Election Tracker LIVE: The grand alliance of opposition parties in Bihar announced candidates for all the 40 seats in the state today, with the Rashtriya Janata Dal contesting from 20 seats in the state and Congress agreeing to fight on only nine.
The Congress has had to scale down its demands considerably in the state, as it had initially demanded 15 seats in the state, then agreed to 11 and has finally decided on nine. The alliance also has the Upendra Khushwaha’s RLD contesting on five seats, VIP party contesting on three seats and Hindustani Awami Morcha also getting three seats. The seat-sharing deal agreed by the alliance partners would also see the RJD give one seat from its own kitty to the CPI(M).
Meanwhile, contents of the ‘Yeddy Diaries’ published by Caravan magazine have added a new twist to the poll drama, with the Congress citing the report to claim that BS Yeddyurappa made payoffs amounting to Rs 1,800 crore to top BJP leaders. “Yeddyurappa recorded these alleged payouts in a Karnataka state assembly legislator’s 2009 diary, in Kannada, in his own hand….
The copies of the diary pages note that Yeddyurappa paid the BJP Central Committee Rs 1,000 crore; that he paid the finance minister Arun Jaitley and the transport minister Nitin Gadkari Rs 150 crore each; that he gave the home minister Rajnath Singh Rs 100 crore; and that he paid the BJP stalwart LK Advani and the senior party leader Murli Manohar Joshi Rs 50 crore each. Besides this, the entry notes, Yeddyurappa paid Rs 10 crore for ‘Gadkari’s son’s marriage’,” the Caravan report says.
Meanwhile, former international cricketer Gautam Gambhir joined the BJP today and is expected to be fielded by the party in the Lok Sabha polls from one of the seats in the national capital. The former opening batsman joined the party in New Delhi in the presence of Union ministers Arun Jaitley and Ravi Shankar Prasad.
The BJP took a dig at Congress after it deferred its press briefing. The grand old party was scheduled to address the media around 10 am, however, it later said that the press conference would be held in the afternoon. Slamming the Congress, BJP said that it seems that Rahul Gandhi is unable to wake up in the morning.
On the other hand, South Indian film star Prakash Raj will file his nomination from Bengaluru Central as an independent candidate today. He had recently announced his Lok Sabha debut on Twitter.
In the run up to Karnataka assembly election, the actor had extensively campaigned against the BJP, while not identifying himself with any political party. Bengaluru Central is currently represented in the Lok Sabha by PC Mohan of the BJP. If Raj manages to win the seat, he would be scripting history of sorts as the last time an independent candidate won a Lok Sabha election in the state was Dinakara Desai (D D Dattatreya) from the Kanara constituency of the erstwhile Mysore state in 1967. He was preceded by another independent Sugandhi Murugappa Siddappa, who won from Bijapur North in 1957.
From 1951, when free India’s first general election was held, to the last one held in 2014, a total of 2,337 independents have contested the polls in Karnataka. That only two have won thus far shows that Karnataka’s electorate has not been kind to independents.
Another popular face in the fray is Sumalatha, the wife of late actor-turned-politician Ambareesh. She is contesting as an independent candidate from the Mandya Lok Sabha seat. Sumalatha will be up against Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy’s son Nikhil, after the Congress denied her the ticket as the Mandya seat had been conceded to the JD(S).
Meanwhile, TTV Dinakaran’s AMMK released its second list of candidates. Disqualified MLA Thanga Tamilselvan has been fielded against O Panneerselvam’s son OP Ravindranath Kumar in Theni constituency.
Meanwhile, it has come to light that Raj has been booked by elections officials for allegedly violating the model code of conduct. The Hindu reported that Murthy D, an officer with the flying squad, said in his complaint that the actor had used a mic and campaigned at a public meeting near Mahatma Gandhi Circle on MG Road on March 12. The programme was organised under the banner, Media and Freedom of Expression, and was not a political event, he told the police.
Several writers, artists and activists who attended the programme claimed that the actor began to canvas for votes. A few attendees recorded his speech on their mobile phones and forwarded it to the officials, the report stated. By the time the flying squad reached the spot, the programme got completed and people had dispersed.
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