Lok Sabha Elections 2024: BJP issues notice to Dilip Ghosh on his remark against Mamata Banerjee

The BJP issued a notice to Bengal party leader Dilip Ghosh, seeking his reply over his controversial remark on CM Mamata Banerjee.

TMC releases a list of 40 star campaigners that included West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, MP and party's national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, former cricketer and candidate Yusuf Pathan among others to campaign.

Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) on Tuesday announced 5 candidates from Uttarakhand.

Congress MP Ravneet Singh Bittu joins BJP ahead of Lok Sabha polls. Bittu is a Congress MP from Punjab's Ludhiana. 

Prime Minister Modi will hold a rally with Jayant Chaudhary in Meerut on Saturday (March 30).

"NCP state President Sunil Tatkare will contest the Raigad Lok Sabha seat," informed Maharashtra Deputy CM and NCP chief Ajit Pawar

Maharashtra Deputy CM and NCP chief Ajit Pawar said, "There is no confusion among Mahayuti. We sat together and decided on seat sharing. BJP and Shiv Sena cooperated with us to decide the seats. 90 per cent of the decisions have been made. On 28th March, all announcements will done at a joint press conference with BJP and Shiv Sena."

TMC files a complaint with the West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer against BJP MP Dilip Ghosh for 'passing derogatory and offensive comment personally attacking Mamata Banerjee, thereby violating Model Code of Conduct (MCC)'.

The press conference of Mahayuti will be held on March 28 (Thursday). The press conference will be held in Mumbai where CM Eknath Shinde, Deputy CMs Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar will be present.

The Prakash Amebdkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) is still a part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi and discussions with the former are still on, said Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Tuesday. The Rajya Sabha member told reporters that the MVA’s proposal of leaving aside four seats for VBA in Maharashtra for the Lok Sabha polls is still open. Seat-sharing talks among MVA partners Congress, Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP) and Sena (UBT) are more or less over, said Raut, adding that the first list of his party’s candidates is expected to be released on Tuesday.

Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi on Tuesday filed nomination papers as a party candidate for the Jorhat Lok Sabha constituency in Assam. Accompanied by the party's state unit president Bhupen Kumar Borah, leader of opposition in the assembly Debabrata Saikia, Gogoi, the deputy leader of the Congress in the outgoing Lok Sabha, submitted his nomination papers to Returning Officer Pulak Kumar Mahanta. Raijor Dal president Akhil Gogoi, deputy leader of the opposition in the assembly and Congress' Dhubri candidate Rakibul Hussain, MLAs Rekibuddin Ahmed, Nandita Das and Sibamoni Bora and several other leaders were present there. The Congress candidate, clad in a white kurta with 'gamosa' (traditional hand towels) draped around his neck, led a procession from Jorhat Stadium to the office of the returning officer to file the nomination papers.

Central Election Committee (CEC) of Congress to meet tomorrow (March 27) in Delhi to finalise candidates for Lok Sabha elections 2024.

Congress candidate from Uttarakhand's Tehri Lok Sabha seat Jot Singh Gunsola filed his nomination papers today (March 26).

Union minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Tuesday filed his nomination as the BJP candidate for the Dibrugarh parliamentary constituency in Assam, an official said. Sonowal, accompanied by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, filed his nomination papers before Returning Officer Bikram Kairi. Polling for the Dibrugarh constituency will be held on April 19 in the first phase of the general elections. Assam has 14 Lok Sabha seats. Besides Sarma, Sonowal was accompanied by Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) president Atul Bora, United People's Party Liberal (UPPL) leader Promode Bodo, sitting BJP MLA and Union minister Rameswar Teli and state party president Bhabesh Kalita.

The Election Commission has directed the chief electoral officer of Karnataka to take "immediate appropriate action" on a complaint filed by JD (S) president H D Deve Gowda that Congress MP D K Suresh was allegedly planning distribution of freebies and the state poll machinery failed to take swift action. ]In a letter to the state CEO, the EC asked him to take action keeping in mind the provisions of the model code of conduct and relevant laws, and sought a compliance report at the earliest. The EC letter was sent out on March 21 based on a complaint of former prime minister Gowda to the poll panel.

NCP-SCP leader and spokesperson Mahesh Tapase today said, "Parliamentary Board meeting of Sharad Pawar faction will be held on March 27 (Wednesday) at 11:00 am in Mumbai. Party chief Sharad Pawar will head the meeting."

Daily reports of the activities of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) already deployed in West Bengal will have to be sent to the national headquarters of the Election Commission from the end of the current month. Starting from March 29, the report of activities of the deployed personnel for the previous day will reach the office of ECI daily at 10 a.m., said insiders from the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal. The EC observers for different areas will send their reports to the office of CEO and the latter in turn will compile and send them to ECI. Sources in the CEO office said that the daily reports were being sought to ensure that CAPF personnel already deployed remain at the optimum level of efficiency so that they can be utilized to the best as per requirement evolving any time.

The Malappuram Lok Sabha constituency is often considered a bastion of the second-biggest partner in the Congress-led UDF, the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), but this time the CPI(M)-led Left and the BJP-led NDA is trying to put up a keen fight. The Malappuram constituency in Malappuram District came into existence in 2009 by carving out areas from the erstwhile Manjeri Lok Sabha constituency and the IUML lost this seat just once in 2004 to the CPI(M). This time the IUML has decided to swap its sitting MPs and hence ET Mohammed Basheer who represented the Ponnani Lok Sabha seat has been fielded from Malappuram, after moving Abdussamad Samadani to the Ponnani seat. Veteran Basheer, a soft-spoken leader is also a former State Education Minister and a popular face in the constituency. Taking him on is the young Turk V Vaseef, a schoolteacher-turned-state President of the DYFI the youth wing of the CPI(M).

