Lok Sabha polls: Over 65% vote in Phase III; 1 killed outside Bengal booth

AAP, Congress, BJP file nominations as Delhi prepares for a three-way fight

Barring a last-minute miracle, any hope of a Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) seat adjustment for the seven seats in Delhi was all but over on Tuesday with AAP and Congress candidates filing their respective nominations.

If suspense ended on the Congress-AAP tie up in Delhi, Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra kept alive the suspense on whether she might contest from Varanasi against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Campaigning in Bareli, Priyanka said she would abide by her party’s decision on contesting against Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Varanasi. “I have said this repeatedly that I will do what the party asks me to do,” the 47-year-old said, adding that people were feeling harassed and wanted a change.

In the rest of the country, polling took place on 116-seats across 13 states and 2 Union Territories. These included all of Kerala’s 20, Gujarat’s 26 and Goa’s 2 seats. The Election Commission (EC) said, subject to revision, estimated voter turnout nationally was 65.61 per cent. It was also the largest phase of the elections, and its completion marked polling ending on 301 of 543 seats.

Key candidates in the fray were Bharatiya Janata Party Chief Amit Shah from Gandhinagar, Congress President Rahul Gandhi from Wayanad, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor in Thiruvananthapuram, Congress’s Mallikarjun Kharge in Gulbarga, Rashtriya Janata Dal’s Sharad Yadav in Madhepura and BJP’s Sambit Patra versus Biju Janata Dal’s Pinaki Mishra in Puri.

Several incidents of violence were reported in West Bengal. A 52-year-old man, who the Congress claimed to be its worker, was hacked to death outside a booth during polling in the Murshidabad Lok Sabha constituency, a senior state police officer said. In another incident, two women voters were injured in an alleged bombing in Murshidabad’s Domkal area.

In Delhi, BJP, Congress and AAP candidates filed their nominations on the last date. There is still an outside chance that the AAP and the Congress could reach an understanding and some of their respective candidates withdraw their nominations. BJP MP Udit Raj held a press conference to announce that he might quit the party after the BJP denied him the party ticket from northwest Delhi constituency.

Boxer Vijendra Singh filed his nomination as the Congress candidate from South Delhi, and singer Hans Raj Hans as the BJP candidate from Northwest Delhi. AAP leader Gopal Rai said voting for Congress in Delhi was akin to voting for the BJP.

Modi campaigned in West Bengal and Odisha after casting his vote in Ahmedabad. He said “voter ID” was more important than “IED”, or improvised explosive device. In Bengal, he mocked Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee for dreaming of becoming the PM and said she would have bought the post with the money looted from chit fund scams had it been up for auction. Banerjee retorted in a public meeting that Modi government’s fate was now sealed after the third phase of polling.

Several political leaders, including Samajwadi Party’s Akhilesh Yadav, complained of faulty electronic voting machines, or EVMs.