Lok Sabha election updates | Mahayuti alliance to announce remaining nominees on March 28, says Ajit Pawar; Congress’ MP Ravneet Singh Bittu joins BJP

Giving enough indication about contesting the Lok Sabha polls from the Mandya constituency, JD(S) leader H.D. Kumaraswamy said an official announcement about the party’s candidates from the three segments that it will be contesting in Karnataka will be made soon. 

“At the core committee [meet], they have authorised me to take a final decision on candidates for Kolar and Mandya seats. In Mandya as to who will be the candidate, I have given enough indications. Before making the official announcement, I have called a meeting of former legislators from Mandya. After discussing with them, I will officially announce,” he said.

JD(S) patriarch and former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda separately indicated that Mr. Kumaraswamy contesting from Mandya.

The party will be contesting in Kolar, Mandya and Hassan as a part of the NDA alliance. The general elections in Karnataka will be held in two phases on April 26 and May 7 for 28 constituencies.

Veteran Congress leader A.K. Antony called the upcoming Lok Sabha polls a “do-or-die election’ that will “decide whether the idea of India should exist”, and said that if his health permits, he would campaign for UDF candidates, including against his son who is a BJP candidate.

“Everything will depend on my health condition,” Mr. Antony told reporters in Thiruvananthapuram when asked whether he would campaign for the UDF candidate in Pathanamthitta.Having refrained from active politics for the last two years due to age-related factors, the veteran leader said he had ventured out of Thiruvananthapuram only twice for political purposes—to campaign for the Congress’s Uma Thomas and Chandy Oommen (late Congress stalwart Oommen Chandy’s son) when they contested the assembly by-elections in the Thrikkakara and Puthuppally constituencies, respectively.

A widely respected politician known for his simplicity, Mr. Antony said the upcoming poll battle is will be a “do-or-die election” as it determines whether the idea of India should exist. ”This is a do-or-die election. This election will decide whether the idea of India should exist,” he said, attacking the BJP’s political ideology.

After nearly two decades of playing a key role in national politics in Delhi, the 83-year-old Congress leader retired to Thiruvananthapuram in April 2022. - PTI

The BJP has raised the issue of differing approaches of poll officials in different States to similar infractions by politicians and urged the Election Commission to take stringent measures at the right time. 

A BJP delegation, including Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and its general secretary Vinod Tawde, met the poll watchdog to highlight this “discrepancy”. Mr. Tawde later told reporters that while action was recommended against Union Minister Shobha Karandlaje for her controversial comments against Tamils, objectionable remarks of a Tamil Nadu minister have not drawn any censure.

In this context, Mr. Tawde also highlighted Shiva Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut’s comparison of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Mughal king Aurangzeb, considered by many a religious zealot. 

While action was called for in the case of Shobha Karandlaje but poll officials are seen to having a different stand in states like Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, all of which are ruled by opposition parties, he said. 

“We urged the Election Commission to take stringent action at the right time and we were assured that it will look into the issue,” he said. BJP leaders Om Pathak and Sanjay Mayukh were also part of the delegation.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi called Rekha Patra, the BJP’s Lok Sabha poll candidate from Basirhat, and lauded her as “Shakti Swaroopa”, party leaders said.

Ms. Patra, who raised her voice against the alleged atrocities by local TMC strongman Shahjahan Sheikh and his cronies, was picked by the BJP as its candidate from the Basirhat Lok Saha seat, under which the village falls.

Mr. Modi spoke to her about her campaign preparations and the support for the BJP among voters and other issues, while she narrated the ordeal of the women from Sandeshkhali. -PTIRead the story here.

Former Himachal Pradesh minister and BJP leader from Lahaul and Spiti assembly constituency, Ram Lal Markanda, quit the party to protest the fielding of Congress rebel Ravi Thakur who had defeated him on the seat in the last assembly election.

Hours after the BJP announced assembly tickets to all the six former Congress MLAs, disqualified from the House, Markanda quit the party and announced that he will contest the bypoll from Lahaul and Spiti, possibly as a Congress candidate.

Markanada was the agriculture and tribal development minister during the previous BJP government led by Jai Ram Thakur. He had lost the 2022 assembly elections to Thakur, who was then in the Congress, by a margin of 1542 votes.

