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[00:00:11] Hello, this is your daily dose of news from Onmanorama.
[00:00:15] I am your host Meenu and these are the major news stories of Friday, April 26, 2024.
[00:00:23] Today we have an election special episode as Kerala and 12 other states and union territories
[00:00:28] went to polls in the second phase of the Lok Sabha elections.
[00:00:31] Polling was held from 7 am in 88 constituencies in this phase.
[00:00:36] Almost 8 hours in, polling in the 20 Lok Sabha seats in Kerala continued steadily on
[00:00:40] Friday with the state registering a healthy turnout of 58.52% as of 4.30 pm.
[00:00:48] Kerala began voting at 7 am to decide the fate of 194 contestants in the fray of the
[00:00:53] Lok Sabha elections.
[00:00:55] Voting commenced after more polls were held in the presence of representatives of political
[00:00:59] parties.
[00:01:00] Barring sportier instances of bogus voting and breakdowns of electronic voting machines
[00:01:05] resulting in delaying the polling process in the affected booths, the election has
[00:01:09] largely been incident free.
[00:01:11] However, five people, one booth agent and four voters died on the day.
[00:01:15] While three of them collapsed and died, one died of a heart attack and the other
[00:01:20] in an accident.
[00:01:21] Attingal, Kannur, Chalakudi, Palakkad, Vahenaad, Alapuzha and Kasarapur constituencies
[00:01:27] were leading the percentage chart regarding voter turnout whereas Pannani was the
[00:01:32] slowest.
[00:01:33] Kerala saw a voter turnout of 77.84% in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
[00:01:39] Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Friday rejected pleas seeking complete cross-verification
[00:01:44] of votes cast using electronic voting machines with voter verifiable paper audit trial.
[00:01:51] A binge of justices Sanjeev Khanna and Deepangar Tatta delivered two concurring
[00:01:55] verdicts in the matter.
[00:01:57] Pronouncing the judgment, Justice Khanna said the court has rejected all the petitions
[00:02:02] including those seeking to resort back to ballot purpose in elections.
[00:02:06] The remaining five phases of the polls will continue till June 1st with counting of votes
[00:02:11] scheduled on June 4th.
[00:02:14] The first of the seven phases elections was held last Friday for 102 seats across
[00:02:21] 21 states and union territories.
[00:02:24] As many as 1202 candidates, including prominent phases such as Rahul Gandhi, Om Birla
[00:02:31] and Hema Malini will try their electoral luck in phase two of the Lok Sabha elections
[00:02:36] on Friday.
[00:02:37] The list also includes Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar
[00:02:42] of BJP and former Karnataka Chief Minister H.D.
[00:02:46] Kumaraswamy among others.
[00:02:48] Of the 1202 candidates in the fray, 1098 are men, 102 are women and 2 are from
[00:02:56] the third gender category.
[00:02:58] More than 16 lakh polling officials have been deployed across 1.67 lakh polling stations
[00:03:04] for over 15.88 crore voters, the election commission said.
[00:03:11] In other news, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday said the BJP-led government at
[00:03:18] the centre will implement a uniform civil court in the country as it was a guarantee
[00:03:23] of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and accuse the Congress of advocating personal laws.
[00:03:29] Amit Shah was addressing a rally at Gunna Lok Sabha seat in Madhya Pradesh from where
[00:03:34] Union Minister Jyoti Radhitya Sindhya is contesting as a BJP candidate.
[00:03:39] Shah also said the Modi government has ended Maoist extremism and terrorism in the
[00:03:44] country.
[00:03:47] The Supreme Court has issued a notice to the Election Commission of India over a
[00:03:51] petition seeking that an election be declared void if the maximum voters have opted for
[00:03:57] the Nanu Tebo Watnota option.
[00:03:59] The bench led by Chief Justice Steve Achandrachud has asked the poll panel to examine
[00:04:04] the rules surrounding Nota.
[00:04:09] The Union Public Service Commission has released the examination schedule for recruitment
[00:04:14] tests for the year 2025.
[00:04:16] Candidates can visit the official website of the UPSC to check the complete date
[00:04:20] sheet for the UPSC exam 2025.
[00:04:26] Harvey Weinstein's 2020 conviction for sexual assault and rape was overturned
[00:04:32] by New York's highest court, reopening the landmark case that fueled the MeToo
[00:04:36] movement and highlighting the challenges of holding powerful men accountable.
[00:04:41] Many accusers of the former Hollywood movie Mukkal condemned Thursday's decision
[00:04:46] with actress Ashley Judd, telling reporters it was an act of institutional betrayal.
[00:04:55] That brings us to the end of this episode.
[00:04:57] Thanks for listening to Daily News Stores, hosted by MeMeNo and produced by
[00:05:00] institutional Murali Thren with technical support from IW2 Studios.
[00:05:04] Follow www.onmonorama.com for detailed updates on the latest news and be sure to come
[00:05:09] back tomorrow.