Lok Sabha Elections 2024 Highlights: Congress wanted to allocate 15% of budget to Muslims, says PM Modi

Alleging that the Congress government in Telangana betrayed the farmers on the promise of bonus on the minimum support price (MSP) to paddy, the opposition BRS called for protests on May 16. In a statement, BRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao claimed that Chief Minister Revanth Reddy promised paying a bonus of Rs 500 per quintal to paddy immediately after the Lok Sabha polls but is now saying that it would be paid only for slender (particular) variety.

The I..N.D.I.A bloc will work for the country's progress if it forms government at the Centre, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal said as he appealed to people to vote for candidates of the alliance to end "dictatorship" and "save" the Constitution. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress, both members of the bloc, are contesting the Lok Sabha elections in Delhi under a seat-sharing arrangement. The Kejriwal-led party is contesting four of the seven parliamentary seats in the national capital, while its alliance partner has fielded candidates from three.

The ruling YSRCP on Wednesday lodged a complaint with the Election Commission against the special police observer, Deepak Mishra, for polls in Andhra Pradesh, alleging biased conduct and his replacement with a new observer. In a letter addressed to the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), YSRCP leader L Appi Reddy called for replacing Mishra with a new police observer known for "honesty and integrity to ensure a level playing field for all parties involved".  

Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a mega roadshow in Mumbai on Wednesday evening to canvass support for the candidates of the BJP and its allies as thousands of people lined up to greet him. The roadshow came ahead of the May 20 polling for the six Lok Sabha constituencies in Mumbai and seven others in the rest of Maharashtra. The elections in Maharashtra will conclude with the fifth phase.

The BJP on Wednesday accused the Congress of making "false promises" to win the Lok Sabha elections after the main opposition party president Mallikarjun Kharge announced that if the INDIA bloc is voted to power, it will double the quantity of free rations provided by the BJP government to the poor.

Union Minister Piyush Goyal slammed Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, saying he deserted 'Hindutva' ideology'.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a roadshow in Mumbai's Ghatkopar area. Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavi were present with the PM during the roadshow.

Accusing West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of compromising on the issue of infiltration and appeasing minorities, BJP chief J P Nadda said during the decade-long reign of the TMC in the state, one scandal after another has plagued West Bengal.

Upset over not allowed to be on stage at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's rally in Kalyan, a local functionary of the Shiv Sena led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has resigned. Arvind More, in-charge of the party unit in Kalyan-Murbad assembly constituency in Thane district, told PTI on Wednesday that he had quit his post in protest.

Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee said the exit of the BJP government at the Centre is inevitable. Addressing a rally in support of Arambagh Lok Sabha candidate Mitali Bagh at Purshurah, Banerjee said once a change in government takes place at the Centre, all the dues owed to West Bengal under various central schemes will be realised and used for people's welfare.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday said many believe that special treatment has been given to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal by the Supreme Court in granting him interim bail. Speaking to ANI, the Home Minister said he believes this is not a routine judgement adding a lot of people in this country believe that special treatment has been given.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday alleged that the BJP wants to "destroy" the Constitution and scrap the reservation provided to tribals, Dalits, and backward class. Addressing an election rally in Odisha's Bolangir, Gandhi claimed that if the BJP wins this election, it will privatise the public sector entities and the country will be run by 22 billionaires. "BJP wants to tear this book, but we in Congress and the people of India will not allow it," he said pointing to the Constitution in his hand. Gandhi said that whatever the country's poor, Dalits, tribals, minorities, farmers and labourers have received till now, it is due to the Constitution.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer Mukesh Kumar Meena on Wednesday said the total voting percentage for the 25 Lok Sabha and 175 Assembly seats during the May 13 elections in the state was 81. 86 per cent. The Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) said this includes 80. 66 per cent polled through EVMs and 1. 2 per cent through postal ballots. Out of 4. 13 crore electors, he said 3,33,40,560 voted for 25 Parliamentary seats while 3,33,40,333 people cast their votes for 175 Assembly seats. Meena noted that Andhra Pradesh recorded the highest voting percentage in the four phases of the polls across the country so far. The turnout numbers were also the highest in the history of the state, he said.

PM Modi, while addressing a rally in Maharashtra, slammed Congress, saying the Minority means its dear vote bank and a split in the country's budget on religious lines is dangerous.

PM Modi, while addressing an election rally in Maharashtra, said It is Congress’ thinking that 15 per cent of country’s budget be spent on minorities.

Taking cognisance of post-poll violence in Andhra Pradesh, the Election Commission of India has summoned the state's chief secretary and the DGP to "personally explain" the administration's failure to contain the incidents, sources said.

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, and Akhilesh Yadav to hold a joint press conference at 10:00 am tomorrow (May 15) in Uttar Pradesh's Lucknow. 

In the wake of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s planned visits to Mumbai, the police have banned the use of drones, paragliders, balloons, kites and remote-controlled microlight aircraft in the city, an official said on Wednesday. PM Modi is scheduled to hold a campaign roadshow in Ghatkopar in eastern Mumbai on Wednesday and address a public meeting in the city on Friday. The Deputy Commissioner of Police (Operations) has issued prohibitory orders banning the flying objects under section 144 of CrPC (Code of Criminal Procedure) from 00.01 hrs till 24.00 hrs of May 15 (Wednesday) and May 17 (Friday), the official said.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday alleged that the BJP wants to "destroy" the Constitution and scrap the reservation provided to tribals, Dalits, and backward class. Addressing an election rally in Odisha's Bolangir, Gandhi claimed that if the BJP wins this election, it will privatise the public sector and the country will be run by 22 billionaires. "BJP wants to tear this book, but we in Congress and the people of India will not allow it," he said pointing to the Constitution in his hand. "If BJP wins, the reservation will be scrapped, the public sector will be privatised, and the country will be run by 22 billionaires. That's why the people's government should be formed," he added.

