Lok Sabha Elections HIGHLIGHTS: Suspense Remains Over Rahul Gandhi's Candidacy From Amethi As Cong CEC Meet Ends
Lok Sabha Elections HIGHLIGHTS: Please follow this space and refresh the page for all the latest updates pertaining to the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.
The CEC meeting of the Congress ended without any major developments pertaining to the list of candidates for the remaining Lok Sabha seats. The meeting took place in the national capital amid the suspense over Rahul Gandhi's candidature from UP's Amethi which was once considered a bastion of the Gandhi family. The grand old party has not even finalised its candidate from the Raebareli Lok Sabha seat. On being asked about the new Congress list, Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal said, "Within one or two days."
Patna: Former deputy CM Bihar and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav says, "Where the people are winning in the name of PM Modi? He is in depression. PM Modi means inflation, migration, poverty and division in society... We all know the reality, this time INDIA alliance govt will be formed in the country, no matter what conspiracy they plan, people are contesting this time and they (the people) will win."
Kanpur Dehat, UP: Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav says, "The BJP has been flipped by the people and they are lagging behind. This is not '400 paar', it is '400 haar'. I have heard that they are not able to raise the slogan of '400 paar'. Now they are speaking of the Constitution and reservation. They have understood that the people are voting for saving the Constitution..."
Telangana CM Revanth Reddy says, "BJP wants to change the Constitution by 2025 and make it as per RSS. They need 2/3 majority for it. '400 paar' slogan is for this. Narendra Modi, Amit Shah and BJP are doing a surgical strike on SC/ST/BC/OBC. When we are trying to stop this, Modi, Amit Shah are resorting to allegations against Rahul Gandhi."
Uttar Pradesh: Samajwadi Party MP Dimple Yadav's daughter Aditi campaigns for the party in the villages of Mainpuri.
Telangana: Congress candidate from Hyderabad, Mohammad Sameer Waliullah says, "Our campaigning started today...The response was good in both Hindu and Muslim areas. It could be felt that people want change. People were telling us that this time they would vote for Congress this time...If BJP is alleging that Congress and AIMIM are colluding, it is baseless. We have no alliance with AIMIM. First of all, Congress is a secular party. Congress never had and never will have an alliance with opportunist parties...Those who seek vote in the name of religion are opportunists. If AIMIM is seeking votes by making Muslims fear Hindus, by saying that that they would be thrown out of the country if BJP comes to power...it is obvious that they are opportunists..."
Angul, Odisha: Several BJD leaders and party workers joined the BJP in the presence of Union Minister and BJP leader Dharmendra Pradhan.
Angul, Odisha: Union Minister and the BJP candidate from Sambalpur Lok Sabha constituency Dharmendra Pradhan says, "Odisha has moved towards the change and hence the people from the BJD and other parties are joining the BJP as the people's faith in PM Modi in BJP is increasing. Since the local leadership isn't 'local' anymore, a 'babu' from the backdoor is trying to capture the house. People are upset with those who didn't work to develop the state but have done corruption..."
Goa: Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses a public rally in South Goa.
Delhi: Congress leaders KC Venugopal, Partap Singh Bajwa and Amrinder Singh Raja Warring reach the AICC headquarters for the Congress CEC meeting
Delhi | During her roadshow in the Kondli area, the wife of CM Arvind Kejriwal, Sunita Kejriwal says, "For one month, they have forcefully put your CM and my husband in jail. No court has convicted him so far. They are saying that the investigation is going on. If the investigation goes on for 10 years, will they keep him in jail for 10 years? Earlier, people were jailed only after the Court convicted someone but they have brought a new system and saying that will keep him in jail till the investigation is going on. This is a dictatorship. Arvind Kejriwal has been a diabetic for 22 years and on insulin for 12 years. He has been denied insulin in jail... Do they want to kill Arvind Kejriwal? I know that you people love him and that's their problem. What is his fault?"
Re-poll will be conducted for one polling station in the Hanur Assembly Constituency of Chamrajnagar Parliamentary Constituency on April 29, Monday. The decision was taken after a polling booth was vandalized in Indiganatta village of Chamarajanagar Lok Sabha constituency by the villagers who had boycotted voting.
A public rally organised in Kandivali, Mumbai, in support of Union Minister and BJP's candidate from Mumbai North Lok Sabha seat Piyush Goyal.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday said if Narendra Modi continues to be the prime minister for the third consecutive term, he would end terrorism and Naxalism from the country and also make India the world's third largest economy.
He was addressing an election rally at Porbandar in Gujarat in support of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Mansukh Mandaviya.
Shah said that when Article 370 was scrapped, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi opposed the move, saying it would lead to a river of blood flowing in Kashmir.
"In the last five years, let alone the river of blood, nobody even dared to throw a stone there. PM Modi worked to finish terrorism and Naxalism from the country. When Manmohan Singh was the country's prime minister, anyone could enter the country from Pakistan and blow up bombs," the senior BJP leader said. (PTI Input)
Reacting To Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s “no need to meet PM Modi unless he intends to Join BJP” remark, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday said, “Why is he (the Assam CM) bothered?” When asked about Himanta’s remark on Kharge, in a press conference in Guwahati, the Congress chief said he asked to speak to Modi (the Prime Minister), not the CM. Click here to read the full report.