He was a frontrunner for the BJP ticket from Lahaul and Spiti. He resigned from the BJP as Congress rebel Thakur was named in the BJP list for assembly bypoll from the assembly constituency.

- PTI

The BJP raised the issue of differing approaches of poll officials in different States to similar infractions by politicians and urged the Election Commission to take stringent measures at the right time.

A BJP delegation, including Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and its general secretary Vinod Tawde, met the poll watchdog to highlight this “discrepancy”.

Tawde later told reporters that while action was recommended against Union Minister Shobha Karandlaje, who is contesting the Lok Sabha polls from Karnataka, for her controversial comments against Tamils, objectionable remarks of a Tamil Nadu Minister have not drawn any censure.

“We urged the Election Commission to take stringent action at the right time and we were assured that it will look into the issue,” he said. BJP leaders Om Pathak and Sanjay Mayukh were also part of the delegation.

- PTI

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and NCP leader Ajit Pawar has said the remaining candidates of the Mahayuti alliance will be declared on March 28. Mahayuti alliance consists of the BJP and Shiv Sena led by Eknath Shinde. The BJP has declared candidates for 23 seats, while the Shiv Sena and the NCP have not officially declared their nominees.“Our 99 per cent work on sharing of seats is completed. Names of the remaining candidates of the Mahayuti alliance will be declared in a joint press conference to be addressed by the Chief Minister, Dy CM Devendra Fadnavis, and myself,” he told reporters in Pune, after chairing a meeting of NCP MLAs. He also hinted that his wife Sunetra Pawar would be fielded from the Baramati constituency. However, he evaded a direct reply to a query on the number of seats his party will contest in Maharashtra, which will vote in five phases starting April 19. “Out of the total 48 seats in the State, the BJP has MPs in 23 constituencies, Shiv Sena (undivided) had 18 sitting MPs but some of them are with Shiv Sena (UBT). We (NCP) have also sought a good number of seats and the picture will be clear on March 28,” he added. - PTI

The Trinamool Congress has filed a complaint with the Election Commission of India against Bharatiya Janata Party leader Dilip Ghosh for allegedly making controversial remarks against West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

Earlier, while addressing reporters in Durgapur, BJP MP Dilip Ghosh said that wherever Mamata Banerjee goes, she calls herself the daughter of that state, and “she must identify her own father”.

Citing the clause under the poll code, which states that “no political party or candidate should indulge in any activities or make any statements that would amount to an attack on the personal life of any person or statements that may be malicious or offend decency and morality”, the ruling Bengal party urged the Election Commission to immediately take action against BJP MP Dilip Ghosh.

- ANI

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and NCP leader Ajit Pawar on Tuesday said the remaining candidates of the Mahayuti alliance, also comprising the BJP and Shiv Sena led by Eknath Shinde, will be declared on March 28. Pawar also declared the candidature of sitting MP Sunil Tatkare from the Raigad constituency for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

The BJP has so far declared candidates for 23 seats in Maharashtra. However, allies Shiv Sena, led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, and Ajit Pawar-led NCP have not yet officially declared their nominees.

“Our 99% work on sharing of seats is completed. Names of the remaining candidates of Mahayuti will be declared in a joint press conference to be addressed by the chief minister, Dy CM Devendra Fadnavis, and myself,” he said.

- PTI

The Gondwana Gantantra Party (GGP), a regional outfit with pockets of influence in Chhattisgarh, released its first list of candidates for 10 of the 11 Lok Sabha seats in the state, a party leader said.

Candidates for 10 Lok Sabha seats in Chhattisgarh have been announced and discussion on the nominee for the remaining one seat Kanker (Scheduled Tribe reserved) was underway, the party’s president and MLA Tuleshwar Singh Markam told PTI.

The GGP has not yet won a Lok Sabha seat in the state.

- PTI

The Jammu and Kashmir unit of the Shiv Sena (UBT) announced its support to the Congress candidates fielded from the Udhampur and Jammu constituencies in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

Manish Sahni, the president of the Jammu and Kashmir unit of the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) alleged that the leaders of the party are not being provided a security cover in the Union Territory “under a well-planned strategy”.

“Keeping in mind the safety of the leaders, the party high-command has given instructions not to field candidates on both the seats of Jammu division (Udhampur and Jammu). The party will support the Congress candidates in the polls,” Sahni said here.

