Lok Sabha Election 2019: Latest Election news from across India

Congress releases list of candidates for Sikkim (32 candidates) and Arunachal Pradesh (53 candidates) assembly elections.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh will address a rally in the northeast parliamentary constituency on Tuesday as part of the BJP's 'Vijay Sankalp' rallies for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

Dancer and actor Sapna Chaudhary joins Congress party in Delhi

Santosh Ahlawat, the only woman MP from Rajasthan in the 16th Lok Sabha, expressed disappointment over being dropped from the first list of BJP candidates from the state, saying she has been axed despite the work done by her. 

"This is very disappointing that I was denied ticket despite the work I have done for the constituency as well as for the party and workers in five years.

"I took keen interest in promoting and encouraging birth of girl child and girls' education and also got huge support from people and party workers but my name was dropped for no reason,” Ahlawat, the MP from Jhunjhunu, said.

The BJP on Saturday appointed Union minister Uma Bharti, who has decided not to contest the Lok Sabha polls, its national vice-president.

Bharti, who represents Jhansi in the Lok Sabha, was brought in as a senior office bearer after she conveyed to the BJP leadership her wish to not contest the coming general elections. The Hindutva leader has said she wants to go on a 18-month-long pilgrimage from May.

Deputy Chief Minister and state Congress chief Sachin Pilot said the party would declare the names of the candidates for the Lok Sabha election after Rahul Gandhi's visit. Congress president Rahul Gandhi will address three public meetings during his one-day visit to Rajasthan next Tuesday.

JP Nadda, BJP: Anurag Thakur to contest from Hamirpur (Himachal Pradesh), Suresh Kashyap from Shimla (Himachal Pradesh), Kishan Kapoor from Kangra (Himachal Pradesh), Nishikant Dubey from Godda (Jharkhand). Shripad Naik to contest from North Goa, Narendra Singh Tomar from Morena,  Janardan Mishra from Reva, Rakesh Singh from Jabalpur. Jayant Sinha to contest from Hazaribagh, Arjun Munda from Khunti, Vidhyut Varan Mahatao from Jamshedpur, Pashupati Nath Singh from Dhanbad. We will support Sumalatha as the independent candidate from Mandya (Karnataka).

Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti will be the PDP candidate from Anantnag Lok Sabha constituency but the party has decided not to field any candidates for Jammu and Udhampur seats in a bid to prevent division of "secular votes". The development comes days after National Conference and INC in a joint press conference declared their plans for the upcoming elections.

The Karnataka Dalita Sangharsha Samiti (DSS) will support the Congress and other secular parties in the coming Lok Sabha elections, its state chief convenor Mavalli Shankar said Saturday.

Maharashtra Congress Chief Ashok Chavan: Congress to contest on 24 seats, NCP on 20 seats, Bahujan Vikas Aghadi on 1 seat, Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana on 2 seats, Yuva Swabhimani Paksha on 1 seat.

West Bengal: Of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal, BJP likely to get 8 seats and TMC 32 seats.

Bihar: According to the India TV CNX Opinion Poll in Bihar, NDA can get 28 seats and the UPA 12 seats.

Maharashtra: Of the 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra, BJP can get 22, Congress 9, Shiv Sena 10 and NCP 07. According to the alliance, the NDA can get 32 seats and UPA 16 seats.

Chhattisgarh: BJP likely to win 11 Lok Sabha seats and Congress may get 08 seats.

Rajasthan: BJP can get 20 seats and Congress 05 seats out of 25 Lok Sabha seats in Rajasthan.

Kerala: BJP can get only one seat out of 20 Lok Sabha seats in Kerala; Congress may get 08 seats, Left 04 and others 07 seats.

Madhya Pradesh: BJP predicted to get 29 Lok Sabha seats in Madhya Pradesh and Congress 06 seats.

Former IAS officer Shah Faesal has announced that his political party Jammu and Kashmir People's Movement will not contest Lok Sabha Elections 2019.
He appealed people to vote in large numbers to select the right candidate.

