Union Minister Smriti Irani took a swipe at Rahul Gandhi on Saturday during a rally in Uttar Pradesh’s Amethi. While addressing the public rally, Irani said Rahul Gandhi spoke about his relations in Amethi and then he went to Wayanad where he declared the Kerala seat as his home as he filed for his nomination for the Lok Sabha elections.

Smriti Irani, who will be contesting her Amethi seat yet again, criticised the Rahul Gandhi for changing his families and said they have seen people changing colours, but for the first time changing families is being witnessed. The Union minister urged the people of Amethi to cast their votes on May 20, the day when Amethi goes for elections. She talked about the benefits of voting for BJP and said, the poor will get free ration for five years, farmers will get Rs 6,000 every month, and will get Rs 5 lakh every year under the Ayushman Bharat scheme.

Irani further added that Congress on the other hand has declared that it will calculate the wealth of the people if voted to power. She took a swipe over Congress candidates and said the grand old party is yet to announce its candidates for two key constituencies in Uttar Pradesh – Amethi and Raebareli, which have historically been the Congress’s stronghold.  The BJP leader said that now that the polling in Wayanad has concluded, the Congress candidate will arrive in Amethi, but will first visit the Ram Temple.

She slammed Congress for rejecting the invitation to the Ram Temple Pran Pratishtha and said they rejected the invitation to the Ram temple Pran Pratishtha, now they will go to the Ram temple as they believe that this will get them votes in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections which means now they will go to the extent of betraying god as well.

Bengaluru South sitting MP and BJP’s candidate from the same seat Tejasvi Surya was reported to the chief election officer of Karnataka for uploading a video on X in which he asked for votes based on religion.

Karnataka Chief Election Officer tweeted on Friday during polling in the crucial seat where Tejasvi Surya MP is running against Congress’s Sowmya Reddy. He tweeted, case is booked against Tejasvi Surya MP and Candidate of Bengaluru South PC on 25.04.24 at Jayanagar PS u/s 123(3) for posting a video in ‘X’ handle and soliciting votes on the ground of religion.

Tejasvi urged people to cast votes and utilize their right to do so on multiple occasions. He released the last video at 2:00 PM, mentioning Ram Mandir in addition to border security and Article 370 in his plea to make the most of the final four hours of voting.

Earlier, Tejasvi gave an 80%–20% parallel to implore BJP supporters to turn out in large numbers at the polls. Only 20% of the BJP’s 80% voter base actually turned up to vote. C ongress’ voters are 20 % but they come out and vote 80%.  He added, in most circumstances, this is the actual situation at the polls. Telling the impportance of vote he said that every votes counts. He also urged to vote and added if you don’t, then 20% of Congress will undoubtedly be doing so.

Meanwhile, Karnataka recorded 50.93% voter turnout till 3pm, with Bengaluru South recording 40.77%. Up till 3 pm, Udupi Chikmagalur had the highest turnout (57.49%), Hassan had the next highest percentage at 55.92%, Dakshina Kannada at 58.76%, Chitradurga at 52.14%, Tumkur at 56.62%, Mandya at 57.44%, Mysore at 53.55%, Chamarajanagar at 54.82%, Bangalore Rural at 49.62%, Bangalore North at 41.12%, Bangalore Central at 40.10%, Bangalore South at 40.775, Chikkballapur 55.90%, and Kolar 54.66%.

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge wrote Prime Minister Narendra Modi a letter on Thursday, requesting an explanation of the ancient party’s Nyay Patra.

In support of the Congress manifesto, Kharge said that the Nyay Patra aims to give justice to marginalised people from all castes and communities, including women, children, farmers, and labourers.

The Congrss president said, PM’s  advisors are misrepresenting things to him that aren’t even included in our manifesto. Kharge said, he would be more than happy to meet with him in person to explain thehir Nyay Patra’ so that, as prime minister of the country, he dosen’t make any statements that are false.

It has become his  habit to seize on a few words taken out of context, create communal divide, Kharge added.

The Congress leader said that he is neither shocked nor surprised by the language used by the prime minister, in reference to Modi’s recent addresses.

It was expected that the PM and other leaders from his party would start speaking in this manner after he saw the dismal performance of the BJP in the first phase of the elections, he continued.

The impoverished and their rights have been a topic of discussion in Congress (nyay). We know that you and your administration do not care about the underprivileged and destitute, he remarked.

Continuing his attack on the prime minister, Kharge said, PM’s ‘suit-boot ki sarkar’ works for the corporates whose taxes you reduced while the salaried class pays higher taxes. The poor pay GST even on food and salt and the rich corporate claim GST refunds. That is why, when we talk of inequality between the rich and the poor, you are purposely equating it with Hindu and Muslim.

Following the criticisms made by the prime ministers in their recent election speeches, Kharge has responded. Modi has not held back when criticizing the main opposition party at his rallies, accusing them of scheming to redistributing assets and referring to the Congress manifesto as a “imprint of the Muslim League.