LS Polls: Third Phase Begins Across 93 Constituencies In 11 States/UTs

by Pabitra Mohan Senapaty

NEWS HIGHLIGHTS

The Lok Sabha's third phase kicked off at 7 a.m. on Tuesday, as voters began turning out to press the EVM button for their desired candidate in 93 constituencies spanning across 11 states and Union Territories.

New Delhi, May 7: The Lok Sabha's third phase kicked off at 7 a.m. on Tuesday, as voters began turning out to press the EVM button for their desired candidate in 93 constituencies spanning across 11 states and Union Territories.

Voting will continue till 5 p.m.

The Election Commission of India has deployed robust security measures to uphold the integrity of the electoral process and ensure a free and fair voting environment for all.

It said that around 18.5 lakh polling officials have been deployed to welcome over 17.24 crore voters - 8.85 crore males and 8.39 crore females - across 1.85 lakh polling stations.

There are over 1,300 candidates, including 120 women, in the fray.

Notable contenders include Union Home Minister Amit Shah from Gujrat's Gandhinagar, Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia from Madhya Pradesh's Guna, Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury from West Bengal's Baharampur, where his Trinamool Congress rival is former cricketer Yusuf Pathan, Congress heavyweight and former Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh from Madhya Pradesh's Rajgarh, Samajwadi Party's Dimple Yadav from Uttar Pradesh's Mainpuri and Aditya Yadav (Budaun), and NCP-SP's Supriya Sule who faces her sister-in-law and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar's wife Sunetra Pawar in family borough Baramati, among others.

The polling in the third phase will mark the completion of well over the halfway mark in the Lok Sabha elections and complete the electoral process in Assam, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Karnataka and the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu's sole seat.

Polling will also take place in five seats of Bihar, five in West Bengal, 10 in UP, 9 in Madhya Pradesh and 11 in Maharashtra.

While 94 seats were slated to go to polls in the third phase, polling in J&K's Anantnag-Rajouri seat was rescheduled for the sixth phase, while it was called off in Gujarat's Surat, as the BJP candidate has been elected unopposed. However, Madhya Pradesh's Betul, where polling was due to be held in the second phase but was rescheduled due to the death of the BSP candidate, has been added.

(IANS)

IPL 2024: PBKS Opt To Bat First Against SRH In Hyderabad

by Hemanta Pande

Hyderabad, May 19: Punjab Kings (PBKS) stand-in skipper Jitesh Sharma won the toss and opted to bat first against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in match 69 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, here on Sunday.

In the absence of Sam Curran, Jitesh is leading the team. Punjab will be missing a bunch of their overseas players in the match as most of them have returned home to prepare for the T20 World Cup with only Rilee Rossouw featuring in the playing XI.

"We would like to bat. I think wicket is looking good, we want to score big and put SRH under pressure. Proud and grateful to captain my side today. We have few options because all the overseas have gone. Only Rilee Rossouw is gonna play. We have exciting talent waiting for their opportunity and they are gonna give their best today. Nothing to lose today, we are here to play some good cricket," Jitesh said at at the toss.

On the other hand, Hyderabad captain Pat Cummins made only one change as Rahul Tripathi has returned to the team. "The fans have been awesome this season here. We are pretty well set-up for both (bat first or ball first. I'm a terrible reader of wickets, looks like a nice wicket. Looks dry and firm. Only one change for us. Rahul Tripathi comes in for a bowler," he said.

The home side is coming after a washout against Gujarat Titans while Punjab Kings defeated Rajasthan Royals by five wickets in their last game.

A win for Hyderabad will bolster their hopes of finishing in top two places as table toppers Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals will lock horns in the final league stage encounter in the evening.

Currently, KKR lead the list with 19 points followed by Rajasthan (16 points), Hyderabad (15 points) and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (14 points), respectively.

Teams:

Sunrisers Hyderabad (Playing XI): Abhishek Sharma, Nitish Reddy, Rahul Tripathi, Heinrich Klaasen(w), Abdul Samad, Shahbaz Ahmed, Sanvir Singh, Pat Cummins(c), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Vijayakanth Viyaskanth, T Natarajan.

Sunrisers Hyderabad Impact Subs: Travis Head, Umran Malik, Glenn Phillips, Washington Sundar, Jaydev Unadkat

Punjab Kings (Playing XI): Prabhsimran Singh, Atharva Taide, Rilee Rossouw, Shashank Singh, Jitesh Sharma(w/c), Ashutosh Sharma, Shivam Singh, Harpreet Brar, Rishi Dhawan, Harshal Patel, Rahul Chahar.

Punjab Kings Impact Subs: Arshdeep Singh, Tanay Thyagarajan, Prince Choudhary, Vidhwath Kaverappa, Harpreet Singh Bhatia(IANS)

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Over $239 Mn Raised By 26 Indian Startups In Funding Last Week

by Pabitra Mohan Senapaty

New Delhi, May 19: More than $239 million was raised by 26 Indian startups in funding last week, which includes nine growth-stage deals and 15 early-stage deals.

Two early-stage startups did not disclose the amount raised, reports Entrackr.

In the week of May 6-11, around 24 early and growth-stage startups collectively raised nearly $320 million in funding.

Among the growth-stage deals, seven startups secured around $207.2 million in funding last week. Microfinance firm Annapurna Finance secured the highest funding of $72 million.

This was followed by battery tech startup Battery Smart, Propelld, which provides education loans to borrowers via online channels, and ambulance service provider Red.

Health and manufactures drones for applications in agriculture, defence, and enterprise sectors Dhaksha, which raised $45 million, $25 million, $20 million, and $18 million, respectively.

Moreover, 15 early-stage startups secured funding worth $32.5 million last week.

Domestic aggregator providing end-to-end cold-chain solutions Celcius Logistics topped the list, followed by mobility and energy solutions startup Matel, authentication and access management platform OTPless, marketing SaaS (software-as-a-service) platform Highperformr.ai, and sports tech company Stupa Sports.