Rahul Gandhi has five cases against him
Kalpetta: At a time when candidates’ brush with the law is under close scrutiny, cases registered against AICC president Rahul Gandhi, who is contesting Wayanad, has also evoked curiosity. In his election affidavit submitted while filing nomination from Wayanad, the Congress chief has declared that he has five cases against him. Of the five cases, four are defamation cases filed in Mumbai, Ranchi, Guwahati and Bhiwandi in Maharashtra. The fifth case is a private complaint filed by Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy. Registered in Delhi’s Patiala House Court, it relates to ‘conspiracy’ to criminally misappropriate and cheat the shareholders of Associated Journals, the publisher of Congress mouthpiece National Herald.
Priyanka to tour Wayanad tomorrow
Kalpetta: AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi will attend a slew of programmes on Saturday in Wayanad parliamentary constituency where her brother and AICC president Rahul Gandhi is seeking the people’s mandate.Priyanka, who will land at Kannur airport at 10 am, will reach Mananthavady to attend a public meeting at 10.30 am. At 12.15 pm, she will reach Vazhakkandi to visit the family of CRPF jawan V Vasanthakumar who died in a terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir.The Congress leader will attend a farmers’ conclave slated to be held at 1.30 pm at Pulpally. Priyanka will attend public meetings at Nilambur and Areecode at 3 pm and 4 pm respectively, AICC general secretary K C Venugopal said.
Phase II elections:66.59 pc polling in Mahe
Kannur: Mahe, a part of Puducherry Lok Sabha constituency, registered 66.59 pc polling on Thursday during the second phase of the general elections. Polling was held in 32 booths in Mahe. Though people lined up in long queues to cast their votes right from the morning, as the heat increased, the rush in the booths came down in the afternoon. Women turned up in large numbers early to cast their votes.
Prominent voters like writer M Mukundan, former state minister E Valsaraj and Dr V Ramachandran MLA exercised their franchise. The total number of voters in Mahe is 30,276. Of these, 353 voters are first- timers. The main fight in the constituency is between UPA candidate V Vaidyalingam of the Congress and NDA candidate Narayanaswami Kesavan of NR Congress.