Lok Sabha polls, May 20: As it happened

Election Commission imposes Sec-144 (prohibits assembly of more than 4 people in an area) in Bhatpara, West Bengal for undefined time-period to combat post-poll violence.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath looked confident as he said that his government is ready for a floor test in Madhya Pradesh assembly.

BJP MLA and Minister of State Anil Rajbhar given additional charge of departments headed by SBSP Chief OP Rajbhar, who was dismissed by Governor on recommendation of CM office. 

Hours after Om Prakash Rajbhar was sacked from the Uttar Pradesh council of ministers, the BJP said he has shattered the decorum of alliance dharma by continuously speaking against the party despite being an ally.

Earlier in the day, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath recommended to governor immediate sacking of Rajbhar, also the Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP) chief, from his cabinet for his outbursts against senior NDA partner BJP.

Governor Ram Naik accepted the recommendation and relieved Rajbhar from his post of Backward Class Welfare and Divyangjan Empowerment Minister, an official spokesperson said.

"The BJP is a party which gives full respect to its allies and honours the coalition dharma. But, it is unfortunate that our alliance partner in UP, Om Prakash Rajbhar, not just violated the decorum of alliance dharma, but shattered it. It is for this reason that the party and UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath were compelled to take such a strong step," state BJP chief Mahendra Nath Pandey said in a statement.

Slamming the exit poll results, which projected a big win for the BJP-led NDA government in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy on Monday said their predictions were being used to create a false impression of a Modi wave across the country.

"The artificially engineered or manufactured Modi wave is being used by the BJP to lure regional parties well in advance to fill any shortfall after the results on May 23," said a miffed Kumaraswamy in a series of tweets.

Noting that the exit poll exercise was an effort to create a false impression of a wave in favour of one particular leader and his party, Kumaraswamy said undue importance should not be given to polls, which just give temporary numbers.

Even as the exit polls predicted a good show for his party, DMK President M K Stalin Monday said he does not take the projections seriously and would wait for three days to know people's mandate.

Lok Sabha results will be declared on May 23.

Asked about the reported meeting of opposition parties convened by Sonia Gandhi to discuss the post-poll scenario on counting day, Stalin shot back, "who told you there is a meeting on May 23."

Such reports are only appearing in the media, he said, adding, even the results will be known only late on Thursday.

"Such meetings will be useful only if held after results are known. So we are waiting," he added.

While the exit polls of various media houses suggested the incumbent BJP-led NDA at Centre would retain power, most of them had said the DMK could get a significant number of seats out of the 38 Parliamentary constituencies in Tamil Nadu.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami Monday said his government was committed to the release of seven Rajiv Gandhi assassination case convicts and expressed hope the state Governor will act on the cabinet recommendation for setting them free.

Palaniwami's statement comes amidst renewed calls, both from the opposition and Tamil groups, for the release of the seven, serving life terms, after the Supreme Court recently disposed of a plea of the kin of those killed along with the former Prime Minister in 1991 opposing their release.

The kin had challenged the Tamil Nadu government's earlier decision in 2014 to release the seven convicts.

In September 2018, the state cabinet had adopted a resolution recommending to Governor Banwarilal Purohit the release of the seven.

Speaking to reporters here, Palaniwami said the cabinet resolution was passed in line with public sentiment.

"We wanted the seven to be released and that is why adopted a cabinet resolution and sent it to the Governor. The Governor has to decide (on the matter)," he said.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami on Monday sought to make light of the exit polls suggesting a bad show by the AIADMK, saying he had himself proved wrong similar predictions of him losing in 2016.

Palaniswami exuded confidence that the party and its allies win would all the seats in the state and one in Puducherry, adding that said exit polls were more of "imposing of opinion".

"In 2016 (assembly election) also, such exit polls were done and they suggested that in Salem, the AIADMK will win only three seats and that even I will lose (from Edappadi seat in Salem)," he said. "But I won with a difference of 42,000 votes even as the AIADMK won 10 seats against the three (mentioned in the exit polls)."

"This is what exit polls are all about. They are imposing of opinion," the AIADMK leader said, claiming that the predictions would be proved wrong this time also.

Asked about the exit polls suggesting a good show by ally Bharatiya Janata Party across the country, Palaniswami said he was referring only to Tamil Nadu as the "AIADMK is not a national party, but a regional one".

The Communist Party of India Monday sought to discredit the agencies which predicted a second term for the Narendra Modi government in their exit
polls, and claimed the NDA would fall short of the majority mark.

"Most of them are pro-BJP channels; This was expected from them, this is part of the BJP's election campaign; from the beginning till now, they are continuously with them. So, I don't give much value for that", CPI General Secretary Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy said.

The CPI claimed that the NDA would get only around 200 seats, way below the majority mark of 272.

If parties who are not on board with the UPA now, join together with the Congress-led alliance, it's possible to form the government, the veteran Communist leader added.

