QAhmedabad: Curtain Comes Down on Poll Campaign & More

Candidates from a dozen smaller outfits and more than 180 independent candidates are also in the running in Gujarat.

1. Gujarat: Curtain Comes Down on Poll Campaign, Over to 23 April

Campaigning for elections to the 26 Lok Sabha seats in the state, which are among the 115 seats that go to polls on Tuesday, 23 April culminated on Sunday 21, April. The last day of the low-key campaign saw prime minister Narendra Modi addressing a public meeting in Patan, and BJP president Amit Shah holding a roadshow in Sanand.

More than 4.50 crore registered voters in the state will decide the fate of 371 candidates, who are in the fray for the 26 Lok Sabha seats. Besides BJP and Congress, which are engaged in a direct battle in all seats, candidates of dozens of smaller outfits, and more than 180 independent candidates, are also in the running.

"The campaigning for the Gujarat Lok Sabha elections ended at 6:00 pm today, and the 48-hour silent period till the end of polling began," state's chief electoral officer S Murali Krishna, told reporters.

(Source: DNA Ahmedabad)

2. Warned Pak of Action If Pilot Did Not Return: PM Narendra Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday, 23 April said he had warned Pakistan of consequences if it did not return Indian Air Force pilot Abhinandan Varthaman.

Addressing a poll rally at Patan on the last day of campaigning, Modi asserted his government's commitment towards national security. He said that it was because of his government's tough stand that Pakistan was forced to release Wing Commander Varthaman.

"Our message was very clear. Our soldier should not be harmed. He should be released immediately. Even America had warned that India was planning something big, and had readied 12 missiles towards Pakistan. It would have been 'qatal ni raat' if Pakistan had not announced his release," PM Modi said.

(Source: DNA Ahmedabad)

3. 'Vande Mataram' Resonates in Amit Shah's Sanand Roadshow

BJP president Amit Shah, who is contesting the Lok Sabha elections from Gandhinagar seat, held a roadshow in Sanand town on Sunday, hours before campaigning for the 23 April elections came to an end.

Education minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama, state BJP president Jitu Vaghani, minister Kunvarji Bavaliya, and hundreds of party leaders and workers, accompanied Shah for what was his third roadshow in his maiden Lok Sabha election bid.

Shah had held a massive roadshow in Ahmedabad on the day of filing his nomination, and another one in Kalol town of Gandhinagar last Sunday, 14 April.

(Source: DNA Ahmedabad)

4. Gujarat: 11 of 45 Candidates in Bypolls Are Crorepatis

An analysis of the 45 candidates contesting elections for the assembly by-polls in Gujarat has shown that 24 per cent of all the contesting candidates are crorepatis. 11 of the 45 contesting candidates have assets or income above Rs 1 crore. Interestingly, none of them are women.

The details were made available following an analysis of the affidavits of the candidates for the four Assembly seats of Unjha Dhrangadhra, Jamnagar and Manavadar by the Association for Democratic Reforms.

The richest of all the candidates is the one from BJP who is contesting the Manavadar seat who has has assets of Rs 63 crore. BJP's Dhrangadhra candidate is the second richest with assets worth Rs 45 crore followed by the independent candidate from Unjha who has assets worth Rs 10.81 crore.

(Source: DNA Ahmedabad)

5. Guj Cong Starts Process to Get Thakor Expelled as MLA: Chavda

The Congress has begun the process to get disgruntled leader Alpesh Thakor expelled as an MLA for anti-party activities, Gujarat unit chief Amit Chavda said Sunday, 21 April.

Thakor, a prominent OBC leader who was elected from Radhanpur seat on a Congress ticket in 2017 Assembly polls, had resigned from all party posts on 10 April claiming he and his Thakor community had received insults and betrayal at the hands of the Congress.

However, Thakor, who heads community outfit Thakor Sena, is yet to resign from the primary membership of the Congress nor has he quit the Assembly.

(Source: Business Standard)

6. Implement Schedule V of Constitution, Demands BTP Chief

Bharatiya Tribal Party chief Chhotu Vasava on Sunday, 21 April, said Schedule V of the Constitution, which allows certain areas with a preponderance of tribal population to be declared as "scheduled areas", should be implemented across the country.

He said it would allow tribals to have rights to their own lands, especially when they are getting displaced in large numbers due to various projects.

"During the construction of Sardar Sarovar Dam on the Narmada river, tribals from 526 villages were evacuated. Similarly during the building of the Sardar Patel Memorial at Kevadiya, tribals from 72 villages lost their land. Is it justified," he told PTI.

"Tribals are the real inhabitants of this land and they are being made migrants in the name of development," he claimed.

(Source: PTI)