The Election Commission on Saturday asked the Aam Aadmi Party to modify the content of its Lok Sabha election campaign song. The poll body also ordered re-elections at a polling station in Karnataka’s Hannur. The Congress, meanwhile, harped on a video of Acharya Pramod Krishnam to claim that the Bharatiya Janata Party would change the Constitution and scrap caste-based reservation if voted back to power.

Here’s a look at today’s top developments:

  • The Election Commission told the Aam Aadmi Party on Saturday that the phrase “jail ke jawaab me hum vote denge” (we will give votes in response to ministers being thrown into prison) with the visuals of an “aggressive mob holding the photo of Arvind Kejriwal showing him behind bars, casts aspersions on the Judiciary”, reported ANI. The poll body has asked the ruling party in Delhi to resubmit the campaign song for certification after making the required changes. The notice came after a complaint filed by the Bharatiya Janata Party, reported NDTV.

  • Speaking at a press conference on Sunday, Aam Aadmi Party leader Atishi claimed that this was the first time the Election Commission had imposed a ban on a party’s campaign song. “The song does not mention the BJP and does not violate the Model Code of Conduct,” she said. “It includes factual videos and incidents.” The Delhi minister also alleged that the poll body had not acted on the violations committed by the BJP. “If the BJP does dictatorship, it is right,” she said. “But if someone talks about it, that is wrong. This shows that democracy is in danger.”

  • The Congress claimed that the statements of BJP leaders and those close to them show that “their goal is to change the Constitution and destroy democracy”. “They want to snatch the reservations for Dalits, backwards, tribals to end their participation in running the country,” party leader Rahul Gandhi said in a post on X after a video of Acharya Pramod Krishnam calling to end caste-based reservations started doing rounds on social media. Krishnam, who was expelled from Congress for six years in February, is campaigning for the BJP. He had also hosted Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the foundation stone laying ceremony of the Kalki Dham Temple in Uttar Pradesh’s Sambhal district.

  • After the Congress’ remarks, Krishnam told ANI that the video being circulated is of a speech he made a year ago when he was still associated with the party. “This speech of mine is one year old made on September 24, 2023, when I was with Congress and today I am with Prime Minister Modi,” Krishnam told the news agency. “I am against casteism and untouchability...The propaganda and conspiracy Congress is doing will not benefit them.”

  • The Election Commission said on Saturday that re-polling will be held at a polling station in Hannun, falling under the Chamarajanagar Parliamentary Constituency, on April 29. The Constituency went to polls in the second phase on Friday. However, Electronic Voting Machines were destroyed at polling station number 146 under the Hanur Assembly Constituency, reported The New Indian Express.

  • Arvinder Singh Lovely, who resigned from his post as the Delhi Congress chief on Sunday, said that he will not join any party amid speculations of crossover to the BJP. He also clarified that he has not resigned from the primary membership of the Congress, reported NDTV. Lovely said he stepped down from his post to protest against the alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party.

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