Elections should have been completed in three or four phases, says Cong Prez Mallikarjun Kharge
Bengaluru, Mar 16: Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday said a seven phase election for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls meant that "Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to tour everywhere". Kharge opined that the polls should have rather been completed in three or four phases.
"We are not anxious about what is going to happen, but Modiji putting seven phases, it means that he wants to tour everywhere. In this country, I have also contested nearly 12 elections and there hardly used to be four phases. Sometimes it used to be even one phase. I have seen two phases also but maximum it used to be four," he told reporters here.
Kharge said conducting polls in seven phases meant that nearly all the development works will be stopped.
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"Stopping nearly 70-80 days, imagine how the country will progress? Because of the election code of conduct...materials will not be supplied. Budget will not be spent. So according to me this is not good. He could have completed within three or four phases," he said.
"So, it is easy for people also to get their businesses completed, infrastructure everything. It should have helped but anyways Modi is Modi," he added.
The 2024 Lok Sabha polls will be held in seven phases beginning from April 19 with the counting of votes scheduled on June 4 for the world's biggest election exercise, according to the announcement by the Election Commission.
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Man arrested with Rs 2.54-crore heroin in Mumbai
Mumbai (PTI): Police have arrested a man and seized over 500 grams of heroin worth Rs 2.54 crore in the illicit market from him in Mumbai, officials said on Friday.
The police's Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC) made the drug seizure in Santacruz in the western suburbs. The operation was conducted by the Kandivali unit of the ANC on Thursday as part of a special crackdown against drug trafficking in the area, they said.
Acting on specific inputs, an ANC team conducted a raid in Santacruz (East) and intercepted a man. During a search, the team recovered 508 grams of high-grade heroin from his possession, an official said.
The seized contraband, a highly addictive, opioid drug derived from morphine, is estimated to be worth Rs 2.54 crore in the international market, he informed.
Following the seizure, a case was registered against the man under relevant sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985, and he was formally placed under arrest in the early hours of Friday.
The police are currently investigating the source of the drug and trying to identify the intended recipients of the consignment, he said.
