big demands of the people can only be fulfilled by the central government. I have come here to convey the message that any pending issue will be resolved by the (Narendra) Modi government alone.” Seeking cooperation and support of the people of Ladakh, Kiren Rijiju said it is imperative for the BJP to win the seat because “if we lose the elections, we will be sad after doing so much for the region over the years, including fulfilling the dream of UT status”. He said it is the right of the people to raise their issues and “it is our responsibility to safeguard the future of Ladakh which is a very sensitive and fragile region having distinct culture, traditional practices, customs and language…”.

Thupstan Chhewang won the seat for the BJP for the first time in 2014. However, he resigned from the party’s basic membership in 2018 and is currently heading the LAB.

The BJP managed to retain the seat in 2019 with Jamyang Tsering Namgyal, who was denied the ticket by the party this time and who openly revolted against the decision. However, he joined the campaigning for Gyalson after being persuaded by the BJP leadership.

Trouble for the Congress candidate started when the KDA unanimously decided to field Jan as an Independent and also persuaded two others, who were contesting as Independents, to withdraw their candidature in his support.

The entire NC unit of Kargil resigned from the party on May 6 to revolt against the its leadership for “putting pressure” on them to support INDIA bloc candidate Tsering Namgyal instead of Jan. The NC has won the seat twice in the past, while independents have won it thrice.

After attaining UT status, Ladakh witnessed elections to both Leh and Kargil chapters of the LAHDC in October 2020 and 2023, respectively.

While the BJP retained power in the Leh hill council elections by winning 15 seats — five short of its 2015 election tally, the Congress increased its tally from six to nine seats while two seats went to Independents.

In the Kargil hill council elections, the NC-Congress combine won 22 seats against two by the BJP and two by Independents. The NC on its own got 12 seats and the Congress 10.

Amid intensified Lok Sabha poll campaigning, which also saw several BJP leaders, including national general secretary Tarun Chugh, reaching out to the voters, Gyalson had said his primary focus will be resumption of dialogue between the Centre and the Ladakh leadership for resolution of “pending issues”.

“My primary focus will be resumption of stalled dialogue (between the Ladakh leadership and central government). I don’t believe that the dialogue is derailed but because of the Model Code of Conduct, no headway has taken place. Once the new government is in place, I am sure about the resumption of the dialogue,” he had said.

Congress candidate Tsering Namgyal said his party has taken a historic decision to include granting sixth schedule to Ladakh in its manifesto.

“We support the four-point demand of the LAB and the KDA and we will forcefully raise the demands within and outside Parliament to fulfill the aspirations of the people,” he said. 

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

Kolkata:

Two days before the May 13 Lok Sabha elections at Ranaghat in West Bengal’s Nadia district, Swastika Maheshwari, the wife of Trinamool Congress candidate Mukut Mani Adhikari, joined the BJP on Saturday.

Swastika Maheshwari, who is already contesting a divorce suit against her husband, joined the BJP at a party rally at Ranaghat in the presence of megastar and BJP leader Mithun Chakraborty.

“Anyone voting for Mukut Mani Adhikari will be cheated exactly like me,” she said.

The development comes as a major embarrassment concerning Mukut Mani Adhikari, against whom Swastika Maheswari filed a complaint just a few days after their marriage last year accusing him of cruelty against her.

Mukut Mani Adhikari’s nomination as Trinamool Congress candidate has been marred with controversy. He was elected as a BJP legislator in the 2021 West Bengal assembly elections from the Ranaghat-Dakshin constituency, one of the seven under the Ranaghat Lok Sabha.

Earlier this year, he joined Trinamool Congress. However, his name was announced as a Trinamool Congress candidate from Ranaghat before he resigned as a BJP legislator. As the BJP started making an issue of it, he finally resigned from the state assembly as a member last month.

Till the time this report was filed, there was no reaction from Mukut Mani Adhikari.

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