Ukraine evacuations have 'positive impact' on polls: Shah

Asked if the Ukraine situation has had any impact on the polls, Shah said, "Yes definitely... Modiji readily made arrangements (for evacuation).

"We have been following the situation since January, on February 15 we issued an advisory. We sent teams of people who speak Russian to all four neighbouring countries.

"Control rooms and helplines were started, whether Romania, Ukraine, Poland or Hungary... By March 4, we have been able to get 16,000 Indians out of Ukraine; 13,000 have come back to India, and in the next 24 hours, 16 more flights will come back," he said.

"It has had a positive effect on elections and the country," he added.

Speaking about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's meeting with evacuated students who belonged to poll-bound Uttar Pradesh, he said, "When he met the students, they thanked him, expressed joy and gave him best wishes for the election."

On Friday, PM Modi had met a group of students from different parts of UP who were evacuated from war-torn Ukraine. According to the government, about 3,000 Indians have been airlifted on Saturday by 15 special flights from Ukraine's neighbouring countries under 'Operation Ganga'.

More than 13,700 Indians have been brought back since the special flights began on February 22. The number of Indians brought back by 55 special civilian flights goes up to 11,728.

To date, the IAF has flown 10 sorties to bring back 2,056 passengers, while taking 26 tonnes of relief load to these countries, as part of Operation Ganga.