Daily Bulletin: 59 constituencies vote in Phase 6 of Lok Sabha election today; two militants killed in Shopian encounter; day's top stories

Phase 6 of Lok Sabha election today The fate of several important leaders, including Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Union minister Maneka Gandhi and Congress leaders Digvijaya Singh and Jyotiraditya Scindia will be decided in Phase 6 of the  Lok Sabha election  on Sunday, in which voters in 59 constituencies in six states and the National Capital Territory of Delhi will exercise their franchise. Polling has begun in 14 seats of Uttar Pradesh, 10 seats of Haryana, eight constituencies each in Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, and West Bengal, all seven seats of Delhi and four of Jharkhand. The Election Commission has set up more than 1 lakh polling booths for over 10 crore eligible voters to choose from among 979 candidates. Phase 6 of the Lok Sabha election is being seen as a big test for the BJP, which had won 45 of these 59 seats in 2014, with the Trinamool Congress bagging eight, the Congress winning two seats and the Samajwadi Party winning one. [caption id=“attachment_6537151” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. PTI[/caption] In Uttar Pradesh, the BJP had won 13 of the 14 constituencies in 2014, the only exception being Azamgarh, from where Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav had won. However, the BJP had to face defeat in the  bypolls in Phulpur and Gorakhpur constituencies last year. Yogi Adityanath represented Gorakhpur in the Lok Sabha from 1998 to 2017, until he became the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. Follow LIVE updates on Phase 6 of the Lok Sabha polls here Narendra Modi says ‘hua toh hua’ reflects Congress’ ‘arrogance’ Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday brought up Congress leader Sam Pitroda’s “hua toh hua” (it happened, so what?) remark on the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, saying it reflected the party’s “arrogance”. Modi accused the Congress government in Rajasthan of trying to suppress a Dalit woman’s gangrape keeping the Lok Sabha election in mind. The crime in Alwar provoked protests across the state after the woman’s husband said she was raped on 26 April, the police were informed on 30 April, but the FIR was filed on 7 May. “The Congress, which is in power in Rajasthan, has tried to suppress the news of the gangrape of a Dalit woman due to the polls in the state,” Modi said at an election rally in Ghazipur in eastern Uttar Pradesh. He alleged the police did not act quickly because of the elections. Rajasthan voted in the Lok Sabha polls in two phases on 29 April and 6 May. The prime minister said the Congress cannot give “nyay” (justice) to the daughters of the country, indirectly invoking the name of the income support scheme that the Opposition party has promised to launch if voted to power. Two militants killed in encounter in Jammu and Kashmir’s Shopian Two militants were killed in an encounter between security forces and terrorists in the Shopian district on Sunday morning. Weapons and a huge cache of ammunition were recovered from the encounter site. The operation is still underway and more details are awaited, ANI reported. Security forces had launched a cordon and search operation in Hind Sita Pora area of Shopian district following specific information about the presence of militants there, PTI reported. As the forces were conducting the search operations, the militants fired upon them, which led to a gun battle in which the two militants were killed. Four, including attackers, killed after attack on luxury hotel in Pakistan Three heavily-armed militants on Saturday stormed a luxury hotel in Pakistan’s port city of Gwadar in the restive Balochistan province, leading to a fierce gunbattle, in which four people, including the attackers, were killed. The armed men entered the upscale Pearl Continental Hotel and opened random fire. Balochistan home minister Ziaullah Langov said security forces had killed all three attackers, and that some of the guests in the hotel were also injured but their number was not immediately known. The outlawed Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility for the strike. BLA’s spokesperson Junaid Baloch said militants linked with its Majeed Brigade group had carried out the attack. Islamic State says ‘province’ established in India For the first time, the Islamic State claimed it has established a “province” in India , after a clash between militants and security forces in Kashmir killed a militant with alleged ties to the group. Reuters quoted the Islamic State’s Amaq News Agency, which announced, late on Friday, that the new province was called “Wilayah of Hind”. The statement also claimed that Islamic State had inflicted casualties on Indian Army soldiers in the town of Amshipora in the Shopian district of Kashmir. The Islamic State statement corresponds with an Indian police statement on Friday that a militant called Ishfaq Ahmad Sofi was killed in an encounter in Shopian. The terror outfit’s statement establishing the new province appears to be designed to bolster its standing after the group was driven from its self-styled “caliphate” in Iraq and Syria in April, where it controlled thousands of miles of territory at one point. The Islamic State has stepped up hit-and-run raids and suicide attacks, including taking responsibility for the Easter Sunday bombing in Sri Lanka that killed at least 253 people. Mumbai Indians face Chennai Super Kings in IPL 2019 final in Hyderabad Both Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings entered the summit clash of the 2019 edition of the Indian Premier League, with the hope of lifting the title for an unprecedented fourth time. Mumbai have won all the three games they have played against defending champions Chennai so far in the season, winning the first qualifier in Visakhapatnam by six wickets. Chennai had to defeat Delhi Capitals, winner of the eliminator, in the second qualifier to enter the final for the eighth time. Manchester City, Liverpool enter last stretch in race to Premier League title Liverpool heads into Sunday’s final matches in the Premier League one point behind defending champion Manchester City, likely needing a victory at home against Wolverhampton and City, failing to win at Brighton. Defending champions City lead Liverpool by a point ahead of the final game of the season. A victory at Brighton & Hove Albion will ensure Pep Guardiola’s side become the first English team to retain the title since Manchester United in 2009. Gravitational waves leave behind their “memories” Gravitational waves were first detected in 2016 and are since being seen as a new window to the universe that has the potential to reveal about everything — from the time of the Big Bang to more recent events in the galaxy. Now, in a recent development, researchers found that gravitational waves leave behind plenty of “memories” that could help detect them even after they have passed. This means that scientists may soon be able to identify waves passing through the universe.