Lok Sabha elections 2019 LIVE updates: UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi will file her nomination for the Rae Bareli Lok Sabha seat on Thursday. She will undertake a 700-metre road show before filing the nomination, party spokesman LKP Singh said. Meanwhile, Union Minister and BJP leader Smriti Irani will file her nomination papers from the Amethi Lok Sabha constituency. Both Rae Bareli and Amethi figure in the fifth phase of the seven-phased general elections and voting there will be held on May 6. Irani faces a tough fight with Congress president Rahul Gandhi, who had filed his nomination papers on Wednesday, whereas Rae Bareli will see a straight contest between Sonia Gandhi and Dinesh Pratap Singh, who had recently joined the BJP after leaving the Congress.
With six phases left, campaigning will continue in other parts of the country. Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a rally in Bihar’s Bhagalpur. He will later address another rally in Assam to campaign for the NDA.
Voting for the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections began Thursday, with union ministers General V K Singh, Mahesh Sharma and Satyapal Singh, and one former minister, Sanjeev Balyan, fighting to retain their seats in Uttar Pradesh where voting is being held for eight constituencies.