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According to an exclusive report in The Week, Jashodaben was picked up and packed off to Modi's ardour fan Ramdev's ashram near the Neelkanth Mahadev temple in Rishikesh in Uttarakhand where she will stay until the elections are over.Sources said that she boarded a chartered flight to Aurangabad near the Uttar Pradesh-Uttarakhand border, and then to Ramdev's isolated mountain-top ashram at Rishikesh.
ELECTIONS SPECIAL 2014 w w w . l e m a t i n a l . c o m
LE MATINAL, PORT-LOUIS, FRIDAY, APRIL 25, 2014
Brisk polling in Maharashtra
Actresses Rekha and Vidya Balan among early voters
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Jashodaben staying at Ramdev's ashram
ollywood celebrities Rekha, Vidya Balan, Sunny Deol and Sonam Kapoor were among the earlymorning voters who gave a head start to voting in Mumbai on thrusday.In Mumbai and also across the state, voting began on a brisk note with most of the voters seemed keen to avoid sweltering heat as mercury has risen to 39 degree Celsius in the last two days. Actress Vidya Balan was among the first Bollywood celebrities to cast her vote. Vidya, who lives in suburban Juhu after her marriage with UTV head Siddharth Roy Kapur, casted her vote at a Chembur booth. When asked about her voting in Chembur, she said laughing, “Why not.. this gives me a chance to come to Chembur..I do come often”. “Its my responsibility to vote...To point fingers at others and (if) I face a problem, I need to have this on my finger,” she said displaying her inked finger. Yesteryear actress and Rajya Sabha member (nominated) Rekha came in a track suit to exercise her right to franchise. Actors Sunny Deol and Sonam Kapoor also casted their votes. In suburban Dadar, morning walkers armed with their photo voter slips arrived at polling stations and were seen searching for their names in the voter rolls before entering booths. — IT
West Bengal and Tamil Nadu led 11 states in a day of frenetic voting across 117 constituencies though mob violence in Assam marred an otherwise perfect showcasing of democracy at work during the sixth phase of the Lok Sabha elections on Thursday.
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n Jammu and Kashmir's Anantnag constituency's polling was severely affected by voters' boycott in several places but in the country's entertainment capital Mumbai, the poll percentage stayed low due to general apathy of the voters. The second-largest phase in terms of Lok Sabha seats, Thursday's polls will determine the fate of 2,076 candidates including Union ministers, sitting MPs and other high-profile contestants. The high point of Thursday's polling was the high
High turn-out in West Bengal Manmohan Singh : Modi wave, a creation of media turn-out in West Bengal where 80% polling was recorded till 5pm in the six constituencies which went to the polls. There were no allegations of major violence so far. The six seats where polling was held is known as a traditional Congress belt. The party holds five of these six seats. In Tamil Nadu, crucial for the BJP-led six party rainbow alliance, about 60% of the voters across all 39 Lok Sabha seats and the lone seat in the union territory (UT) Puducherry exercised their franchise till 3pm.
In Rajasthan (five seats) the polling percentage was 56.20% till 5.40pm. In Madhya Pradesh (ten seats), the polling percentage was 59 till 5pm. In Bihar, where polling is held in seven seats, 51.10% polling was recorded. In Uttar Pradesh, the polling percentage till 5pm was 55.40% with no reports of any untoward incident from the 12 constituencies. This round will also have a bearing on the prime ministerial ambitions of the Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav, who is in
the fray from Mainpuri. Chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, who exercised his franchise in Saifai (Etawah), said the SP was emerging stronger after every phase of polling. Maoist-affected Chhattisgarh too witnessed high voter turnout in seven constituencies in the state with 56% polling recorded till 4pm. Mumbai, the capital of Maharashtra, however, lagged behind in the polling race with just 35% voter turnout till 3pm in the six constituencies. Altogether 19 Lok Sabha constituencies in Maharashtra went to poll
on Thursday. Even a plea by the city's favourite son, cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar, failed to enthuse the voters. “I have voted, have you? A wonderful start to my birthday, as a responsible citizen of our great nation,” the 41-year-old wrote on Twitter accompanied by a 'selfie' of his inked finger. In Jammu and Kashmir's Anantnag constituency where Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader Mehbooba Mufti is the party candidate a mere 25% polling was recorded. — The Hindu
BJP sniffs major poll gains in West Bengal T
he Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) seemed to be sniffing enough gains in West Bengal, a state where it has been a less than marginal player to send its prime ministerial candidate to visit the state for a third time for campaigning. On April 27, Modi will visit Uttarpara to campaign for two party candidates, Bappi Lahiri in Serampore and Chandan Mitra in Hooghly. “Modiji will hold the rally
in a football ground. His visit will undoubtedly boost the already buoyant morale of our workers,” said state BJP president Rahul Sinha. Modi launched his party's campaign in Bengal from the Brigade Parade Ground in Kolkata on February 5. On April 10, he was in Siliguri on his second visit. While in the first visit he and party president Rajnath Singh sounded a conciliatory tone towards Trinamool Con-
gress and its chief Mamata Banerjee, he changed tone on his second visit, launching a blistering attack on the Bengal chief minister on a range of issues from her pursuit of vote bank politics (read minority appeasement) to the Saradha scam. Bappi Lahiri is expected to give trouble to Trinamool Congress' Kalyan Banerjee. But in Hooghly, the ruling party candidate and incumbent Ratna De Nag is seen to be
placed comfortably against Chandan Mitra. Uttarpara is a densely-populated area on the western side of the Hooghly river and lies about 15 km from Kolkata. Once a flourishing industrial area, it is now known as a part of the rust belt. In a television interview this week, Modi remarked the Mamata Banerjee government has failed to usher in “parivartan” (change) in the state despite getting enough
time to demonstrate governance. BJP has traditionally been a fringe player in Bengal, securing only 6% votes in the 2008 Lok Sabha polls. But this time, the party is expected to poll a far higher share estimated to be around 12-15%. Party leaders point to a countrywide Modi wave and rising anti-incumbency against the Mamata Banerjee government which it hopes would work in its favour.
“T
he Modi wave is a creation of the media. I don't think the country as a whole is struck by any Modi wave,” said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh soon after he cast his vote in Guwahati.Singh was accompanied by his wife Gursharan Kaur. Soon after casting his vote, Singh and his wife posed for photographers and showed off their inked fingers. He also said that the Congress is not losing ground and that he was confident that his party would do well in these elections. Meanwhile, the man in question about whom the Prime Minister was speaking, BJP's prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi is busy holding a roadshow in Varanasi from where he is going to file his nomination today. He will be contesting against Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal. Lakhs of people have turned up for his roadshow. Narendra Modi is accompanied by Amit Shah and Laxmikant Bajpai in his road show in Varanasi. Stringent security arrangements are in place. Before beginning his roadshow, Narendra Modi paid homage at the statue of Madan Mohan Malaviya at the BHU amidst huge enthusiastic crowd. Thousands of people wearing saffron caps, Modi masks and holding BJP flags, lined up along Nadesar, Andhrapaul, Lahurabeer and Cant area in the heart of the city. — IT
ELECTION HIGHLIGHTS... BJP's PM candidate Narendra Modi gestures to supporters during a rally in Varanasi.
Army officers patrol near a polling station in Bijbehara, some 42 kms south of Srinagar.