Every morning till the elections, The Wire’s reporters and editors bring you Poll Vault – a summary of the most important political developments, all in one place. To get it straight in your mailbox, sign up here.New Delhi: Sticking to its election manifesto hinged on Hindutva, the BJP on Wednesday announced the Malegaon blast accused Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur as its MP candidate in Bhopal for the 2019 general elections. Thakur will challenge former Madhya Pradesh chief minister and Congress stalwart Digvijay Singh.Though Thakur was released from jail in April 2017 after nearly seven years on medical grounds and has been cleared of the charges by the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act in 2016, she is still being tried under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. Justifying the move, BJP president Amit Shah said that after the Samjhauta Express blast (in 2007), Congress had called it Hindu terror and pushed “sadhus and sadhvis” into jail. “Sadhvi Pragya will challenge the man who coined the term (saffron) terror, Digvijay Singh,” ANI reported him as saying.By fielding Thakur, the ruling BJP has sent out to the voters its distinct message of extreme Hindutva. It is also an attempt at polarisation on religious lines. This is to counter the opposition increasingly going to voters on issues like unemployment, corruption and the ruling party politicising the armed forces to reap electoral benefits.In the BJP manifesto which was released in New Delhi on April 8, promises of promoting ‘development’, propagating ‘nationalism’ and safeguarding ‘national security’ have been enmeshed with assurances like constructing a Ram temple in Ayodhya, amending the Citizenship Act to favour the Hindus of neighbouring Muslim countries, bringing the universal civil code and abolition of Article 35A. What Thakur said to reporters on April 17 is also an example of the party’s underlying Hindutva agenda: “I may be new in politics but would fight against those who are conspiring against the nation.”Chandrashekhar Azad won’t challenge ModiAnother significant development of the day was Bhim Army chief Chandrasekhar Azad Ravan rescinding his decision to challenge Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Varanasi. Azad, held in jail by the Adityanath regime under the National Security Act (NSA), said in March that he would stand for the MP elections against Modi. The announcement had led to a scathing attack from Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati who accused Azad of ‘conniving’ with the BJP to divide the Dalit votes and thereby aid Modi.On April 17, Chandrasekhar gave the possible division of Dalit votes as his reason for withdrawing. “I have decided not to contest from Varanasi because I do not want that my decision should strengthen the BJP or Modi in any way. We all want to defeat the BJP,” he told reporters.Chandrasekhar said he and his supporters would back the BSP-SP’s mahagathbandhan candidate Satish Chandra Mishra – the BSP general secretary is the Brahmin face of the party.Modi continues attacking CongressMeanwhile, Modi has continued to target Congress in election rallies. Speaking in three rallies in his home state Gujarat on April 17, he once again went after the party, accusing it of running the country for decades “according to their whims and fancies.”Aside from invoking ‘national security’, accusing the Congress of ‘undermining’ it by “questioning the armed forces” and by promising to remove the British-era sedition law in its poll manifesto, he was also seen reminding voters of their support to the party even when it was the Jana Sangh, playing the OBC card (Modi belonging to the Other Backward Class) and portraying himself as a champion of Gujarati asmita.“You will see a lot of lies which have been fabricated by Congress; we need to be careful of such lies. They used to behave as if Gujarat is not a part of India. Now when Modi is working for the betterment of the nation, they have crossed borders,” he said in Anand.In the last assembly polls, Congress made impressive progress. Modi’s targeted attack was clearly to offset it.Other newsCongress president Rahul Gandhi too was on election tour, this time to Wayanad in Kerala where he would be contesting the polls aside from Amethi. Among other places, Gandhi visited the Thirunelli temple along the banks of Papanasini, where his father Rajiv Gandhi’s ashes were immersed.In the Northeast too, the BJP-Congress turf war has manifested into ugly fights like in the rest of India. On April 15, Manipur chief minister N. Biren Singh was issued a show cause notice by the returning officer of the Inner Manipur constituency on the complaint of the Congress candidate O. Nabakishore Singh.The complaint alleged violation of the model code of conduct by the chief minister by delivering ‘defamatory speeches’ against the Congress candidate. “It must be for the first time in the history of the state that a chief minister has been served a show cause notice for violations of the Model Code of Conduct. It is shameful,” reacted Nabakishore. The RO had directed the chief minister’s office to respond to the notice by April 17. The Inner Manipur seat goes to polls on April 18.Yet another closely contested seat in the Northeast between Congress and ruling BJP which was to go to polls on April 18 was the East Tripura one. However, on April 17, the Election Commission deferred polling there to April 23 citing law and order problem. The EC said it needed to take “additional measures” to improve the law and order situation in the constituency before it goes to polls. Congress state chief Pradyot Debbarman took to social media to state, “Elections postponed in east Tripura parliamentary (constituency) in the aftermath of violence in the first phase. Our stand is vindicated that there was mass scale rigging in the Tripura West seat by the BJP.”BJP state general secretary Pratima Bhaumik is taking on Congress’s Subal Bhowmik, who till recently was the BJP vice president of Tripura, in the Tripura West constituency. In Tripura East, BJP’s Rebati Mohan Tripura is facing Congress’s Rajkumari Pragya Kumari.Meanwhile, in yet another low in the election season, former BJP MLA of Karnataka Raju Kage directed his ire towards state chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy saying, “You say prime minister changes outfits again and again…he is fair and handsome, that’s why he changes (outfits) constantly. But even if you (Kumaraswamy) bathe 100 times a day, you will remain a black buffalo.”Follow The Wire‘s complete coverage of the 2019 elections here.