Rahul Gandhi filed his nomination from Kerala’s Wayanad parliamentary constituency
STAFF REPORTER / AGENCIES
Filing of nominations for the third phase of Lok Sabha elections ended today. Scrutiny of nominations will take place tomorrow and the last date for withdrawal is April 8.
115 seats spread over 12 States and two Union Territories, will go to polls in this phase on the April 23rd.
All parliamentary constituencies of Gujarat, Goa, Kerala, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu will go to polls in the third phase. Besides this, voting in this phase will also take place for 14 seats each in Maharashtra and Karnataka, ten in Uttar Pradesh, seven in Chhattisgarh, six in Odisha, five each in Bihar and West Bengal, four in Assam, and one seat in Jammu and Kashmir.
The Congress today released another list of 12 candidates for Madhya Pradesh for the Lok Sabha elections. They include State Chief Minister Kamal Nath’s son Nakul Nath from Chhindwara, former State Congress President Arun Yadav from Khandwa and Rajya Sabha MP Vivek Tankha from Jabalpur. With this, the Party has so far announced candidates for 21 out of 29 Lok Sabha seats in the State.
The party also announced that Mr. Kamal Nath will be the party candidate from Chhindwara Assembly constituency in by-polls. This was necessitated as Kamal Nath was the Lok Sabha member before assuming the charge of Chief Minister.
Meanwhile, Congress President Rahul Gandhi filed his nomination from Kerala’s Wayanad parliamentary constituency at the district headquarters in Kalpetta today. Later, speaking at a roadshow in Wayanad, Mr Gandhi said, he has come to Kerala to send a message that India is one.
Later Addressing an election rally in Nagpur, Mr Gandhi proclaimed that Congress will ensure Minimum Income to farmers if voted to power.
Addressing a public meeting in Amethi, BJP leader Smriti Irani criticised Congress President Rahul Gandhi, saying his decision to contest from Wayanad Lok Sabha seat in Kerala was an insult to the people of Amethi.
In Gujarat, a number of candidates filed their nomination papers today. Polling for all 26 Lok Sabha seats will be held on 23rd of April.
In Assam, 38 nomination papers have been filed for the third phase covering four seats. 57 candidates filed nominations in Bihar for 5 seats and 15 candidates for two constituencies in Goa in this phase.
Meanwhile, Nishad Party leader and Gorakhpur MP Praveen Nishad has joined Bhartiya Janata Party in the presence of senior BJP leader JP Nadda in Delhi today. The Party will support the BJP in Uttar Pradesh. This comes after Nishad Party parted ways with the SP-BSP-RLD alliance last month.
In Rajasthan, the BJP today announced alliance with Rashtriya Loktantrik Party headed by MLA and former BJP leader Hanuman Beniwal. In a press Conference in Jaipur, senior BJP leader Prakash Javdekar said, Mr Beniwal will contest lok Sabha election from Nagaur as RLP candidate and BJP will contest on remaining 24 seats of the state.
In Uttar Pradesh, notices have been issued to all ten candidates, including RLD’s Ajit Singh and BJP’s Sanjeev Kumar Baliyan, for not providing accurate details of election expenditure in Muzaffarnagar. Expenditure Observer OP Choudhary said, all have been asked to clarify and produce facts within 48 hours.
Meanwhile, electioneering has intensified in the state. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath addressed election meetings in Bijnaur and Bulandshahar Parliamentary segments.