Udhampur and Jammu will go to polls on April 19 and April 26 respectively.

- PTI

A case has been registered against senior Congress MLA and Lok Sabha candidate Kawasi Lakhma in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar district for allegedly violating the model code of conduct by “distributing cash” to people, a police official said.

As per the election official’s complaint, Lakhma visited the famous Maa Danteshwari temple in Jagdalpur town on March 24, a day after his candidature was declared, he said.

Outside the temple, Lakhma was caught on camera allegedly distributing cash to people, he said.

- PTI

The BJP named three more candidates for the Lok Sabha polls, dropping all its sitting MPs, including union minister Rajkumar Ranjan Singh, from these seats won by it in 2019.

It has fielded Thounaojam Basanta Kumar Singh, a minister in Manipur government, from the Inner Manipur constituency in place of the Union minister.

In two Rajasthan constituencies, the BJP has fielded Indu Devi Jatav and Kanhaiya Lal Meena from Karauli-Dholpur and Dausa respectively, dropping sitting MPs Manoj Rajoria and Jaskaur Meena.

- PTI

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.

The JD(S) leader has alleged that the state election machinery failed to take swift action to prevent the “corrupt activities” in the Bengaluru (Rural) Lok Sabha seat.

He alleged that the freebies were removed from a godown as the field machinery failed to take appropriate action.

- PTI

Congress candidate for Nagaland Lok Sabha constituency S. Supongmeren Jamir filed his nomination papers.

Interacting with media persons after filing the nomination papers, Jamir expressed confidence that the people will vote for the Congress in the Lok Sabha election. Addressing a gathering of party leaders, workers and supporters, Jamir said the Peoples’ Democratic Alliance (PDA) government in the state and BJP-led NDA government at the Centre has “failed” to deliver the aspirations of the Naga people.

Elections to the lone Lok Sabha seat in Nagaland will be held on April 19.

- PTI

Union minister Kiren Rijiju on Tuesday filed his nomination as the BJP candidate for the Arunachal West parliamentary constituency. Mr. Rijiju filed his papers at Aalo, the headquarters of West Siang district, election officials said.

The Union Minister of Earth Sciences and Food Processing Industries was accompanied by Chief Minister Pema Khandu and MLAs Kento Jini and Nyamar Karbak. - PTI

A controversy erupted on March 26 after senior BJP leader and MP Dilip Ghosh was heard mocking the family background of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in a purported video clip.

The former West Bengal BJP president, presently contesting from the Bardhaman-Durgapur Lok Sabha seat, mocked TMC’s slogan of “Bangla Nijer Meye ke chai (Bengal wants its own daughter)“.

“When she goes to Goa, she says she is the daughter of Goa. In Tripura, she says she is the daughter of Tripura. First, let her clarify...,” he said.

While criticising Ghosh, the TMC shared the video clip, which could not be independently verified by PTI.

Congress’s social media in-charge Supriya Shrinate’s now deleted post containing objectionable remarks about actor Kangana Ranaut, who is going to contest her maiden election from Mandi Lok Sabha constituency in Himachal Pradesh, has triggered a political maelstrom, with the Congress acting defensively while the BJP increasing the heat with mulling legal action against Ms. Shrinate.

On Monday, minutes after social media post went viral, Ms. Shrinate posted a video issuing clarification. “Many people have access to my Facebook and Instagram accounts. Someone from them made an extremely inappropriate post today. As soon as I came to know, I deleted that post. Everyone who knows me also knows very well that I can never make personal and indecent comments towards any woman. I wanted to know how this happened,” she said.

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.

Gaurav Gogoi, 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. - PTI

The BJP on Tuesday named its candidates for Assembly bypolls in several States, fielding six disqualified MLAs of the Himachal Pradesh Assembly in the State days after they joined the party after leaving the Congress.

Several Gujarat MLAs, including four from the Congress who joined the BJP recently, have also been fielded by the party for bypolls necessitated by their resignations. 