YSRCP chief and Andhra Pradesh CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy launched party poll manifesto.
A day after polling concluded for the 20 Lok Sabha seats in Kerala, the Congress on Saturday alleged that voters were harassed and the election machinery was hijacked by the ruling CPI(M) in the state with an aim to bring down the turnout percentage.
The Congress was also confident of a good show in the phase 2 polls held in 13 states for 88 Lok Sabha seats, saying that the artificial hype created by Narendra Modi of a pro-BJP wave has been demolished.
AICC general secretary K C Venugopal said that post the first two phases of polling in the country, the Congress workers of all the states, where elections were held, are confident of a good outcome.
"Even in Kerala we are confident of winning all 20 Lok Sabha seats," he said.
While exuding confidence about a good show in the polls held in the southern state, Venugopal said that the alleged hijacking of the election machinery by the ruling CPI(M) was one of the reasons for the decrease in polling percentage in Kerala this year as compared to the turnout in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. (PTI Input)
Several people from the Sikh community in Delhi joined the BJP party in the presence of party National General Secretary Tarun Chugh, party leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa, and BJP President Virendra Sachdeva. (ANI Input)
Union Minister Smriti Irani took a jibe at Rahul Gandhi on Saturday during a rally in Uttar Pradesh's Amethi, which was once a Congress bastion. While addressing the election rally, she said that Rahul Gandhi first spoke about his relations in Amethi and then went to Wayanad where he declared the Kerala seat as his "home" while filing his nomination from there for the Lok Sabha elections. Click here to read the full report.
AIMIM President & candidate from Hyderabad constituency, Asaduddin Owaisi holds a door-to-door election campaign in Hyderabad.
Commention on Maharashtra Congress leader Naseem Khan's ‘no ticket to Muslims in the state’ remark, Union Minister Giriraj Singh on Saturday said, "When Congress believes that they will get all the votes of Muslims, then why aren’t they giving tickets to them? There's a fight going on within the (I.N.D.I.A) bloc".
A senior TDP leader has said the priority of the party is to "rebuild" Andhra Pradesh and take the state out of the debt trap by getting rid of the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) government.
Telugu Desam Party (TDP) National Coordinator (Election) and ex-Rajya Sabha MP Kanakamedal Ravindra Kumar said Andhra Pradesh has suffered more losses during the Jagan Mohan Reddy government than during the creation of the two Telugu states in 2014 when resources were shared with Telangana.
According to the state government data, the public debt of Andhra Pradesh has increased from 31.02 per cent of the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) in 2019-20 to 33.32 per cent in 2023-24 fiscal, indicating deterioration in the fiscal health of the state in the last five years. (PTI Input)
YSRCP MP Vijaysai Reddy rode an auto while campaigning for the elections in his constituency Andhra Pradesh's Nellore. Check out the video here:
The Congress will continue with its political campaign on greater use of VVPATs to increase public trust in the electoral process, the party said on Friday after the Supreme Court rejected pleas seeking complete cross-verification of votes cast using EVMs.
The Congress was not a party, directly or indirectly, to the petition on VVPATs rejected by the Supreme Court today, party general secretary Jairam Ramesh said.
"We have taken note of the verdict of the 2-judge bench and our political campaign on the greater use of VVPATs to increase public trust in the electoral process will continue," Ramesh said in a post on X. (PTI Input)
Background
Lok Sabha Elections HIGHLIGHTS: Please follow this space and refresh the page for all the latest updates pertaining to the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.
Sunita Kejriwal To Hold Roadshow In East Delhi On Saturday
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's wife Sunita Kejriwal will kick start the campaign for the AAP in the Lok Sabha polls, senior party leader Atishi announced on Friday. She will begin her campaign with a roadshow in the East Delhi constituency on Saturday. Addressing a press conference, Atishi, who is also a minister in the Delhi government, said Sunita Kejriwal will seek votes and blessings for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) from the people of Delhi.
"She will campaign for the party in Delhi, Punjab, Gujarat and Haryana. She will hold her first roadshow in East Delhi on Saturday and then another roadshow in West Delhi on Sunday," Atishi said.
Sunita Kejriwal is slowly emerging out of the shadows to assume a bigger role to give a fillip to the AAP's campaigning which has been affected by the chief minister's arrest in a money laundering case in March.
Arvind Kejriwal's judicial custody has been extended till May 7. (PTI Input)
Nomination Process For Phase 5 Of Lok Sabha Polls Commences
The nomination process for the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha polls to be held on May 20 across 49 constituencies commenced on Friday.
The Election Commission issued a notification on behalf of the President, kick-starting the nomination process.
The 49 seats are spread across eight states and the union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
The states going for polls in phase five are Bihar, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal.
According to the notification, while May 3 is the last date for making nominations, May 4 has been appointed as the day for scrutiny of papers.
Candidates can withdraw from the electoral battle by May 6.
The fifth phase has the least number of constituencies going for polls in the seven-phased election which began on April 19. Polling is underway for the second phase of elections on Friday in 88 seats. (PTI Input)
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