Today in Politics: Last day of campaign for Phase 2, SC likely to issue directions on VVPAT pleas

Former Congress Rahul Gandhi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah will be in Amravati of Maharashtra on Wednesday, the last day of campaigning for phase 2 of the Lok Sabha polls on April 26.

Rahul, who will resume campaigning after a brief break due to illness, will address public meetings in Amravati and Solapur while Shah will hold a rally in Amravati following a public event in Alappuzha of Kerala, where the BJP’s Sobha Surendran will take on AICC general secretary K C Venugopal. Later in the day, he will inaugurate the BJP’s election office in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s constituency of Varanasi. While Amravati and Alappuzha go to polls in the second phase, Solapur will vote in the third phase on May 7.

Meanwhile, other senior leaders of both the Congress and BJP will continue their campaigns on Wednesday. All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will be in Wayanad, where Rahul is in the fray, Modi will address a public meeting in Surguja of Chhattisgarh followed by two meetings in Sagar and Betul of Madhya Pradesh. He will also hold a roadshow in Bhopal. “Modi ji will lead the roadshow in Bhopal on April 24,” Madhya Pradesh BJP’s media cell chief Ashish Agrawal said. The roadshow would cover a distance of 1.5 km from the old Vidhan Sabha to New Market area.

Surguja, Bhopal and Sagar go to polls in the third phase while Betul votes on April 26.

BJP national president J P Nadda will be in Bihar and hold three rallies in Bhagalpur, Khagaria and Madhubani. Bhagalpur and Madhubani vote on April 26 while Khagaria goes to polls in the third phase.

SC may pronounce directions on pleas seeking 100% EVM-VVPAT matching

The Supreme Court on Wednesday is likely to pronounce directions on a batch of