Phase 6... At least 27 killed...

The total number of complaints during the day by different political parties and voters was 2,100 through different mediums of the Commission. Seventy-nine candidates, including nine women, were in the fray for the sixth phase polls in Bengal.

The Election Commission had made elaborate security arrangements for this phase of elections by deploying 919 companies of Central Forces and 29,468 state forces. Out of 15,600 polling stations, 2,678 were earmarked as critical, with Kanthi in East Midnapore alone accounting for 501 critical polling stations.

The highest deployment of central forces was concentrated in the East Midnapore district, with Tamluk and Kanthi — the two seats under it — having the highest number of sensitive polling stations, 373 and 501, respectively.

The total number of polling personnel involved in Monday’s polls was 74,880, while the total number of micro observers was 1,523. There was webcasting in all the 15,600 booths involved in the pen ultimate phase of polls on Saturday. Meanwhile, during a press conference, TMC leaders Bratya Basu and Chandrima Bhattacharya said: “In the sixth phase of elections, enthusiasm was seen among the voters and all the eight constituencies registered high poll percentage. In some constituencies the percentage may go up to 90. It has happened despite BJP’s relentless attempt to spread canards against TMC. In some places the BJP attacked the Trinamool Congress supporters.”

Cyclone Remal...

evening and intensify further into a severe cyclonic storm by early morning on Sunday. The weather office has warned fishermen to stay out of the North Bay of Bengal until the morning of May 27.

The death toll is likely to increase as relief operations is going on, district officials said. According to eyewitnesses, several people, including children were playing games at the game zone, located on Nana-Mava Road, when the tragedy struck. Police said that the owner and manager of the game zone were detained and taken to the police station for questioning.

The government has handed over the investigation of the incident to a fivemember Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by Additional Director General of Police Subhash Trivedi.

Rajkot Collector Prabhav Joshi said the Fire Control Room received a call at around 4:30 pm regarding the blaze at the game zone. “Fire tenders and ambulances rushed to the spot to douse the flames. The fire caused the collapse of the structure, and debris is being cleared,” Joshi added. However, the exact cause of the massive fire is not known. President Droupadi Murmu, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed grief over the incident.

Modi spoke to Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel to enquire about the rescue and relief efforts.

“The fire tragedy in Rajkot has saddened us all. In my telephone conversation with him a short while ago, Gujarat CM Bhupendrabhai Patel Ji told me about the efforts underway to ensure all possible assistance is provided to those who have been affected,” he said on X.

In a post on X, Murmu said, “I am deeply anguished to learn of the loss of lives in a fire accident at a gaming zone in Rajkot, Gujarat. My heart goes out to the families who have lost their near and dear ones including young children. I pray to the Almighty for the speedy recovery of those being rescued.” Chief Minister Patel has announced an ex gratia of Rs 4 lakh to the kin of each of the deceased and Rs 50,000 to each injured.

After the fire broke out, Rajkot Police Commissioner Raju Bhargava told media

persons that the cause of the blaze would be investigated and that a message had been issued to all the gaming zones in the city to close operations. “The fire tragedy in Rajkot is heart-wrenching. I express my heartfelt condolences to the persons who lost their lives in this incident and their families. I pray to God for the speedy recovery of the injured,” Patel tweeted.

“It is very important to ensure that such an incident does not happen again,” he added. Patel further said that any kind of negligence would not be tolerated and assigned the investigation of the entire incident to a Special Investigation Team (SIT). The SIT, headed by ADGP Trivedi, includes Commissioner, Technical Education, BN Pani; Director, Forensic Science Laboratory, Gandhinagar, HP Sanghvi; Chief Fire Officer, Ahmedabad, JN Khadia; and Superintending Engineer, Roads and Buildings Department, MB Desai.

In the wake of the fire tragedy, Director General of Police issued instructions to the Commissioners of Police and Superintendents of Police to inspect all the game zones in Gujarat and close those running without fire safety permission.

The DGP directed the police to carry out this procedure in coordination with fire officers of the municipalities and municipalities. Condoling the loss of lives in the Rajkot fire tragedy, the Congress said accountability should be fixed in the incident by the BJP government in Gujarat as soon as possible and the culprits should be given the strictest punishment.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge asked party workers to provide all possible help to those affected by the accident so that the victims do not face any problems regarding treatment or compensation

China...

Kharge alleged the BJP misused federal probe agencies to intimidate and put pressure on opposition leaders. Citing the example of former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren, the Congress chief claimed that he was threatened by the BJP which asked him not to join the INDIA

bloc and later jailed him when he refused.