Bengaluru, Karnataka: Core committee meeting of JDS started at state President HD Kumaraswamy's residence.

BJP candidate from Nagaur Lok Sabha seat Jyoti Mirdha on Tuesday filed her nomination papers for the elections. Minister Gajendra Singh Khinvsar was present at the time of nomination filing in the collectorate. Mirdha, a former Congress MP from Nagaur who joined the BJP ahead of the 2023 assembly elections, is pitted against RLP convener Hanuman Beniwal who is contesting the elections in alliance with the Congress. Lok Sabha elections in Rajasthan will be held in two phases on April 19 and 26. Nagaur is among 12 Lok Sabha seats where elections will be held in the first phase on April 19. The last date of filing nomination papers for the first phase is March 27. Scrutiny will be held on March 28 and the last date of withdrawal of nomination papers is March 30. In the first phase, voting will be held in 12 Lok Sabha constituencies of Ganganagar, Bikaner, Churu, Jhunjhunu, Sikar, Jaipur Rural, Jaipur, Alwar, Bharatpur, Karauli-Dholpur, Dausa and Nagaur on April 19. The remaining 13 seats of Tonk-Sawai Madhopur, Ajmer, Pali, Jodhpur, Barmer, Jalore, Udaipur, Banswara, Chittorgarh, Rajsamand, Bhilwara, Kota and Jhalawar-Baran will go to polls in the second phase on April 26.

BJP to go it alone in Punjab for Lok Sabha polls, says state chief, no alliance with Akali Dal.

Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut said, "Shiv Sena's first list is ready, we will publish the list today. Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) is with us. They are important members of Maha Vikas Aghadi. The proposal of 4 seats remains."

There is a dispute going on between Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT) on the Sangli seat. Despite the Opposition of Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) is not ready to back down.

Sanjay Raut today reiterated that our candidate will be there on Sangli seat. Only Shiv Sena will contest on this seat.

Discussion is going on between NCP (SP) and Congress on Bhiwandi seat.

(With inputs from Dinesh Mourya) 

There is a dispute going on between Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT) on the Sangli seat. Despite the Opposition of Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) is not ready to back down.

Sanjay Raut today reiterated that our candidate will be there on Sangli seat. Only Shiv Sena will contest on this seat.

Discussion is going on between NCP (SP) and Congress on Bhiwandi seat.

(With inputs from Dinesh Mourya) 

Mahagathabandhan supported candidate Sanjay Kumar to be Lok Sabha candidate from Khagadia, Bihar: CPI(M)

Important meeting of all MLAs, ministers and party officials of Nationalist Congress (Ajit Pawar) to be held in Pune today. The meeting is at 12 noon. Ajit Pawar will review the preparations for the Lok Sabha elections.

Dadra Nagar Haveli Daman Diu Shiv Sena (UBT) Chief Abhinav Delkar Expelled by Uddhav Group. Shwetal Bhat has been appointed as the in-charge chief. Abhinav Delkar, son of late former MP Mohan Delkar and sitting MP Kalaben Delkar, has been ousted from the post of state chief of Dadra Nagar Haveli by the Shiv Sena Thackeray faction. Kalaben Delkar, who was a sitting MP in the Shiv Sena Thackeray group was nominated by the BJP from the Dadra Nagar Haveli Lok Sabha constituency in the list announced by the BJP On the other hand, his son Abhinav Delkar has been suspended from the post of state chief of the Shiv Sena Thackeray group for doing anti-party activities.

(With inputs from Atul Singh) 

The voters' list in Kerala has witnessed a big jump in the enrolment of young voters ever since the draft list was published last October, shows data. In the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections, over 3.11 lakh youths in the age group of 18-19 years have been enrolled in the state's electoral roll during the past five months. Chief Electoral Officer, Kerala, Sanjay Kaul, said that the extensive awareness programmes and activities conducted under the auspices of the Chief Electoral Office and the campaigns conducted in the districts under the leadership of District Electoral Officers have collectively contributed to the increase in the number of young voters. As many as 3,11,805 new voters have registered since the release of the draft Electoral Roll on October 23, 2023. The draft list, which previously had 77,176 voters, increased to 2,88,533 in the final list published on January 22.

The Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena is likely to drop Krupal Tumane, its sitting MP from Ramtek Lok Sabha seat in Maharashtra's Vidarbha, and field Congress MLA Raju Purwe, who joined the party on Sunday, instead. The change stems from opposition from ally BJP to Tumane’s renomination, as well as an internal survey, which also cites his bleak prospects due to a lack of connection with the voters and among the allies. The announcement is expected soon as the last date for filing the nomination is March 27 and the polling is on April 19 in the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections. Incidentally, the Congress has already fielded Rashmi Barve from Ramtek. Parwe, who quit as the Congress legislator from the Umred (SC) constituency and joined the Sena in the presence of CM Shinde, is likely to get the ticket. The party believes that Parwe will be in a position to woo the traditional voters of the Congress. Of the six Assembly segments in Ramtek, which include Umred, Karol is held by the NCP's Sharad Pawar faction, Savner by the Congress, Hingana and Kamthi are with the BJP, and Ramtek is held by an independent.

Election officials recovered Rs 69,400 in cash from a Punjab-based family in Tamil Nadu's Nilgiris district where they had come for a vacation. A video of the incident went viral on social media, showing a woman, carrying her child, breaking down and pleading with the officials to return the money. The election officials recovered the cash from the family during a vehicle check on Sunday as part of the Model Code of Conduct rules. The Model Code of Conduct came into effect when the Election Commission announced the Lok Sabha polls' dates on March 16.