Daily Bulletin: Narendra Modi, Rahul Gandhi to campaign in Maharashtra for upcoming Assembly elections today; day's top stories and more

Maharashtra Assembly elections 2019: Narendra Modi to hold rallies in Jalgaon, Sakoli today Prime Minister Narendra Modi will campaign in Jalgaon and Sakoli on Sunday to seek a fresh term for the BJP-led government in the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly elections.

Will be campaigning in Maharashtra tomorrow. Looking forward to addressing rallies in Jalgaon and Sakoli. The NDA is going to the people based on the stellar work of our Government led by the youthful and visionary CM @Dev_Fadnavis Ji. We seek five more years to serve the state.

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) October 12, 2019

The assembly election in Maharashtra is scheduled to be held on 21 October and the counting will be held on 24 October. The ruling BJP-Shiv Sena coalition, which also includes other small parties, is in direct contest with the Congress-NCP alliance. Modi also said that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is going to the people on the basis of stellar work of the BJP government led by Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. The prime minister asserted that the BJP is seeking five more years to serve the state. On Friday, Union Minister Smriti Irani had informed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be campaigning in Maharashtra from 13 to 18 October to guide and encourage candidates of BJP. Rahul Gandhi to campaign in poll-bound Maharashtra today Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who had been abroad for a few days, has returned home and is expected to campaign for the party in poll-bound Maharashtra and Haryana from 13 October. He will address the first of these three poll rallies in Maharashtra on Sunday. [caption id=“attachment_6600331” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. Twitter/@INCIndia[/caption] He will campaign in favour of Basavaraj Madhavrao Patil in Ausa in Latur district, Naseem Khan in Chandivali in Mumbai suburban and in favour of Varsha Gaikwad in Dharavi, Mumbai. Gandhi will campaign for the party candidates in Haryana on 14 October, where he will address a few poll rallies and then again go to Maharashtra for the election campaign. This is the first time Gandhi will campaign for the Congress in assembly elections after the party suffered a humiliating defeat in the Lok Sabha election. The former Congress president has faced flak for going abroad ahead of the assembly polls in Haryana and Maharashtra. BJP to release party manifesto for upcoming Haryana Assembly elections today Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will be releasing its manifesto for the Haryana Assembly elections on Sunday, in the presence of state chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar and other senior leaders of the party. In the state Assembly polls, BJP is banking on the development plank and clean image of Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar. In the manifesto, the party is expected to make a host of promises in order to woo the voters. Party working President JP Nadda, chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar, Haryana BJP president Subhash Barala, manifesto committee chief OP Dhankar and other senior functionaries and leaders are expected to be present during the manifesto release. Congress had already released its manifesto for the Haryana elections on Friday , making a plethora of promises ranging from the farm loan waiver, unemployment allowance for graduates and post-graduates, one job in every family based on qualifications, 33 percent reservation to women in government jobs, free rides for women in Haryana Roadways among others. India in control of Pune Test despite late resistance from Proteas India bowled South Africa out for 275 at the close of play on Day 3 of the second Test at Pune, collecting a massive first-innings lead of 326 having declared their innings at 601/5 earlier on Friday. The Proteas were in danger of capitulating to a score below 200 when Keshav Maharaj (72) and Vernon Philander (44) fought back with a 109-run ninth-wicket stand to lend some respectability to the South African batting performance. At the time of the umpires calling stumps, India captain Virat Kohli was yet to decide whether to enforce the follow-on, the decision of which will be made known on Sunday morning. Debutant Manju Rani enters final of Women’s World Boxing Championships Manju Rani (48 kg) was the lone Indian to enter the final of the Women’s World Boxing Championships 2019 after her 4-1 victory in her semi-final bout against Thailand’s Chuthamat Raksat. Rani will face Russia’s Ekaterina Paltceva in the final on Sunday. Boxing icon MC Mary Kom (54 kg) settled for bronze after her defeat to Busenaz Cakiroglu of Turkey. Also collecting bronze for India were Jamuna Boro (54kg) and Lovlina Borgohain (69kg). With inputs from agencies