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Polling in the second and final phase in Gujarat will be conducted for 93 Assembly constituencies ac

Polling in the second and final phase in Gujarat will be conducted for 93 Assembly constituencies across 14 districts of north and central Gujarat today. As many as 833 candidates from 61 parties are in the fray in the second phase of the Gujarat elections whose fate will be decided by over 2.51 crore electorates.

In Uttar Pradesh, Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat, Khatauli and Rampur Assembly Constituencies go to polls today. A direct contest between the BJP and Samajwadi Party-Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) alliance is on the cards in the bypolls to one Lok Sabha and two Assembly constituencies in Uttar Pradesh. In Bihar, the Kurhani assembly seat goes to polls with 13 candidates are in the fray, and their fates will be decided by 3,11,728 voters. In Chhattisgarh, Bhanupratappur Assembly constituency, and in Rajasthan, Sardarshahar Assembly seat go to polls today. Padampur Assembly segment in Odisha will also witness polling today. The bypoll assumes significance in the wake of the BJD’s loss in Dhamnagar, it’s first such defeat since 2009, with many in political circles claiming that the result would also indicate if electoral scales were tilting against the Naveen Patnaik-led party ahead of 2024 state elections.

Presidents of nearly 40 parties have been invited to the meeting by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi where Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be present. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is also likely to attend the meeting at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress president Mamata Banerjee, who will arrive in Delhi on Monday, will be part of the all-party meeting.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate a two-day national office-bearers meeting of the BJP on Monday, which will lay down the party’s political agenda as it readies for the next round of state polls and the all-important Lok Sabha elections in 2024. Besides the national office bearers, presidents and general secretaries (organisation) of the party’s state units will also attend the meeting chaired by JP Nadda.

According to the official plan, Rahul Gandhi will start the Rajasthan leg of yatra on Monday at 6 am from Kali Talai. He will reach the Bali Borda chauraha at 10 am after covering a distance of 14 km. After lunch, the yatra will resume from Nahardi at 3.30 pm and will reach Chandrabhaga Chauraha at 6.30 pm.

The DDC elections took place in Jammu and Kashmir in December 2020. However, the counting of votes was withheld in these two seats -- Drugmulla in Kupwara and Hajin-A in Bandipora -- due to the disputed qualification of two candidates. Later, the state election commission (SEC) declared the polling to these constituencies as void, cancelling the candidature of Soomia Sadaf and Shazia Aslam, citing wrong information about the place of birth by the PoK-origin candidates. All the arrangements for the re-poll have been put in place, the officials said. They said the polling will take place between 7 am and 2 pm at 42 polling stations in Drugmulla and at 57 polling stations in Hajin.

Protesters seeking to maintain their challenge to Iran’s clerical rulers have called for a three-day economic strike and a rally to Tehran’s Azadi (Freedom) Square, according to individual posts shared on Twitter by accounts unverified by Reuters. Residents posting on social media and newspapers such as Shargh daily say there have been fewer sightings of the morality police on the streets in recent weeks as authorities apparently try to avoid provoking more protests.