Lok Sabha Election 2019: I will neither contest upcoming Lok Sabha polls nor assembly bypolls, says Kamal Hassan

Gorkha Janmukti Morcha and Gorkha National Liberation Front to support BJP in Darjeeling in upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Raju Singh Bisht to contest from Darjeeling Lok Sabha constituency in West Bengal. SS Ahluwalia in a letter to Amit Shah has expressed his inability to contest from Darjeeling. He has stated that he can contest from any other seat in West Bengal.

BJP Gen Secy Kailash Vijayvargiya with leaders of Gorkha Janmukti Morcha and Gorkha National Liberation Front pose for a group photo to support BJP in Darjeeling in upcoming Lok Sabha elections in New Delhi 

Makkal Needhi Maiam leader Kamal Hassan in Coimbatore: I will neither contest upcoming Lok Sabha polls nor assembly bypolls to 18 constituencies in Tamil Nadu. I have lot of work to do. I will work towards the success of my candidates. 

BJP fields Raju Singh Bisht from Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat, replacing Union minister S S Ahluwalia.

Karti Chidambaram, Congress: I firmly believe the strength of the party and the alliance will help me win the Sivaganga seat. This is the second time I am contesting elections.

Odisha CM announces BJD candidates for 9 assembly constituencies: Kishore Mohanty from Brajaraj Nagar, AN Singh-Bolangir, Pradeep Behera-Loisinga,Pitam Padhi-Pottangi, PK Dishari-Lanjigarh, PC Majhi-Jharigam, Mukunda Sodi-Malkangiri,Dr R Panigrahi-Sambalpur and Rohit Pujari-Rairakhol.

Goa: BJP leader from Mapusa Sudhir Kandolkar who resigned from the party today, joins Congress.

Samajwadi Party releases its list of star campaigners for second phase of elections; Mulayam Singh Yadav's name included in the second list which was missing in the first list.

BJP releases its list of 9 candidates from Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Meghalaya and Maharashtra- Santosh Pandey to contest from Chhattisgarh's Rajnandagaon, Sunil Soni to contest from Raipur, Raghunanadan Rao from Medak in Telangana 

BJP releases its list of 9 candidates from Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Meghalaya and Maharashtra

Congress fields Karti Chidambaram from Sivaganga in Tamil Nadu. Former NCP leader Tariq Anwar to fight from Katihar in Bihar,  B K Hariprasad from Bangalore South Lok Sabha seat.

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"This campaign for Telangana itself is invigorating for those of us who are in the grind of the campaign. I may not be contesting but there are people for whom we all are working. 2019 polls is going to make a big difference for India" said BJP leader and the Defence Minister of India, Nirmala Sitharaman

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address two rallies - one at north Bengal's Siliguri and other at Kolkata's Brigade Parade Ground -- on April 3 ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, a party leader said on Sunday.

"His first public meeting will be in Siliguri at 1 p.m. and then he will attend a rally at Brigade Parade Ground at 3 p.m.," BJP leader Mukul Roy told reporters.

"Rahul Gandhi needs to tell everyone how his declared income increased from 2 Crore in 2009 to 9 Crore in 2014. what business was he doing?" BJP Delhi President Manoj Tiwari said. "There is a conflict within Congress. They don't know if Rahul Gandhi should lead them or Priyanka Gandhi". he added 

Talking about Priyanka Gandhi's visit to Allahabad and Varanasi he asked her to answer questions about her husband and how he takes away people's land.

Narendra Rathi, UP Congress Secretary: Sapna Chaudhary came and filled the membership form herself, her signature is on it. Her sister also joined the party yesterday, we have both of their forms.

Madhepura MP and Jan Adhikar Party leader Pappu Yadav says he is open to joining Congress, leadership need to take a call.

Sapna Chaudhary denies joining Congress, says photo with Priyanka is old.

Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh Sunday claimed that the NDA government will return to power at the Centre and the BJP will win both the Lok Sabha seats in the state.

