Lok Sabha election 2024 HIGHLIGHTS: PM Modi addresses public rally in South Goa

People of Mandi will teach a lesson to the gangs of "shehzadas" for making inappropriate comments and disrespecting the women of the state, BJP candidate from Mandi and Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut said on Saturday.

The CPI (M) in Telangana on Saturday said it would support the ruling Congress in 16 of the 17 Lok Sabha seats in the state in the ongoing parliament elections and that it would hold deliberations internally with regard to the Bhongir constituency.

The Uttar Pradesh Congress on Saturday urged the top party leadership to field Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra from Amethi and Raebareli, respectively for the Lok Sabha polls, but no decision was taken at the meeting of the central election committee (CEC). Sources said AICC in-charge of party Affairs in Uttar Pradesh Avinash Pandey and CLP leader in the state Aradhana Mishra urged Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and former party chief Sonia Gandhi to give tickets to both Rahul and Priyanka from the Uttar Pradesh seats.

Congress leader Partap Singh Bajwa on Saturday took a swipe at AAP in Punjab for fielding three "borrowed" leaders in the Lok Sabha elections. The leader of opposition in the Punjab Assembly also slammed AAP for its "failure" to field a woman candidate.

Attacking the ruling Congress and BJP for allegedly not implementing their promises to the people, former Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Saturday said his party BRS should be made victorious in the Lok Sabha polls to fight on behalf of the people.

Political parties in the national capital are gearing up for the nomination process for the seven Lok Sabha seats, set to begin from April 29. Union ministers including Rajnath Singh, Piyush Goel, Arjun Meghwal, and Hardeep Singh Puri, and Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami and his Rajasthan counterpart Bhajan Lal Sharma, among other senior BJP leaders, are likely to accompany the party candidates to the nomination centres, according to sources.

More than 1,500 polling booths out of 2,102 in Latur will have CCTVs while live webcasting will be carried out from 1,050 booths, an official said on Saturday. Latur Lok Sabha polls will be held on May 7, while votes will be counted on June 4.

Intensifying his attack on BJP, Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Saturday claimed that the BJP is conspiring to change the Constitution and abolish reservations in the country and that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah are doing a "surgical strike" on SC, ST and OBCs.

The BJP on Saturday filed a complaint with the chief electoral officer of Andhra Pradesh, accusing a social media handle of the Congress of posting a "tampered speech" of Home Minister Amit Shah on the issue of quota for traditionally disadvantaged communities. The complained filed by the Andhra Pradesh unit of the BJP urged the Election Commission official in the state to take action and block the said 'X' account of the Congress.

The voter turnout in the second phase of Lok Sabha elections has touched the 66.7 per cent mark, which is less than the figures of the 2019 parliamentary polls, according to sources. Both phases of the ongoing polls have seen a dip in the voter turnout as compared to the last general election. The 66.7 per cent figure is approximate and the Election Commission has so far not come out with the polling percentage formally.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Saturday said the Shiv Sena (UBT) should be ashamed for disregarding the principles of Bal Thackeray and having to vote for the Congress. The Congress has fielded Varsha Gaikwad from Mumbai North Central Lok Sabha seat, from where Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray is a voter.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a public rally in South Goa.

JMM supremo Shibu Soren, his son Hemant and daughter-in-law Kalpana, and Chief Minister Champai Soren were among 40 star campaigners of the party for the Lok Sabha polls, a party leader said on Saturday. According to a list submitted to the chief electoral officer of Jharkhand, Shibu Soren will lead the campaign in Jharkhand, Odisha, Bihar, West Bengal and Assam.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday said that it was due to a "misunderstanding" that a leader from Maharashtra had expressed his resentment over the party not fielding any Muslim in the Lok Sabha polls in the western state. Without naming the disgruntled party leader, Kharge said that he would be "compensated", maintaining that Rajya Sabha and assembly elections in Maharashtra were also due.

"The language that is being used by the top leadership of the BJP shows that they are rattled and it indicates that the BJP & NDA are not doing as per their expectations and the INDIA alliance candidates are ahead with comfortable margins be it North or South," he said.

