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In yet another setback to the Congress party amid the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, its candidate from Indore Akshay Kanti Bam withdrew his nomination on Monday, April 29, days before voting.

Interestingly, he had reached the Collector's office with BJP MLA Ramesh Mendola to withdraw his nomination. He also reportedly joined BJP. 

Senior BJP leader and state cabinet minister Kailash Vijayvargiya in a post on X said Bam was welcome to join the BJP.

"Congress Lok Sabha candidate from Indore Akshay Kanti Bam is welcome in the BJP under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party national president J P Nadda, Chief Minister Mohan Yadav and state president VD Sharma," he said in the post.

The Congress had fielded Bam against sitting BJP MP Shankar Lalwani from the Indore Lok Sabha seat, where polling will be held on May 13.

Voting has begun in 88 constituencies across 13 states and Union Territories amid a furious row between the Congress and the BJP over manifesto and inheritance tax. Election will be held on all seats of Kerala, a chunk of Rajasthan and UP.

Key points

Elections for the second phase will be held for 20 seats of Kerala, 14 seats in Karnataka, 13 in Rajasthan, eight each in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, seven in Madhya Pradesh, five each in Assam and Bihar, three each in Bengal and Chhattisgarh and one each in Jammu and Kashmir, Manipur and Tripura.

Earlier, 89 constituencies were expected to vote in this phase. But polling in Betul, Madhya Pradesh, was rescheduled after the death of a candidate from Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party. Betul will now vote in the third phase, due on May 7.

Key candidates for this round include the BJP's Union minister Rajeev Chandrashekhar  -- up against Congress' Shashi Tharoor from Thiruvananthapuram; actors Hema Malini, and Arun Govil from 1980s iconic serial Ramayan, senior BJP leader Tejasvi Surya and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla,  Congress' Rahul Gandhi, KC Venugopal, Bhupesh Baghel. and Ashok Gehlot's son Vaibhav Gehlot.

For both BJP and the Opposition, the most crucial states in this phase will be Karnataka and Kerala. Karnataka is the only BJP bastion in the south, where the Congress won in the last assembly election. The party is hoping to do well amid concerns about delimitation and the disadvantage southern states could face after it.

Further south, the BJP is trying to break into the bipolar politics of Kerala. The party is hoping to open its account in the state having fielded Union ministers Rajiv Chandrasekhar and V. Muraleedharan. In Wayanand, a Congress bastion for over 20 years, it has fielded its state unit president K Surendran against Rahul Gandhi.

For the Opposition, Kerala is a big shining hope. Even though the Left and the Congress are competing against each other in the southern state, victory by either will add to the tally of the Opposition bloc INDIA. Kerala is one of the few states that have never sent a BJP member to parliament.

With north, west and northeast India saturated, the BJP is hoping to expand in the south and east in their quest for 370 seats. The party had won 303 seats in 2019, a majority of them from the Hindi heartland and bastions new and old, including Gujarat and the northeast.

The Congress, though, has claimed it would post a much better performance compared to 2019. After the first phase of the election, their claims have got louder, especially in Rajasthan and western Uttar Pradesh. Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Tejashwi Yadav has claimed INDIA will win all five seats in Bihar.  

The election is being held amid a bitter face-off between the Congress and the BJP. The row was sparked by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's comment that the Congress, if voted to power, will redistribute the personal wealth of people among "infiltrators" and won't even spare the mangalsutras of women. The Congress has questioned if the people had to fear for their wealth and mangalsutras in 55 years of the party's rule and accused the BJP of sidestepping issues that matter.

The next phase of election is due on May 7. The counting of votes will be held on June 4 – three days after the seventh and last phase of election on June 1.

Maharashtra Leader of Opposition Vijay Namdevrao Wadettiwar waded into controversy after he alleged that an RSS-affiliated cop, and not terrorist Ajmal Kasab, killed former state anti-terrorism squad (ATS) chief Hemant Karkare during the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack.

In a video statement released on Saturday, the Congress leader alleged that the bullet that killed IPS officer Hemant Karkare did not come from the gun of Ajmal Kasab or any of the other nine Pakistani terrorists involved in the attacks.

Instead, he claimed it came from the weapon of a police officer allegedly "dedicated to" the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

Wadettiwar also accused Ujjwal Nikam, the special public prosecutor in the case and a BJP Lok Sabha candidate from Mumbai North Central, of suppressing this information, labeling him a "traitor."

He questioned the BJP's decision to nominate Nikam for the Lok Sabha polls, accusing the party of protecting traitors.

“During the probe, key information was out. However, it was suppressed by Ujjwal Nikam, who is a traitor. My question is, why is BJP protecting a traitor and nominating such a person for Lok Sabha polls? By doing this, BJP is protecting traitors," Wadettiwar alleged, Times of India reported.

These allegations drew strong responses from Nikam and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

Nikam condemned Wadettiwar's statement as "baseless and irresponsible," expressing pain at the doubts raised over his integrity.

He emphasized the legal steps taken to convict Kasab, calling Wadettiwar's remarks an insult to the victims of the 26/11 attacks.

“What a reckless statement is being made. I am pained by such baseless allegations, raising doubts over my integrity. It clearly reflects the level of electoral politics. I never thought politicians will stoop to such low levels. For political gain? He (Wadettiwar) is insulting not me, but the 166 departed souls and all persons injured in the 26/11 attacks," Nikam said.

He added, “They (Congress) hold Kasab as innocent. Even Pakistan had accepted that Kasab was involved in the conspiracy and in the terror attack on India and was guilty".

He said Indians very well know the legal steps he had taken to ensure Kasab’s conviction.

Nikam said citizens of the nation would on 4 June, the day of results for Lok Sabha polls, give their reply to such allegations, adding he wished not to dignify the “desperate disinformation” with a further response.

Meanwhile, BJP leader and Deputy CM Fadnavis said, “Our alliance is with Nikam, while Congress has joined hands with Kasab".

Shiv Sena spokesperson Kiran Pawaskar said NIA should arrest Wadettiwar and ask him why he was defending Kasab.

Pawaskar criticized the Congress for allegedly supporting terrorists and expressed surprise at the silence of Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on the matter.

“From Wadettiwar’s statement, it appears Congress is supporting terrorists who attacked Mumbai. More shocking is the fact that Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray has maintained silence over the episode,” he said.