Former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi died at the age of 72 on Monday. In April of this year, Sushil Kumar Modi revealed that he was suffering with illness and that, as a result, he would not contest for the Lok Sabha in 2024.

A close friend of former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi, Union Minister Ashwini Choubey, broke down in tears as he paid tribute to the deceased. He conveyed his profound sorrow, saying he has lost a brother.

Choubey said on Tuesday in a self-made video, Sushil Kumar Modi ji was just not his friend, he was his family. He has lost his brother today, he said. Choubey also said,  Sushil Modi was constantly by his side, encouraging him and offering advice when he needed it. Choubey used to chastise him too sometimes, but he never seemed to mind. Ashwini Choubey said he never would have thought that Ihe would also have to witness this day.

Speaking about Sushil Modi, Aswhini Choubey further said, he was an exceptionally courteous leader. He used to tell him, Choubey ji, yeh mujhe lagta hai ki daat diya uss aadmi ko, whenever he was upset with someone. Choubey said he has never known a politician who was more committed to his party, the BJP, than this one. He was once a computer that picked up knowledge quickly. He used to retain every piece of information, much like a computer. Choubey said,  he was knowledgeable in every discipline.

Meanwhile, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar also conveyed his sorrow at the passing of the former deputy chief minister.

The mortal remains of Sushil Modi will be brought from Delhi to Patna by a special plane and his funeral will be conducted with state honours. The Chief Minister’s Office reported that CM consoled his wife Jessie George by speaking with her on the phone.

From 2005 until 2013 and again from 2017 to 2020, Sushil Modi served as Bihar’s deputy chief minister.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered prayers at Dashashwamedh Ghat on the banks of the Ganga river in Varanasi before filling his nomination from the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat on Tuesday in Uttar Pradesh. Today also marks the auspicious day of Ganga Saptami and the prime minister also participated in prayers and performed the Ganga Aarti at the Ghat.

PM Modi is the sitting MP and BJP’s candiatate and will file his nomination papers from the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, from where he has secured wins with large margins for the last 2 terms. PM Modi will also offer prayers at Kal Bhairav Temple before filing his nomination.

The prime minister is seeking a 3rd term and hoping for a record margin. Varanasi goes in for elections on June 1 in the last phase of the Lok sabha elections. Security has been tightened outside the office of the District Magistrate in Varanasi ahead of PM Modi’s nomination.

Ahead of the nomination, BJP took to X and posted in hindi on X that the temple town of Kashi is once again ready to send its servant (PM Modi) to the Parliament. PM Modi said that he had neither come here nor has anyone sent him here, Maa Ganga had called him. This relationship between Kashi, Kashi residents and the Chief Servant is one of development, trust and affection. Kashi is once again ready to send its beloved chief servant to the parliament by winning him with record votes.

The prime minister also posted on X about his association with the city. He wrote that his relationship with Kashi is amazing, inseparable and incomparable. All he could say is that it cannot be expressed in words! Voting in Varanasi will take place on 1st June in the last phase of the Lok Sabha elections.

The Hyderabad police on Monday registered an FIR against Madhavi Latha, BJP’s Hyderabad constituency candidate, for allegedly trespassing into a polling booth and asking some Muslim women voters to remove their burqa for identity check.

Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation commissioner, Ronald Rose, who is also the returning officer for Hyderabad Lok Sabha constituency directed the Malakpet police to register an FIR against Madhavi Latha under Sections 186 (voluntarily obstructing a public servant from discharging of duties), 171C (voluntarily interfering in the exercise of electoral right) and, besides Section 132 of the Representation of the People Act, 505 (1)(c) (circulation of a statement with an intent to incite a class or community of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Earlier during the day, the BJP candidate visited a polling booth (No. 122) at Azampura in Malakpet assembly segment and started asking the Muslim women voters about their identity. A video of Madhavi Latha asking the Muslim women voters to remove their veil to disclose their identity has gone viral and is circulating on social media platforms. She was trying to verify if the faces of the women voters matched the photos on their voter ID Cards.

Madhavi Latha took to her social media handle on X and posted  that there were many discrepancies in the voters’ list and as a result, she came there to verify the same. The Police officers stationed at the polling booth seemed very dull, they were not at all active. She added that they were not checking anything.

She said senior citizen voters were coming here but their names had been deleted from the list. She also pointed out that a few of them are residents of Goshamahal but their names are in the list of Rangareddy. Madhavi Latha defended her decision and told the media that there was nothing wrong in her move to ask some women voters to verify their identity.