Mumbai, April 17: Slamming Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the rising number of Covid cases and deaths across the country, Maharashtra Minister and NCP leader Nawab Malik on Saturday said that if the vaccination certificates carry Prime Minister Narendra Modi's photo, then the death certificates of the COVID victims should also carry his image. He further stated that if the Prime Minister wans to take credit for vaccination then he should also take respnsibility for COVID fatalities.

"The way PM Modi's photo is put on vaccination certificates, we demand that PM's photo should be put on death certificates also. If they are taking credit for COVID19 vaccination, then, they will have to take responsibility for deaths too," the NCP leader told ANI.

"As the number of COVID cases are rising in the country, the number of deaths are also increasing on large scale. The way videos are going viral that funeral sites are running out of space to accomodate the dead, and people are in queues. The Centre is answerable for the present situation arisen due to the circumstances and it cannot run away from answering it," Malik added. Rahul Gandhi Attacks PM Narendra Modi Says 'Funeral and Burial Ground, it's Modi Made Disaster'.

Speaking about the fifth phase of West Bengal assembly elections, Malik said, "Polling is underway for the fifith phase of West Bengal assembly elections. Looking at the situation of COVID, we would like to request to the voters to maintaing social distancing while casting their votes. Come out of your houses, vote the candidate of your choice and strengthen democracy."

Voting for the fifth phase of West Bengal assembly polls began on Saturday amid tight security. Polling is underway in a total of 45 constituencies covering the districts of Jalpaiguri, Kalimpong, Darjeeling and a segment of Nadia, North 24 Parganas and Purba Bardhaman in the fifth phase. A total of 319 candidates, including 39 women are in the fray in Phase-V.

Meanwhile, India reported its highest-ever single-day spike of COVID-19 cases with over 2.34 lakh new cases and more than 1,300 deaths in the last 24 hours, according to the Union Health Ministry on Saturday. RIP Vivekh: PM Narendra Modi Pays Heartfelt Condolences on the Demise of Veteran Tamil Actor (Read Tweet).

In the last 24 hours, 1,341 COVID-related deaths were reported in the country taking the death toll to 1,75,649. As many as 2,34,692 new COVID-19 cases have been reported in India in the last 24 hours. With this, the total number of cases has gone up to 1,45,26,609.

The active number of cases stands at 16,79,740. In the last 24 hours, 1,23,354 people recovered from the disease. With this, the total recoveries reached 1,26,71,220.