New Delhi:

A day after Congress leader Jairam Ramesh alleged that Home Minister Amit Shah called and intimidated district officers ahead of the counting of votes Tuesday, the Election Commission said no officer has reported any “undue influence” and asked the Opposition leader for details backing his allegation by 7 pm today so that action can be taken.

“The outgoing Home Minister has been calling up DMs/Collectors. So far, he has spoken to 150 of them. This is blatant and brazen intimidation, showing how desperate the BJP is. Let it be very clear: the will of the people shall prevail, and on June 4th, Mr. Modi, Mr. Shah, and the BJP will exit, and the INDIA Janbandhan will be victorious. Officers should not get under any pressure and must uphold the Constitution. They are under watch,” Mr Ramesh said in the post on X.

The outgoing Home Minister has been calling up DMs/Collectors. So far he has spoken to 150 of them. This is blatant and brazen intimidation, showing how desperate the BJP is. Let it be very clear: the will of the people shall prevail, and on June 4th, Mr. Modi, Mr. Shah, and the…

— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) June 1, 2024

The poll body said that being a senior leader, Mr Ramesh must have made the public statement based on facts he believes to be true.

“In this regard, it may be noted that during the period of enforcement of MCC, all officers are under deemed deputation of the Commission and report directly to the Commission for any directions. However, no DM has reported any such undue influence as alleged by you. As you are aware, the process of counting of votes is a sacred duty cast upon every RO and such public statements by you tend to put an element of doubt and thus, deserves to be addressed in larger public interest,” the Election Commission said in its letter to Mr Ramesh.

“Therefore, you being a responsible, experienced and very senior leader of a National Party must have made such public statement, just before the day of counting, based on facts/ information you believe to be true. It is requested that details of 150 DMs to whom such calls have been allegedly made by the Home Minister along with the factual matrix/ basis of your information are shared by 19.00 hours today i.e. June 2, 2024, so that appropriate action can be taken,” the poll body alleged.

Speaking to NDTV after exit polls predicted another BJP victory, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri trashed such charges. “The Home Minister of India doesn’t call a district officer or a subdivisional officer. The Home Minister deals with the Chief Minister of a state.”

New Delhi:

The Congress is in favour of providing reservation benefits to every economically backward person, but the BJP is turning it into a Hindu-Muslim issue to polarise voters, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge has told NDTV in an exclusive interview.

Reservation in jobs and education has emerged as one of the biggest talking points in the ongoing election. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has alleged that the Congress plans to give reservation of Muslims from the quota of Dalits and tribals. The Congress has denied this.

“We will give reservation to everyone who is economically backward. This is a policy matter and partners of the INDIA alliance will decide how to do this,” he said.

Countering the BJP’s charge, he said, “Does the Constitution say that reservation can be given to Muslims on the basis of religion? Does the Congress manifesto say this. Muslims who are poor must get justice. We stand by that, but they are turning this into a Hindu-Muslim issue to divide votes.”

Hitting back, Mr Kharge alleged that it is the BJP which had deprived people of reservation benefits. “As many as 30 lakh positions are vacant. They did not try to fill them. Out of them, SC, ST and OBC candidates would have got around 15 lakh jobs. They are misleading people, lying to them. They are not recruiting professors in university, not getting candidates from SC, ST and OBC communities. They are getting RSS-trained people,” he alleged.

Hitting out at prominent Congress leaders who switched to the BJP, Mr Kharge said the ones who left were not rooted in the party’s ideology. In an exclusive interview with NDTV, Mr Kharge said, “They would move around with Rahul Gandhi. He ensured that they get ministerial berths, helped them create a political identity. Now suddenly, they remember Ram Temple?”

Asked about these leaders’ claim that they were not growing within the Congress organisation, Mr Kharge said, “Those who were not rooted in our ideology have switched sides. They say they did not get importance here. Are they getting it in BJP? What is their identity there? They switched because they were scared.”

Mr Kharge said the Congress is hopeful of a good show in the ongoing Lok Sabha polls and that the BJP tally reached its high point in the last election. “We will do well in Rajasthan, we won’t score a zero this time. In Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, too, we will get some sears. Last time, we won just one seat in Maharashtra. But this time, the Maha Vikas Aghadi is fighting strongly and will win at least 30 seats. The BJP’s tally is decreasing. They reached their peak, they cannot go beyond that. But we are scoring where we lost,” he said.

Lok Sabha Election 2024 Live Updates:

Voters from 49 constituencies across six states and two Union Territories will vote in the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha polls today. 

Polling will be held for five parliamentary seats in Bihar, Jharkhand (3), Maharashtra (13), Odisha (5), Uttar Pradesh (14), West Bengal (7) and two Union Territories – Jammu and Kashmir (1) and Ladakh (1). 

Key candidates contesting in the fifth phase include Union Ministers Piyush Goyal (Mumbai North), Smriti Irani (Amethi), and Rajnath Singh (Lucknow).

From the Opposition, Congress’s Rahul Gandhi is defending his mother Sonia Gandhi’s bastion Raebareli, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah is fighting from Baramulla, RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav’s daughter Rohini Acharya is contesting from Saran, while Shiv Sena-UBT leader and Arvind Sawant is contesting from Mumbai South.

Here are LIVE updates on Lok Sabha Election Phase 5 voting:

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