In Himachal Pradesh, the BJP has named Sudhir Sharma (Dharamshala), Ravi Thakur (Lahaul and Spiti), Rajinder Rana (Sujanpur), Inder Dutt Lakhanpal (Barsar), Chetanya Sharma (Gagret) and Devinder Kumar Bhutto (Kutlehar) as its candidates. - PTI

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader Kanimozhi, who is re-contesting the Thoothukudi Lok Sabha seat, filed nomination for Lok Sabha elections on March 26.

DMK ministers Anitha Radhakrishnan, Geethajuvan, Mayor Jagan and others were present during the nomination.

Speaking to the media, Ms. Kanimozhi said that she was thankful to the party for giving her the opportunity to contest the Thoothukudi Lok Sabha elections again. She further said that people are giving a warm welcome to the INDIA bloc wherever she travels in the constituency.

Thoothukudi DMK candidate, K. Kanimozhi, MP, filed nomination papers to Returning officer G. Lakshmipathy in Thoothukudi on March 26, 2024. Photo credit: N. Rajesh

DMK President and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on March 26 visited a local vegetable market in Thoothukudi and canvassed voters ahead of the April 19 Lok Sabha polls in the State.

He was accompanied by his sister and local MP Kanimozhi, also the party’s candidate for the LS election from Thoothukudi, and State Ministers Anitha R. Radhakrishnan and Geetha Jeevan.

On Tuesday morning, he met people and vegetable vendors at the market here and also posed for selfies with many of them. He was seen shaking hands with some of them. - PTI

Union minister Sarbananda Sonowal on March 26 filed his nomination as the BJP candidate for the Dibrugarh parliamentary constituency in Assam, an official said.

Mr. 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.

The Janata Dal (Secular) will announce its candidates for Mandya, Hassan, and Kolar Lok Sabha constituencies after the party’s core committee meeting on March 26. While former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy is set to be the party’s candidate for Mandya, a formal announcement is expected after the core committee meeting.

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 March 26.

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 Mr. Raut, adding that the first list of his party’s candidates is expected to be released on Tuesday. - PTI

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has claimed that State Congress president Bhupen Kumar Borah will join the saffron party by early next year. However, Borah on Tuesday, March 26, 2024, dismissed the CM’s claim and stated that Sarma was playing ‘mind games’ to divert attention from real issues. 

Mr. Sarma termed the grand old party as a ‘fixed deposit’ of the BJP, from which it draws members whenever needed.”I can say that by January-February 2025, Bhupen Borah will join the BJP. I have kept two constituencies ready for him, though won’t name those now,” Sarma said, talking to reporters at the residence of the party’s Sonitpur constituency candidate Ranjit Dutta on Monday evening.

Mr. Sarma maintained that voting for Congress means voting for Rahul Gandhi, and for BJP means, voting for Modi. “Those who love Modi and want Bharat to be a ‘vishwa guru’ will vote for BJP. Rahul Gandhi’s own future is dark, the future of his followers is even darker,” the CM claimed. He also claimed that the Congress candidate in Sonitpur will also join the saffron party if he makes a phone call to him.

However, addressing a press conference at Jorhat on Tuesday, Assam Congress president Bhupen Kumar Borah dismissed the CM’s claim and said that Sarma was playing ‘mind games’ to divert attention from real issue.

“I want to ask, why should I join the BJP? If I join, will the six communities demanding Scheduled Tribe status for years get it? Will new jobs be created? Will landless indigenous families get land rights?” Mr. Borah asked. “The CM is playing mind games. Whenever we talk about burning issues, he tries to divert attention as he has no solutions. But the Congress will not fall into the trap of such mind games”, the state Congress chief added.- PTI

BJP candidate from Nagaur Lok Sabha seat Jyoti Mirdha on Tuesday, March 26, 2024, filed her nomination papers for the elections.

Minister Gajendra Singh Khinvsar was present at the time of nomination filing in the collectorate here.

Ms. 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. - PTI

The Bharatiya Janata Party on March 26 said it will contest the Lok Sabha polls on its own in Punjab, the party’s state unit chief Sunil Jakhar said. 

The announcement came amid a buzz over talks between the Shiromani Akali Dal and the BJP for re-stitching their alliance for the parliamentary polls.

Polling for the 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab will be held on June 1, the last phase of the seven-phase elections.

“The BJP is going to contest the Lok Sabha elections alone in Punjab,” Jakhar said on X.

He said this decision was taken by the BJP following feedback from people and party workers.