The Aam Aadmi Party has released its first list of candidates in Uttar Pradesh for the Lok Sabha elections. Yogesh Dahiya will fight from the Saharanpur parliamentary seat, Shweta Sharma from Gautam Buddh Nagar and Satish Chandra Sharma from Aligarh.

The party is likely to contest the polls from 25 Lok Sabha seats in the state. For rest of the seats, the process to select candidates is in the final stage, said Rajya Sabha MP and AAP state in-charge Sanjay Singh.

With West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress and emerging opposition BJP intensifying their fight ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, capturing and recapturing each other's party offices have become a regular occurrence.

Supporters of the BJP's Coochbehar candidate Nisith Pramanik, who recently switched to the saffron party from the Trinamool, have allegedly recaptured a "Trinamool-acquired party office" at Bamanhat market in Coochbehar district.

"My association with Trinamool was a sin. The BJP is like the holy Ganges. Our supporters clean the party office with water from the holy river," he said after taking over the office.

The Congress has announced its candidates for nine of the 29 Lok Sabha seats in Madhya Pradesh, fielding former Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh from Bhopal. Former Minister and Lok Sabha member Kantilal Bhuria was given the ticket to contest on Ratlam.

Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy, Communist Party of India: Former Jawaharlal Nehru University students union president, Kanhaiya Kumar will contest from Begusarai Lok Sabha constituency. 

The Congress has announced candidates for all the five Lok Sabha seats in Uttarakhand. The party has fielded Congress general secretary Harish Rawat from Nainital, former MLA Ambrish Kumar from Haridwar, former Chief Minister B.C. Khanduri's son Manish Khanduri from Pauri, state Congress president Pritam Singh from Tehri and Rajya Sabha member Pradeep Tamta from Almora.

The decision to contest on the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat in Kerala rests with Congress President Rahul Gandhi, All India Congress Committee general secretary Oommen Chandy has said. "There is no confusion at all regarding Gandhi contesting the Lok Sabha polls from Wayanad. Our party here has already indicated our desire that this should happen. Now it's Gandhi who has to make the final decision and it's expected today itself," Chandy told the media

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav to contest from Azamgarh Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh, Azam Khan to contest from Rampur 

Samajwadi Party releases its list of star campaigners for Lok Sabha polls; Akhilesh Yadav, Ram Gopal Yadav, Azam Khan, Dimple Yadav and Jaya Bachchan included in the list; Mulayam Singh Yadav's name not there. 

The ruling AIADMK in Tamil Nadu, which has for long attacked the DMK for dynastic politics, has drawn criticism for nominating sons of its leaders including O Panneerselvam for the April 18 Lok Sabha polls. Among DMK's 20 candidates, six are children of prominent leaders while the AIADMK has allotted four of the 20 seats to wards of party leaders.

Launching his party's Lok Sabha poll campaign in West Bengal, Congress president Rahul Gandhi Saturday trained his guns on both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, charging them with failing to fulfil their promises. Gandhi's rally in the North Malda constituency, once a Congress bastion, assumed significance as the party is facing an uphill task to hold onto its base due to large-scale defections of party leaders, including its sitting MP Mausam Benazir Noor, to the Trinamool Congress.  The BJP too has been surging in the area with several leaders from opposition parties, including the CPI(M), joining it recently. 

BJP president Amit Shah will launch the party's poll campaign after the Lok Sabha election schedule was announced with a rally in Agra in Uttar Pradesh on Sunday, and its top leaders will hold rallies in every constituency across the country till Tuesday.

The Congress party has come out with its eighth list of 38 candidates for the April-May parliamentary polls with its leader in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge being renominated from Gulbarga in Karnataka and former Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan being fielded from Nanded. Former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijaya Singh will contest from Bhopal Lok Sabha seat and former Uttarakhand chief minister Harish Rawat from Nainital constituency.

Former 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".

Hello and welcome to our daily Election Live Blog where we bring to you the election live updates from across India. With the biggest game of thrones set to begin next month, political circles are perplexed as to who will India choose - Modi wave or Mahagathbandhan. It will be for all to see what the decider reveals on May 24. Catch the latest here.