Calling Narendra Modi the outgoing prime minister, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh on Wednesday claimed the polling held so far clearly indicates that the BJP has been "wiped out" from south India and reduced to half in the rest of the country. Addressing a press conference in Ranchi, Ramesh alleged that the PM polarised voters on religious lines, and was now lying that he never did Hindu-Muslim politics.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday referred to protests in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and said "PoK is part of India and we will take it". Addressing a rally in Serampore, Shah said while peace has returned to once trouble-torn Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019, Pakistan-occupied Kashmir "now echoes with slogans of Azaadi and protests. "After the abrogation of article 370 by the government in 2019 peace has returned to Kashmir. But now we witness protests in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Earlier slogans of Azaadi were heard here, now the same slogans are heard in PoK. Earlier stones were pelted here, now stones are pelted in PoK," he said. Hitting out at Congress leaders for not supporting the demand of taking over PoK, Shah said, "Congress leaders like Mani Shankar Aiyar say it should not be done as they have an atom bomb. But let me say this Pakistan-occupied Kashmir is part of India and we will take it."

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday asserted that the opposition INDIA bloc is in a strong position after four phases of Lok Sabha polls and that the people of the country are prepared to bid farewell to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He also said that the election is to save the Constitution and asked why PM Modi has not taken action against those talking of changing the Constitution.

Maharashtra BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule meets MNS chief Raj Thackeray in Mumbai.

Two months after the BJP replaced Manohar Lal Khattar with Nayab Singh Saini as Haryana chief minister, the 70-year-old leader and former RSS 'pracharak' is preparing for another innings -- to enter the Lok Sabha for the first time. Though 19 candidates are in the fray from the Karnal parliamentary seat, the contest is mainly between Khattar and Haryana Youth Congress president Divyanshu Budhiraja (30). Karnal is an agricultural-industrial district in the north-central part of Haryana and is also famous for its Basmati rice. It is said to have been founded by Raja Karna who was one of the main characters in the epic Mahabharata.

BSP supremo Mayawati will address an election rally at Atarra in Uttar Pradesh's Banda district on Wednesday (May 15).

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will hold a roadshow in Punjab's Amritsar tomorrow (May 16) amid the Lok Sabha Elections 2024. 

(With inputs from Bhaskar Mishra) 

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will address public meetings in Mahoba, Hamirpur, and Urai. Later, he is scheduled to hold roadshows in Jhansi at 3:15 p.m. and Lucknow at 7:00 p.m.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will hold a bike rally and public meeting in Odisha's Balangir at 11:45 am today.

RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav will address multiple election rallies in Jharkhand's Chatra, Kodarma, Giridih, and Hazaribagh on Wednesday (May 15). 

BJP President JP Nadda will campaign in Bihar, West Bengal and Odisha on Wednesday. The BJP chief is scheduled to hold a public meeting in Bihar's Motihari at 11:15 am. From there, he will go to West Bengal to address public meetings in Raghunathganj (Murshidabad) at 2:35 pm and Bankura at 4:10 pm. Later, he will attend a meeting on 'Subhadra Yojana' in Odisha's Bhubaneshwar at 7:50 p.m.

Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will hold multiple 'nukkad' meetings and public outreach programmes in the Unchahar Assembly segment of the Raebareli Lok Sabha constituency on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be addressing back-to-back rallies in Uttar Pradesh on Thursday and Friday, said the party spokesman. He will be holding rallies in Jaunpur and Azamgarh on Thursday. While the Jaunpur rally will also cover Machhlishahr parliamentary seat, the one in Azamgarh will aim to consolidate the party’s position in both Azamgarh and Lalganj seats. Interestingly, except for Machhlishahr, the BJP lost the other three seats- Azamgarh, Lalganj and Jaunpur- to the SP-BSP combine in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. The BJP managed to win Machhlishahr by a wafer-thin margin of 181 votes, with party candidate Bholanath Saroj defeating BSP candidate Tribhuwan Ram, a former PWD chief engineer.

The INDIA opposition bloc is a "temporary coalition" as its constituents are fiercely contesting the Lok Sabha polls against each other in Punjab and slinging mud at each other, while they are conveniently in an "unholy" tie-up in Chandigarh, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said here on Tuesday. "Have you ever seen such a self-serving alliance?" the BJP leader asked while referring to the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which are fighting the Lok Sabha polls in an alliance in Chandigarh but contesting the election on their own in Punjab.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will address election rallies in support of their respective party candidates in Odisha today. Lok Sabha and Assembly elections are being held simultaneously in Odisha. Shah will hold a roadshow and two public meetings on Wednesday, while Rahul Gandhi will join a bike rally and address an election rally. Sources in BJP said that Shah after his arrival in Bhubaneswar will address two public meetings at Sorada under the Aska Lok Sabha seat and at Boudh under Kandhamal Parliamentary constituency before coming to Cuttack to attend a roadshow in the evening. Rourkela and Kantabanji, the second seat from where BJD president and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is contesting the Assembly polls, have reportedly been omitted from Shah's itinerary, according to BJP sources. Congress candidate from Bolangir assembly segment Samarendra Mishra said Gandhi will join a bike rally and attend address a public meeting at Bolangir on Wednesday.