The BJP in Madhya Pradesh Monday said the Kamal Nath-led Congress government in the state should prove majority in the Assembly. Leader of Opposition in Assembly Gopal Bhargava said his party will ask Governor Anandiben Patel to convene a special session of the state Assembly "to discuss important issues and test the Congress governments strength".

I am writing a letter to the Governor for convening a special session of MP Assembly shortly. We want discussion important issues like the farm loan waiver and (to) test the government strength, Bhargava said.

He said the Congress, instead of debating issues in the House, was dumping papers at former Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhans residence, claiming that loans of 21 lakh farmers in Madhya Pradesh have been waived.

Exit polls predicting a second term for the Modi government have dampened spirits in the TRS camp, where the mood was subdued with hopes of playing a role in the event of a hung Parliament set to be dashed.

"What we predicted and our feeling was neither the NDA nor the UPA will get a majority on its own. As per exit polls, what we visualised is not going to be correct," a senior leader of the Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao-led outfit said. 

If the NDA were to return to power on its own strength as per the exit polls, Rao's push to forge a federal front of non-Congress, non-BJP regional parties will undoubtedly lose steam, said a political analyst.

During the Lok Sabha election campaign in Telangana, which has 17 seats, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) had repeatedly claimed that the party would play an important role in the government formation.

Union minister Nitin Gadkari on Monday said the exit polls are not the "final decision" but indicate that the BJP will once again come to power, riding
on the development work done by the NDA government.

The senior BJP leader was speaking at the launch of a poster of 'PM Narendra Modi', a biopic on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, being released this Friday.

"Exit polls are not the final decision, but are indications. But, by and large, what comes out in the exit polls also reflects in the results," Gadkari said, replying to a query.

Most exit polls have forecast another term for Modi, with some of them projecting that the BJP-led NDA would get over 300 seats to comfortably cross the majority mark of 272 in the Lok Sabha.

Andhra Pradesh CM N Chandrababu Naidu confident of winning elections, says, "I am 1000 per cent confident that TDP will win the elections. I don't have even 0.1 per cent doubt, we are going to win."

Election officials, accompanied by representatives of various political parties, opened the strong room in Himachal Pradesh's Reckong Peo on Monday morning after what appeared to be smoke was detected in the CCTV camera footage, a district official said.

Firefighters reached the spot in no time as it was feared that a fire had broken out, he said.

However, later it was found that the cameras were set to the night vision mode and dust particles spreading in a corner of the strong room gave the impression that it was smoke, he said.

Subsequently, the setting of the CCTV cameras was changed and the strong room was sealed again, the official said.

Reckong Peo, also known as Peo, is the district headquarters of Kinnaur. The strong room here is located in Bachat Bhawan and 252 electronic voting machines (EVMs) from 126 polling stations of Kinnaur assembly segment, falling under the Mandi Lok Sabha constituency, have been kept.

BJP delegation meets the Election Commission in Delhi. 

Commenting over the development, Union Minister Piyush Goyal said, "We gave the EC detailed information about the violence inflicted upon our workers. We reiterated our demand for re-poll for constituencies where violence occurred in any phase, particularly in West Bengal."

Miffed with exit poll predictions, the Trinamool Congress is busy with post-poll calculations based on reports received from the districts, a senior party leader said Monday.

Dismissing the exit poll predictions, he said, "We do not have to worry about these exit poll reports, which in most cases do not match. We have our internal party report. We also have reports from districts and each and every constituency."

The TMC leadership is also in talks with various opposition parties in the country, party sources said.

"Most of these exit polls are baseless and biased towards the BJP. We are not bothered about the exit polls. Talks are on with all the opposition parties on the post-poll scenario. It is for sure that the BJP has lost the election." 

The TMC will play an important role," said another senior TMC leader, who did not wish to be named.

You must have read about people live streaming suicides, shootings and other crimes on Facebook Live but police here have arrested two local leaders for uploading videos of casting their votes on the platform.

The police arrested Rahul Kalia, a Congress leader, and Bhanu Partap, a Bharatiya Janata Party councillor of Ward No. 3 in Kurali municipal council in Mohali after they shot a video on Facebook Live while voting in the seventh and final phase of voting on Sunday, the local media reported.

Kalia uploaded his video of casting vote at booth number 150 in the Kharar segment of the Sri Anandpur Sahib Constituency on Facebook Live.

The police immediately took action and first asked both of them to first remove the voting video from Facebook, and then booked them under the appropriate sections of the Representation of the People (RPA) Act and the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav reaches BSP Chief Mayawati's residence in Lucknow.

The Centre on Monday moved the Supreme Court on the applicability of the Black Money law after the Delhi High Court had stayed proceedings against advocate Gautam Khaitan over questions on the retrospective effect of the 2016 legislation.

