Muslims not allowed to vote in some areas: Indian election passed third stage of voting
The third and most important phase of the Indian elections is over where citizens of 11 states and union territories participated, locking the fate of 52 per cent of the 543 parliament seats in the parliament.
Elections were held in 94 seats spread over 12 states on Tuesday, including all 26 seats in Gujarat where Modi and his home minister cast their votes.
The day’s contests included five seats in Bihar, four in West Bengal, 11 in Maharashtra, seven in Chhattisgarh, 10 in Uttar Pradesh, 14 in Karnataka, and nine in Madhya Pradesh, where Congress defector and BJP candidate Jyotiraditya Scindia was in the race. Of these states, Karnataka and West Bengal are ruled by the opposition.
The fate of 285 seats is now sealed.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) ordered X, formerly Twitter, to take down an anti-muslim animated video posted by BJP Karnataka but avoided directly sending a notice to the BJP.
The video features caricatures of Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge, advancing the party’s recent messaging that Congress is diverting funds and resources away from lower caste Hindus towards Muslims.

Set back in Haryana
In a setback to the ruling BJP in Haryana amid the Lok Sabha election, three independent MLAs have withdrawn their support to the Nayab Singh Saini-led government in the state, quotes Dawn in a report.
The three MLAs — Sombir Sangwan, Randhir Gollen and Dharampal Gonder — made the announcement at a press conference in the presence of senior Congress leader and former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Haryana Congress chief Udai Bhan.
Anti-muslim campaign
There were reports of police chasing away Muslim voters from polling booths in a constituency in BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh. Elsewhere, names of some voters had allegedly disappeared from the voters’ list.
Dip in the stock market
Indian stock market has been experiencing strong episodes of uncertainty in recent sessions, leaving investors confided, reports claimed. Analysts were reading the turbulence at the stock exchanges as a sign of difficulties for Prime Minister Narendra Modi.