News18 Daybreak | Fifth Phase of Polling Today as Titans Clash in 51 Lok Sabha Seats and Other Stories You Need to Watch out For

Today's Big StoriesVoting across 51 Lok Sabha seats begin, Rajnath Singh, Sonia Gandhi, Smriti Irani, Rahul Gandhi in fray

The fate of 674 candidates, including political bigwigs Rajnath Singh, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Smriti Irani, will be decided by nine crore voters in 51 constituencies across seven states today. The stakes are high for the ruling BJP, which had won 40 of these seats in the previous elections. Voting is taking place in 14 seats in Uttar Pradesh, 12 in Rajasthan, seven seats each in West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh, five in Bihar and four in Jharkhand. In Jammu and Kashmir, polling is taking place in Ladakh constituency and Pulwama and Shopian districts of Anantnag seat.SC denies Justices Chandrachud, Nariman met panel to raise questions about inquiry

The top court on Sunday denied a media report that said Justices RS Nariman and DY Chandrachud had met Justice SA Bobde, who is heading the in-house inquiry panel on sexual harassment allegations against Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi. According to the Indian Express report, Chandrachud suggested to the panel that it either accede to the complainant’s request to provide her with a lawyer or appoint amicus curiae for the probe. Calling the report “most unfortunate", the court said that the in-house panel deliberates on its own without any input from any other judges of the apex court.In Other NewsMonitoring of Rafale deal by PMO can't be construed as parallel negotiations: Centre to SC

The government, by way of two affidavits, asked the court to “junk review petitions right away", emphasising that the review of the fighter jets’ procurement process will “impact national security in the current security environment in the country".Cyclone Fani death toll rises to 32 as government pushes to restore normalcy

Several students have been sending SOS messages to HRD ministry over the train delay, requesting that they be allowed to sit in the exam. The Railways also wrote to the ministry urging them to re-conduct the exam.Israel carries out waves of retaliatory air strikes on Gaza killing 16

Gazan authorites said that a pregnant woman and a baby were among the sixteen dead. The flare-up came as the Islamic group Hamas sought further concessions from Israel under a fragile months-old ceasefire.Atleast 13 killed, several hurt as Russian Aeroflot plane lands with fire on board

According to a news report, the tail was completely burned and a rescue team was trying to find survivors in that part. Several other agencies said that around 5 to 10 people, of the 78 passengers had been injured.News18 Election Tracker

It had been raining clean chits for PM Modi, as the poll panel said that the comments he made during the rallies in Patan, Nanded and Varanasi weren’t in violation of the model code of conduct. The EC’s decision came despite the Prime Minister referencing the Pulwama terror attack and the subsequent air strikes in his speeches in Patan and Varanasi.

The PM had been pulled up for three other speeches earlier. Interestingly, according to sources the decisions to give PM clean chits in the cases weren’t unanimous.

The poll pitch hasn’t been as kind to all politicians. In a major breach of security, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal was slapped by a man during his roadshow in Delhi’s Moti Nagar on Saturday. The AAP has called the Delhi Police’s bluff about the man being an AAP worker.

Meanwhile, a war of words erupted between the BJP and opposition parties after PM Modi on Saturday hit out at former Prime Minister Rahul Gandhi calling him “corrupt no. 1" in reference to the Bofors scandal.On Our SpecialsA lost cause: Manas Mitul argues that despite the favourable demographics, Congress’s consistent failure in Rajasthan’s Churu constituency is a result of the party’s lack of faith in its candidates.Of cosmetic changes: In Jammu & Kashmir’s Srinagar Aakash Haasan finds that students of Kashmir University aren’t all that happy with the refurbishments being done by the administration.Know your candidate: Eram Agha talks to Congress candidate from Barabanki - Tanuj Punia, who is the son of party leader PL Punia, about his election strategy, the main issues in the constituency and the party’s chances against the SP-BSP alliance.On Reel