Khaitan is an accused in the VVIP chopper deal scam.

The court agreed to hear the matter on Tuesday.

The Shiv Sena on Monday hit out at the opposition parties for trying to come together to keep the BJP out of power after the Lok Sabha poll results, saying the country cannot afford to have a coalition government "crawling" with the support of several small outfits.

Taking a swipe at TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu's efforts to forge an alliance of opposition parties, it said he was unnecessarily exhausting himself by running from pillar to post as there was no guarantee of this "possible coalition" staying intact by the time results are out on May 23.

Elections to 542 seats of the 543-member Lok Sabha ended Sunday and the counting of votes is slated for Thursday.

Most exit polls have forecast another term for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with some of them projecting that the BJP-led NDA would get over 300 seats to comfortably cross the majority mark of 272 in the Lok Sabha.

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari and actor Vivek Oberoi launch poster of biopic 'PM Narendra Modi' in Maharashtra's Nagpur.

Madurai bench of Madras High Court grants anticipatory bail to Kamal Haasan in a case filed against him by Hindu Munnani party for his comments on Nathuram Godse. 

Five other leaders of the Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP), who were holding ministerial ranks in commissions, have also been removed with immediate effect, along with Om Prakash Rajbhar.

Bengal will surprise all pollsters. Everyone has seen the tremendous outpouring of support for PM Modi and BJP in Bengal. What Uttar Pradesh was in 2014, Bengal will be in 2019: BJP's Ram Madhav. 

Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik accepts CM Yogi Adityanath's request, dismisses Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party chief Om Prakash Rajbhar from the post of Minister for Backward Class Welfare and 'Divyangjan' Empowerment in UP cabinet with immediate effect. 

Himachal Pradesh: EVMs and VVPATs brought to Lahaul and Spiti district headquarters on a Border Security Force (BSF) helicopter from Tashigang, world's highest polling station.

BJP delegation comprising Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Shri MA Naqvi and others will meet the Election Commission today in Delhi.

We welcome his decision. CM has taken a very good decision. He formed Social Justice Committee and threw its report in a dustbin, he didn't have spare time to implement it. I request him to implement Social Justice Committee's report as quickly as he took this decision today: Om Prakash Rajbhar.

"Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has requested Governor to dismiss Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party chief Om Prakash Rajbhar from UP cabinet with immediate effect," says UP CM Office. 

Rajbhar, a minister for backward class welfare and 'divyangjan' empowerment, had earlier resigned from the cabinet but it wasn't accepted. 

The chief minister seeks immediate sacking of Om Prakash Rajbhar, who had been making controversial remarks against the Bharatiya Janata Party. 

Adityanath also recommends immediate removal of Rajbhar's partymen holding the rank of minister of state.

Dubbing exit polls as "gossip", West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee has said she doesn't trust such surveys as the "game plan" is to use them for "manipulation" of EVMs.

The Bengal BJP was quick to hit back, asking Banerjee to "stop living in denial" as the days of her TMC government in West Bengal are numbered.
Most exit polls forecast a majority for the ruling BJP-led NDA in Lok Sabha elections with varying numbers, as the seven-phase democratic exercise ended Sunday.

"I don't trust Exit Poll gossip. The game plan is to manipulate or replace thousands of EVMs through this gossip. I appeal to all Opposition parties to be united, strong and bold. We will fight this battle together," Banerjee said in a tweet.

Whom are you (media) trying to help by misusing our name. I'm thinking of bringing in a law. What have you thought of us politicians? You think we're jobless? Do we look like cartoon characters to you? Who gave you authority to show everything humorously?: HD Kumaraswamy said. 

The rupee appreciated 79 paise to 69.44 against the US dollar in opening trade Monday after exit poll results suggested another term for the ruling NDA government, even as crude oil prices firmed up.

Forex traders said investors welcomed the exit poll results that predict a thumping majority for the current BJP-led government.

Sentiments were also buoyed by positive opening in domestic equities.

The rupee opened at 70.36 the interbank forex market, then gained further ground to touch 69.44 per dollar, displaying gains of 79 paise against the greenback.

Domestic financial markets cheered exit poll results showed that ruling NDA is likely to will the general Lok Sabha elections on Monday, with the benchmark BSE Sensex skyrocketing over 900 points, and the rupee appreciating 79 paise against the US dollar.

After soaring over 962 in early session, the 30-share index pared some gains and was trading 687.63 points, or 1.81 per cent, higher at 38,618.40.
In similar movement, the broader NSE Nifty was trading 203.05 points, or 1.78 per cent, up at 11,610.20.

Top gainers in the Sensex pack include Maruti, L&T, SBI, ICICI Bank, RIL, M&M, IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank, Yes Bank and Vedanta, rising up to 4 per cent.

On the other hand, Bajaj Auto, Infosys and HCL Tech slipped up to 2 per cent.