Lok Sabha polls top updates: Campaigning for final phase of election concludes

Campaigning for the seventh and final phase of the Lok Sabha elections ended on Thursday. Polling in 57 seats in seven states and the Union territory of Chandigarh is scheduled to be held on June 1.

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik clarified that bureaucrat-turned-politician VK Pandian is not his “successor” and that such speculations were an “exaggeration”.

Union minister Rajnath Singh said that efforts would be made to implement simultaneous elections within the next five years as “frequent elections are not good for the country”.

Here is a look at today’s top developments:

• The 75-day campaigning for the seven-phased general elections ended on Tuesday, with both the Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress asserting they would secure a majority. Polling in all 13 seats of Punjab, 13 seats in Uttar Pradesh, nine in West Bengal, eight in Bihar, six in Odisha, four in Himachal Pradesh and three seats of Jharkhand will be held on June 1.

• Amid repeated criticism from the Bharatiya Janata Party about Pandian’s growing influence in the Biju Janata Dal, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik clarified that the former bureaucrat is not his political successor, reported The Indian Express. “I cannot understand these exaggerations,” said Patnaik. “You may have noticed that he is not even standing for elections.” When asked if Pandian...

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