Lok Sabha Elections 2024 HIGHLIGHTS: BSP fields deceased candidate's son in MP's Betul constituency

Around Rs 4.75 lakh unaccounted cash was seized from two people in separate incidents in Noida and Greater Noida on Saturday amid enforcement of the Model Code of Conduct for the Lok Sabha elections, officials said.

BJP released a list of 40 star campaigners for the Lok Sabha elections and assembly by-election in Gujarat. PM Narendra Modi, JP Nadda, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, HM Amit Shah, EAM S Jaishankar, CM Bhupendra Patel, state party chief CR Paatil, former CM Vijay Rupani and others to campaign.

National Conference president Farooq Abdullah Saturday expressed hope the INDIA bloc would win all six Lok Sabha seats in Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh as he claimed the BJP was afraid of the opposition alliance and have resorted to spreading falsehood.

Vikramaditya Singh to contest from Mandi (against BJP candidate Kangana Ranaut), Manish Tewari from Chandigarh.

The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) on Saturday fielded Arjun Bhalavi, son of its deceased candidate Ashok Bhalavi, from Betul Lok Sabha seat in Madhya Pradesh. Following Ashok Bhalavi's death due to a heart attack on April 9, the Election Commission postponed the election in Betul which was to be held on April 26. Now the election will be held in the constituency in the third phase, on May 7.

"BJP is in power for 10 years. Was there any good done in the BJP regime?" he said.

The BJP will release its manifesto -Sankalp Patra - for the Lok Sabha polls on Sunday, with its planks of welfare and development besides a roadmap for 'viksit Bharat' expected to figure prominently in its election agenda. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other senior leaders of the party are expected to attend the unveiling of the manifesto at the party headquarters that coincides with the birth anniversary of B R Ambedkar, a towering leader from the Dalit community and an architect of the Indian Constitution.

Home Minister Amit Shah's Noida visit was cancelled due to bad weather on Saturday evening. Amit Shah addressed by phone.

(With inputs from Avinash Tiwary)

Nirmala Sitharaman held a roadshow with Annamalai in Coimbatore. Annamalai is the BJP candidate from the seat.

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday said this year's Lok Sabha election is for saving the Constitution and democracy. Farmers protested for almost two years against the now-scrapped farm laws and the BJP will bring them back if it wins 400 Lok Sabha seats, he claimed.

The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Saturday moved to the Election Commission (EC) accusing BJP nominee for Puri Lok Sabha constituency Sambit Patra of distributing clocks adorned with the saffron party symbol, and his photograph to shopkeepers ahead of the polls. A BJD delegation led by Rajya Sabha Member Sulata Deo has submitted a petition to the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Odisha in this regard.

Congress CEC meeting to select candidates for Haryana ended.

"AIMIM extends its support to AIADMK in the coming Lok Sabha elections. Our alliance will also continue for the Assembly elections," AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi tweeted.

Former Rajya Sabha MP and RJD leader Ashfaq Karim joined JDU on Saturday.

Congress candidates in Gujarat will file their nomination forms for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections between April 15 and 17. All 26 constituencies in Gujarat will vote on May 7 in the third phase of the general elections. Bypolls for five assembly segments are also scheduled to be held in the state on that day.

Union minister Anurag Thakur on Saturday called the AAP the “most dishonest party”, and claimed that the Congress is fighting the upcoming Lok Sabha elections for “abki baar, 40 paar” when the BJP is aiming for over 400 seats.

Rejecting BJP Hyderabad Lok Sabha candidate K Madhavi Latha's allegation of about six lakh bogus votes in the constituency, AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi on Saturday said the Election Commission takes care of the issue of voters' lists.

National Conference leader Omar Abdullah on Saturday said his father Farooq Abdullah's not contesting the Lok Sabha polls does not signal an end to his electoral career. "With my father, I have learnt over time that you never say never, ever. So until the very last breath, and may God give him many more of them, do not ever write him off for anything," Omar said.

Vikramaditya Singh will be Congress candidate from Mandi against BJP's Kangana Ranaut.

Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday said autocracy was detrimental to the country, and called for having a coalition government at the Centre as such dispensations have "worked well" in the past. There is a need for a strong leader, but he should take everybody along, he said.

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra asked people on Saturday not to get carried away by the words used by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his speeches and to vote for change in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Saturday announced its first list of seven candidates, fielding senior party leaders Prem Singh Chandumajra from Anandpur Sahib and Daljit Singh Cheema from Gurdaspur. Besides, the SAD also named former MLA N K Sharma from Patiala, former minister Anil Joshi from Amritsar, Bikramjit Singh Khalsa from Fatehgarh Sahib, Rajwinder Singh from Faridkot and Iqbal Singh Jhoonda from Sangrur seat. The list of candidates was announced by party leader Daljit Singh Cheema in a post on X. Polling for 13 Lok Sabha seats will be held in the last phase on June 1.

Rahul Gandhi in Chhattisgarh's Bastar | "You'll be surprised to know that 22 people in the country have the exact wealth as the 70 crore people in the country have. PM Modi helps those 22 people all day long. Unemployment is spreading, people will tell you in every state that the main issues are unemployment, inflation and participation. Have you ever seen the media talking about unemployment, inflation and participation? They'll show you, PM Modi, sometimes taking a flight, going deep into the ocean, offering prayer in a temple."

Tejashwi Yadav on RJD's manifesto | "Seeing the people's need, the change that is required in the country, we have brought 'Parivartan Patra' and since the election is in 2024, there is 24 'Ja Vachan' in that. The main things are - We promised to provide 1 crore job and on August 15, we will get freedom from unemployment by starting work in this regard after the I.N.D.I.A bloc government forms... In just 17 months, when we were in govt we distributed 5 lakh appointment letters, if a single state can provide this many jobs, why can't the entire country can provide 1 crore job?... People, especially youth are sad (because of the Agniveer scheme), they don't get a pension and status of 'Shaheed', and they will be thrown out in four years, we will end this process and will start the older one."