"When the Congress and its friends realised that they cannot compete with NDA's track record of development, they changed their strategy," he said.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday said that the names of party candidates for the prestigious Amethi and Rae Bareli seats in Uttar Pradesh will be announced in a "few days".

Karnataka recorded 69.56 per cent voter turnout in the 14 constituencies excluding a polling station in Chamarajanagar district in the first phase of Lok Sabha polls in the state, election officials said on Saturday.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's wife Sunita Kejriwal held her maiden Lok Sabha poll roadshow in support of the AAP's East Delhi candidate on Saturday evening. Standing through the sunroof of a vehicle, Sunita Kejriwal greeted voters in the Kondli area of East Delhi constituency with folded hands.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday (April 27) released its 15th list of candidates for the Lok Sabha Elections and fielded prominent legal scholar Ujjwal Nikam from the Mumbai North Central seat, dropping the sitting MP Poonam Mahajan. Advocate Ujjwal Nikam has fought 26/11 Mumbai terror attack case for the government among many important cases.

The Election Commission said on Saturday that re-polling will be conducted at a polling station in Hanur which falls under Chamarajanagar Parlimentary Constituency in Karnataka on April 29. In a letter addressed to the Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer, the EC stated that on the basis of reports submitted by the Returning Officer and General Observer for Chamrajnagar Parliamentary Constituency and after taking all material circumstances into account, the Commission hereby declares under appropriate sections of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 that the poll taken on April 26 at the polling station no 146, Government Lower Primary School, Indiganatha, 221- Hansur Assembly Constituency of Chamarajanagar Parlimentary Constituency, falling under Chamarajanagar district to be void.

A group of farmers on Saturday protested against the BJP's Ambala candidate Banto Kataria during her Lok Sabha polls campaign in the Naggal village. The protesters asked Kataria why the farmers marching towards Delhi to seek a legal guarantee on minimum support price for crops were not allowed to proceed to the national capital and press for their demands.

A voter turnout of 76.24 per cent was recorded in three Lok Sabha constituencies in Chhattisgarh that went to polls in the second phase a day ago, an official said on Saturday.

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi on Saturday claimed that the ruling BJP’s top leadership may be pretending to be in denial mode now, but the party will change the Constitution if it returns to power. Targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi over inflation, she called him a “mehengai” man.

The controversy arising out of the charges levelled against LDF convener E P Jayarajan that he planned to join the BJP, refused to die down on Saturday with the Congress demanding that the CPI(M) leadership explain why he met BJP leader Prakash Javadekar.

YSRCP chief and Andhra Pradesh CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy launched party poll manifesto. 

AIMIM President and candidate Asaduddin Owaisi holds door-to-door election campaign in Hyderabad ahead of the phase 3 of the Lok Sabha elections.

TMC wrote to Bengal CEC over the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) conducting raid in Sandeshkhali on election day. READ MORE

"Narendra Modi’s '400 paar' hype has been crushed to the ground after the first and second phase of elections," said Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal.

"Our communication with polling parties in shadow areas is going on via Ham radio and wireless," said Returning Officer of East Tripura Constituency Saju Vaheed.

Union Minister Smriti Irani said, "It has been said to us that after Wayanad's voting today, the Congress candidate will arrive here, but first he will visit Ram temple."

YSRCP MP drives autorickshaw for campaign in Andhra Pradesh's Nellore. 

"Pressure was being put on Amritpal Singh to contest the elections and now he is going to start his political innings from Khadoor Sahib Lok Sabha constituency," said Amritpal Singh's mother, Balwinder Kaur.

"One group reportedly pelted stones due to which one vehicle was damaged and few people were injured," said DCP Jodhpur East Alok Srivastava.

Uttar Pradesh Deputy CM Brajesh Pathak said, "Lotus (BJP) is blooming in the second phase of voting. A large number of voters came out of their homes and reached the booths in all eight seats. BJP will win with a huge majority."