Claiming that PM Modi’s desperation was becoming evident in his speeches, the Congress president said, “He talks about Hindu-Muslim and caste divide. The BJP does not want social harmony and is dividing the people.” “Modi is abusing the Congress as he is afraid of Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi and is taking their names more than he takes the name of God,” Kharge said. He also hit out at the Centre for allegedly not providing aid to the Himachal Pradesh government in the aftermath of the natural calamity during the monsoon last year. Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu had sought Rs 10,000 crore aid from the Centre after the floods but got only stones, Kharge claimed.

At the rally in the apple belt in Shimla district to garner support for Congress candidate from Shimla (SC) parliamentary constituency Vinod Sultanpuri, the party president said PM Modi had promised to ensure remunerative returns to apple growers but he reduced import duty and harmed the interests of growers.

“Modi tells lies. He says something and does the opposite,” Kharge alleged.

He asked people whether they got Rs 15 lakh which PM Modi had promised to give by getting black money parked in Swiss banks back to India, whether 20 crore jobs were given and whether the income of farmers doubled.

Talking about the Congress’ manifesto for the Lok Sabha polls, Kharge said that besides the 25 guarantees, minimum wages, Rs 1 lakh for women, caste census and social justice are focus areas of the party. The Congress has implemented its promises in Karnataka and Telangana and would do the same in Himachal Pradesh, Kharge said, adding that women would get Rs 1,500 per month after the elections are over. Taking a dig at PM Modi, the Congress chief said the cost of the bullet train has increased from Rs 1 lakh crore to Rs 3 lakh crore and it has not been constructed yet. Kharge said that immediately after coming to power after the Lok Sabha polls, his party would fill 30 lakh vacancies in government departments, a Rs 5,000-crore fund would be created under Yuva Roshani

for start-ups, a policy would be framed to check paper leaks, loans of farmers would be waived and farmer-friendly importexport policy would be brought.

He also promised GST-free farming, providing compensation to farmers and ensuring crop insurance in 30 days.

Later addressing a press conference in Shimla, Kharge exuded confidence that the Congress and its INDIA bloc partners would form government from June 4. People are against the BJP due to rising unemployment and inflation, Agniveer, miserable condition of farmers and misuse of constitutional institutions by the BJP, he claimed.

The BJP is like laundry where the tainted people get cleaned, he claimed and added that tainted leaders who joined the BJP are now clean and have got plump postings.

ECI...

The poll panel said there is a pattern in creating false narratives and mischievous designs to vitiate the electoral process. The release of data came a day after the Supreme Court refused to issue directions to it on an NGO’s plea for uploading the polling booth-wise voter turnout data on its website. The absolute numbers are discernable constituency-wise by all citizens by applying the turnout percentage to the total number of electors, both already made available in the public domain, the poll panel said. Electors are those on the electoral roll and eligible to vote. Voters are those who actually cast their votes in an election. While the EC had been issuing the turnout percentage, there were demands to make the actual number of voters in every phase public.

Referring to the apprehension expressed by some opposition parties that the turnout data can be fudged, the poll panel said the process of collection and storage of the votes polled is rigorous, transparent and participative.

The entire exercise of releasing the turnout data from the date of commencement of the Lok Sabha polls on April

19 has been “accurate, consistent and in accordance with election laws and without any discrepancy whatsoever”, the EC said. Explaining the details, it said the final list of electors is given to the candidates after the list of the contesting candidates is finalised. “Authorised agents of all candidates will be having form 17C (the document that records the booth-wise data of the votes polled) across the 543 seats distinctively for each of the approximately 10.5 lakh polling stations,” it underlined, indicating that there is no scope for fudging the data. The poll panel further said the total number of votes polled in a constituency, as recorded in form 17C, can never be changed even by anyone’s hypothetical mischief, as it is available with all the contesting candidates.

Agents of the candidates are always allowed to accompany the electronic voting machines (EVMs) and statutory papers, including form 17C, from the polling station till those are stored in a strong room in accordance with Rule 49V(2) of the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961, it noted. The candidates or their agents bring a copy of form 17C to the counting centre and compare it with the result in each round.

“The voter turnout data was always available on the app. The commission underlines that there has been no delay in the release of the voter turnout data,” the EC said. It said the voter turnout data was always available 24x7 on the facilitative Voter Turnout App from 9:30 am on the polling day in each phase.

Different media organisations pick up the data at different points in time in accordance with their convenience to report the next morning, it noted. “Any alleged delay in the issue of press notes of phase 1 does not mean that the data was not available in the public domain all the time through the voter turnout app,” the EC said.

In an affidavit filed before the Supreme Court earlier this week, the Commission expressed concern that there is a “design, a pattern” that is at play and the petitioners are not approaching courts with clean hands. They are misusing the forum of the court with an agenda to perpetually keep creating doubts in the minds of the voters based on conspiracy theories, it said.