Apart from Amethi, Congress president Rahul Gandhi is also considering to fight from a second seat. This seat could be Wayanad parliamentary constituency in Kerala.

BJP releases list of 11 candidates (6 Telangana, 3 Uttar Pradesh and 1 each for Kerala and West Bengal) for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

BJP releases list of 11 candidates

The election flying squad Saturday seized foreign currencies amounting to Rs 43.44 lakh from a motorcyclist here, and Rs 1.83 crore from a van in Salem, official sources said. During a vehicle-check in the area of Singanallur assembly constituency in Coimbatore, the squad stopped the two-wheeler of Jayaraman, and found in it 35,000 USD (Rs 24.29 lakh), Singapore dollars 22,000 (Rs 11.31 lakh) and 10,000 Euros (Rs 7.84 lakh), they said. The currencies were handed over to the income tax authorities, and Jayaraman, working in a private firm and on his way to airport, produced some documents which were being verified, the sources said. Meanwhile in Salem, a flying squad seized Rs 1.83 crore from a van that was to be deposited in an ATM.

Three state leaders, who were expelled by the BJP in Uttarakhand, have rejoined the party. Suresh Jain, a former MLA from Roorkee, Asha Nautiyal, former MLA from Rudraprayag and Sandip Gupta, former Chairman of the state sugarcane committee, rejoined the state BJP unit at a function at the party's headquarters. Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat was also present at the occasion. 

Congress President Rahul Gandhi is expected to contest Lok Sabha election from Kerala's Wayanad seat, apart from Amethi. The Kerala unit of Congress has sent a recommendation to the leadership, however, it is yet to decide on it. 

Congress leader Digvijay Singh will contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections from Bhopal. It is pertinent to mention that the Bhopal is considered a stronghold of the BJP, which has been winning from the seat since last 8 consecutive years. 

Sitting MPs, Union Minister for AYUSH Shripad Naik and Narendra Sawaikar, will contest the Lok Sabha elections from the North Goa and South Goa seats respectively. Former MLA late Francis D'Souza's son Joshua was given the ticket to contest from Mapusa Assembly constituency while Subhash Shirodkar and Dayanand Sopte, both of whom left the Congress to join the BJP last year, will contest from the Shiroda and Mandrem Assembly seats for the upcoming three Assembly bypolls, state BJP general secretary Sadanand Shet Tanavde told reporters. Elections for the two Lok Sabha constituencies and three Assembly bypolls in Goa will be held on April 23.

Maintaining silence over its candidate for Tamil Nadu's Sivaganga Lok Sabha constituency, the Congress declared eight names for the April 18 polls. The names featured in the party's list of 34 Lok Sabha seats that was released earlier in the day. The Tamil Nadu candidates include two former state party heads, Su. Thirunavukkarasar and E.V.K.S. Elangovan. The obvious miss in the list was it candidate from the Sivaganga constituency.

Congress President should explain it to the nation- do you consider such heinous attack (Pulwama attack) a routine incident?, said BJP Chief Amit Shah on Indian Overseas Congress Chief Sam Pitroda's remark on air strike. "If a country shouldn't be held responsible for deeds of 7-8 people, does Congress believe that Pakistan govt&military has a connection with terror attacks here? If there is a connection,who is the culprit, Congress party should answer," he added.

If terror attacks shouldn't be responded with surgical strikes & air strikes, and should be dealt with talks, is this Congress' policy to deal with terrorism. Congress President should respond on these, said Amit Shah. He also questioned Gandhi as to who does he support. "Doubting the Indian Air Force is not right for the national president of any party. You stand in support when slogans are raised against the country in JNU, and call it the freedom of expression," he added.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has dropped four sitting MPs from Maharashtra while announcing the second list of six nominees for the Lok Sabha elections on Saturday morning.The candidates are: Maharashtra Minister Girish Bapat (Pune), Bharati Pawar (Dindori), Smita U. Wagh (Jalgaon), Kanchan R. Kul (Baramati) and Jaysidhesvar Swami (Solapur) and Pratap Patil Chikkalikar (Nanded). Those dropped include sitting Members of Parliament (MP) - Anil Shirole (Pune), Sharad Bansode (Solapur), A.T. Patil (Jalgaon) and Harishchandra Chavan (Dindori).

