Today in Politics: Curtains to come down on LS poll campaign; PM Modi to head for Kanyakumari retreat

The campaigning for the seventh phase of the Lok Sabha elections will come to an end on Thursday. Voting in this final phase will take place on June 1 for the remaining 57 seats. The counting of votes is scheduled for June 4.

On the last day of campaigning for the high-stakes Lok Sabha polls in a process that began over two months ago, the BJP is keeping up its momentum. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address a rally in Punjab’s Hoshiarpur, while BJP president J P Nadda will hold rallies in Amritsar, Faridkot and Rupnagar.

The BJP is contesting the Lok Sabha polls in Punjab this time without its former alliance partner Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) led by Sukhbir Badal. Looking to expand its footprint in the state on its own steam, the BJP is fighting from all its 13 Lok Sabha seats, which are going to vote in the seventh phase.

Meanwhile, the Congress has its own rallies planned out. Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will hold a public meeting at Balasore in Odisha, a state where the BJP is looking to gain this time. The Congress’s performance in the state has been on the decline. In 2019, the party had won just one parliamentary seat — Koraput — and secured a 14% vote share.

Rahul will subsequently head to Punjab, addressing meetings at Khatkar Kalan in the SBS Nagar district, which falls under the Anandpur Sahib Lok Sabha seat. For the Congress too, Punjab is a crucial state that it would like to hold on to. In 2019, the Congress won 8 of the 13 seats and had garnered a 40.12% vote share.

Meanwhile, All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will be in Himachal Pradesh for a road show in Solan. The Congress had lost all four seats of the state in 2019, but it now hopes to fare better with