Ahead of the upcoming general elections, the Union Home Minister Amit Shah submitted his nomination today from Gandhinagar Lok Sabha constituency. During his nomination, Gujarat Chief Minister Bhuperndra Patel accompained him.

Former deputy prime minister and BJP chief LK Advani, who earlier served as a representative of this seat during Shah’s successful run for re-election.

Soon after filing nomination, Shah said, today he has submitted his nomination from the Gandhinagar seat. He said it is a matter of pride for him that this seat was represented by the former Prime Minister  Atal Bihari Vajpayee, LK Advani and the seat where Narendra Modi himself is a voter. He also said he has been an MLA and MP from this seat for 30 years. The people of this region have given him immense love, Shah said.

With an astounding vote share of 69.67 percent in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Shah maintained the BJP’s stronghold in Gandhinagar with a resounding victory. Election turnout has been consistently high in the city.

In the context of Indian politics, Gandhinagar is a historical landmark. The former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, won seats from Gandhinagar and Lucknow in the 1996 Lok Sabha elections. However, he decided to stay to his Lucknow seat, opening the door for other leaders to set their mark in Gandhinagar.

Meanwhile, Congress has fielded its party secretary Sonal Patel from Gandhinagar.

Gujarat is scheduled to go for a single phase of elections on May 7. The results of the election will be announced on June 4.

Tamil Nadu BJP chief and party candidate from Coimbatore seat K Annamalai said the time of Dravidian politics is over and also accused the ruling DMK and AIADMK of spending Rs 1,000 crore in Coimbatore to influence voters. Annamalai made the statement after casting his vote at Uthupatti polling booth in Karur village on Friday.

He expressed his confidence of a historic result for the NDA on June 4, the IPS officer-turned-politician said the BJP will see a rise in its vote share in Tamil Nadu. Annamalai further added people of Tamil Nadu are with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.  

He said in the state of Karnataka the party is expecting a clean sweep this time. The State BJP chief said the BJP will be the number 1 party in Telangana. He said he was confident that Tamil Nadu will deliver a very big resounding result this time. He said there will be a rise in BJP’s vote share in the state and time of Dravidian politics is over.

In Coimbatore, K Annamalai is contesting the election from Coimbatore and is facing DMK’s Ganapathy P Rajkumar and AIADMK’s Singai Ramachandran. All 39 seats in Tamil Nadu will go for voting in the first phase. K Annamalai spoke to the media after casting his vote and accused the ruling DMK and AIADMK of spending more than Rs 1,000 crore in Coimbatore to influence the voters.

He said if the ruling DMK and AIADMK can bring 1 voter in front of the media to say that BJP is trying to influence them, then he will leave politics the same day because he is running in this election as a matter of principle. The elections to the state of Tamil Nadu will be closely monitored as the state has been at the centre of the BJP’s southern push in order to realise Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 400 paar goal.

People from all walks of life have come together to participate in the biggest festival of democracy as the Lok Sabha elections for the first phase have begun. Voters of all ages, including first-time voters, exercised their right to vote during the first phase of the election. A bride and groom appeared at the booth to cast their votes in an unusual incident that took place in Udhampur, Jammu and Kashmir.

The video of the couple is now going viral on the internet. Netizens are praising them for exercising their right. A user said these couples are inspiration to many. Another congratulated them and said they had set an example in the society.

Meanwhile, the Udhampur Lok Sabha constituency, which is comprised of the five districts of Udhampur, Kathua, Ramban, Doda, and Kishtwar, began polling at 7 a.m. despite bad weather.

In a simillar incident, Kapil Gupta married on Thursday and shortly after returned home on Friday morning, he cast his vote at a polling booth that was put up on the premises of the Jammu and Kashmir Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes & Backward Classes Development Corporation Limited in Udhampur town.

He urged people to cast their ballots in big numbers, saying, voting is our right and must be done on priority.

Sahil and Radhika, another recently-wed couple, showed up at an election booth set up at an Udhampur school dressed as bride and groom.

The bride said, on Thursday, the day when they got married, she suggested to to her husband that they will go for voting. Although her vote was not there but she accompanied her husband to the polling booth.

She continued saying that she will be visiting her parents later in the day, which is in a nearby village to fulfil her democratic right as well.

In Jammu and Kashmir’s Udhampur-Kathua, voting is presently underway. However, despite of bad weather, people are going to polling boot to cast their vote. Voting is scheduled to end at 6 pm.