The Congress has announced its candidates for four more Lok Sabha seats in Chhattisgarh, including high-profile Raipur and Rajnandgaon constituencies. Bilaspur and Mahasamund are two other seats for which names of the candidates were announced Friday late night, a Congress leader said Saturday, adding the party has so far announced candidates for nine of the total 11 seats. Chhattisgarh will vote in three phases on April 11, April 18 and April 23.

BJP has denied ticket to Shatrughan Sinha from Patna Sahib constituency. Senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad will contest his first Lok Sabha election from this seat. 

NDA announces list of candidates in Bihar for Lok Sabha polls. Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad to contest from Patna Sahib, while Nawada MP Giriraj Singh has been fielded from Begusarai. Lok Janshakti Party's Chandan Kumar will now contest from Nawada. LJP's Chirag Paswan will contest from Jamui. Ramkirpal Yadav has been fielded from Patliputra, RK Singh from Arrah, Aswani Choubey from Buxar, Radha Mohan Singh from East Champaran, Rajiv Pratap Rudy from Saran. 

NDA announces list of candidates in Bihar for Lok Sabha polls

NDA will hold a press conference shortly. The candidates for all 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar will be announced in the much-awaited presser. It is expected that Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad would be fielded from Patna Sahib, while Shatrughan Sinha might be sidelined. 

Former Chhattisgarh CM Dr Raman Singh says a meeting of BJP Central Election Committee will be held today. I think final decision on 6 Lok Sabha seats (in Chhattisgarh) will be taken & candidates for these seats will be declared, he adds.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu's son and cabinet minister Nara Lokesh owns assets worth over Rs 320 crore. Lokesh declared this on Friday in an affidavit submitted along with his nomination for Mangalagiri Assembly constituency in state capital region Amaravati. His movable assets were worth over Rs 253 crore and immovable assets were valued at Rs 66 crore.

YSR Congress president Y. S. Jagamohan Reddy owns assets of more than Rs 375 crore but does not own a vehicle. He declared his assets on Friday while filing nomination for Pulivendula Assembly constituency in Kadapa district of Andhra Pradesh.His movable assets were over Rs 339 crore while immovable assets were worth more than Rs 35 crore. In 2014, while filing nomination from the same constituency, Jagan had declared total assets of Rs 343 crore. Click here for Full Report

Former Samajwadi Party MP from Mirzapur joined Congress party in presence of Congress President Rahul Gandhi, Congress General Secretary for Uttar Pradesh (East) Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Congress Gen Secy for UP (West) Jyotiraditya Scindia & UP party unit chief Raj Babbar in Delhi.

Former SP leader joins Congress ahead of LS polls

The opposition 'Mahagathbandhan' in Bihar on Friday announced its seat-sharing formula for the 40 Lok Sabha seats in the state, half of which will be fought by Lalu Prasad's RJD and nine by the Congress. Click here for Full Report

The Bharatiya Janata Party has released its second list of candidates for the Lok Sabha polls containing 36 names, which included 23 nominees for Andhra Pradesh where polling will be held in the first phase on April 11. BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra will contest the general election from Puri parliamentary constituency in Odisha. Click here for Full List 

The Congress party on Friday came out with its seventh list of 35 candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The list had Uttar Pradesh state unit chief Raj Babbar's name from Fatehpur Sikri instead of the earlier announced Moradabad. Click here for Full Report 

Hello and welcome to our daily Election Live Blog where we bring to you the election live updates from across India. With the Mahagathbandhan in Bihar announcing its seat-sharing forumula for 40 Lok Sabha seats, the focus now shifts on NDA which is expected to come out with its list of candidates today. Catch the latest here.