"I don't fancy my chances for anything. I don't aspire to the office of chief minister, and I most certainly do not aspire to lead a Union Territory. Let's be very clear on that. I have made it abundantly clear that in the current situation that J&K finds itself, I am not contesting Assembly elections. As far as leading is concerned, I would like to believe I am leading from the front. The largest onslaught that we are seeing of Delhi is on North Kashmir. The maximum effort to cobble together unnatural alliances is on North Kashmir. My fight in North Kashmir is against the BJP," says former Jammu and Kashmir CM and JKNC leader Omar Abdullah.

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in Ramnagar rally | "For how long you'll keep blaming Congress. Congress is not in power for the last 10 years. For the last 10 years, they (BJP) have been in government with a full majority, now they say '400 paar' they want more majority. They say nothing has been done in 75 years. If nothing has happened, how have such skills developed in Uttarakhand, from where IITs, IIMs, and AIIMSs came into the country. Chandrayaaan landed on the moon, if Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru hadn't built these, was it possible?..."

"Many times it is said that Raj has changed his role, but I had commented on the policy. I supported issues like Ram Mandir. Many 'kar sevaks' made sacrifices for Ram Mandir. Kar Sevaks' souls rest in peace. If Modi was not there, Ram Temple would never have been built," MNS chief Raj Thackeray said.

On AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi's statement, BJP candidate from Hyderabad constituency Madhavi Latha says, "First, Asaduddin Owaisi needs to explain what CAA according to him is and what CAA according to the existing central government's definition is... Unfortunately, every time Asaduddin Owaisi wants to manipulate the law, the acts and whatever the central party are doing, just because the people in Hyderabad, Lok Sabha constituency are unaware of the technical terminologies and how deep they are defined..."

According to reports, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) may release its manifesto for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections on Sunday.

AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on BJP candidate Madhavi Latha's 'bogus votes' allegation | "...Every year in January, the inclusion of names happens, then lists come out from the end of Election Commission of India, which is not headed by me...A final voter list gets out; before the elections, an addition and deletion list is to come out. Now, tell me what's my role in it? This means that they are abusing the Election Commission..."

BJP leader Samrat Choudhary on RJD's 1 crore jobs promise | "Lalu Prasad’s family didn’t tell how much land they would acquire in the name of giving 1 crore jobs. They can only do corruption and for that, they have made a roadmap."

Chirag Paswan on RJD's poll manifesto | "People of their (Lalu Yadav's) family were in power for a very long time in Bihar and we don't need to tell anyone how they gave employment to people. People make big promises during elections, however, the reality is different after they actually come into power."

"Jail rules say that anyone can be allowed to meet face to face," AAP's Sanjay Singh at a press conference in Delhi. 

Addressing a press conference, Deputy Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Keshav Prasad Maurya said, "Samajwadi Party and Congress are no different from each other. SP is a factory for producing goons and mafias. Earlier the slogan was that the vehicle on which SP flag is sitting is a goon. Now everything has changed. The public will reject him, the SP chief did not allow his MLA to have darshan of Ram Lala, that is why there was internal discord in the SP."

NDA candidate from Trichy Lok Sabha constituency, P Senthilnathan on upcoming Lok Sabha elections | "Campaigning is going very good. As I mentioned earlier also, people are longing for a candidate for parliament from the local area, from the same constituency which has been lagging for almost 26 years."

On the release of 'Parivartan Patra', Former Bihar Deputy CM and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav says, "If our I.N.D.I.A bloc is voted to power, we will give government jobs to one crore youth across the country... Today unemployment is our biggest enemy and BJP people did not talk about this, they had promised to give 2 crore jobs but we do what we say and will give 1 crore jobs."

Former Assam minister and Vice President of the Bodoland Peoples Front (BPF), Chandan Brahma, joins the United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL). 

"I am happy and with me, thousands of BPF leaders and workers have come here today to contribute to UPPL. There is still a lot to be done… All people have to work together and that is why UPPL is the best platform...," he said.

More than 1,900 wheelchairs and over 1,623 Dolis have been arranged by Samaj Kalyan Vibhag. Among all the voters in the state, 80,335 people are marked in the disabled category, and around 65,160 people are those who are older than 85 years of age, says Uttarakhand’s Additional Chief Electoral Officer Vijay Kumar Jogdande.

On the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, Sri Sri Ravishankar says "... It often happens that people with a positive mind do not even vote. I urge everyone to go and vote. It is a responsibility... People will decide the result of the elections. We cannot ask people who to vote for, all we can do is ask them to vote - for the future and welfare of the country and to decide on an able leader for the country. Let money or freebies not influence your vote... If we continue to move at the pace with which we are moving forward, our country will definitely become the third-largest economy in the world. If there is a break in the process then it will be difficult."

Congress will hold its CEC meeting in Delhi today to discuss candidates for elections in Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab.

On the arrest of BRS MLC K Kavitha, Telangana minister Ponnam Prabhakar says, "The discussion has been going on for two years. Both the political parties are playing games to take political advantage of the issue... Bandi Sanjay mentioned thousands of times that they would arrest K Kavitha... When the BRS started asking him after two years why they weren't arresting K Kavitha, that is when the BJP decided to arrest her to save their face... Both BJP and BRS are two peas in a pod, but they cannot fight the Congress..."

Special polling stations have been arranged for 5,000 voters displaced by Manipur violence for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.