“The works done by the BJP under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi are not hidden from anyone,” Mr. Jakhar said.

The BJP leader also added that in the last 10 years, produce of farmers was procured at minimum support price. - PTI

The DMK will reply only to issues raised by the main Opposition party, the AIADMK, and not lose focus by responding to “sundry” parties, T.RB. Rajaa, Minister for Industries, said in Coimbatore.

A section of media was attempting to divert attention, T.R.B. Rajaa, Minister for Industries, in-charge of campaign in Coimbatore Parliamentary constituency charged, when asked about the criticism of the DMK’s election manifesto by BJP State president K. Annamalai, and the latter’s statement that the DMK cannot any longer do politics with ‘bricks’. Read more

Thanking the Congress high command for giving him the ticket to contest again from Sivaganga Parliamentary constituency, Karti Chidambaram on Monday said he was confident of winning with a landslide margin of over four lakh votes.

Accompanied by State Ministers Ragupathi and K.R. Periakaruppan and other alliance partners, he filed his nomination with Sivaganga Returning Officer Asha Ajith, He later told media persons that he expected to win with the highest margin in the State.

He said he had fulfilled his election promise by bringing in a law college and an agricultural college to the district. Read more

The Scindias, the influential members of the erstwhile royal family of Gwalior, have moved effortlessly between different political parties when it comes to fighting electoral battles on their home turf and Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia will carry forward this tradition when he files his nomination as the BJP candidate from the Guna Lok Sabha seat in Madhya Pradesh. Read more

The saffron party also declared that Dinesh Chandra Nepal will be contesting as its nominee from the Himalayan State’s lone Lok Sabha seat.

The Lok Sabha and Assembly elections will be held simultaneously in the State on April 19. Read more

The CPI(M) is hoping for a turnaround in the Lok Sabha polls in West Bengal after a barren outcome in 2019, maintaining that the results will depend on the people being able to freely exercise their franchise. 

Claiming that the people have seen through the “hollow” promises made by the Trinamool Congress and the BJP, CPI(M) central committee member and candidate from Dum Dum Lok Sabha constituency Sujan Chakraborty said that the “red flag” is there when no one else is believed to be trustworthy. 

“If people can exercise their franchise freely, then there will be a reflection of that in the results,” Mr. Chakraborty said. - PTI

Launching a sharp attack on the Congress’s Supriya Shrinate over the ‘objectionable post’ on actor-turned politician Kangana Ranaut, BJP leader Manoj Tiwari said he was “surprised that Congress has such thinking towards women and artists”.

”I am surprised that Congress has such thinking towards women and artists. There is a difference between real and reel life. In reel life, an artist has to play multiple roles...BJP respects the artists and women of India...” Mr. Tiwari said on March 26. - ANI

DMK President and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Tuesday, March 26, 2024, visited a local vegetable market in Thoothukudi and canvassed votes ahead of the April 16 Lok Sabha polls in the state.

He was accompanied by his sister and local MP Kanimozhi, also the party’s candidate for the LS election from here, and state ministers Anitha R Radhakrishnan and Geetha Jeevan.

On Tuesday morning, he met people and vegetable vendors at the market here and also posed for selfies with many of them. He was seen shaking hands with some of them.

Soaring mercury levels and spiralling political temperatures seem to march in lockstep in the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha constituency where the Congress, the Communist Party of India (CPI), and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are battling for the electorate’s hearts and minds at the midpoint of an unseasonably scorching summer.

The three-pronged fight between incumbent MP and Congress Working Committee member Shashi Tharoor, Union Minister of State for Electronics and IT, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Rajeev Chandrasekhar, and former CPI State secretary Pannian Raveendran, has rendered the contest perhaps the most watched in the State. Read more

On a day when an objectionable post by the Congress’ social media in-charge Supriya Shrinate against actor and BJP candidate from the ​Mandi Lok Sabha seat, Kangana Ranaut,​ triggered outrage, the Congress attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government for reducing the budget of women-centred welfare schemes, flagging five key problems. ​Read more​

The much-awaited eight names from the Congress party for the Lok Sabha elections is expected to be finalised at the Central Election Committee meeting on March 27 in New Delhi.

An official announcement will be made late that day or on March 28. With the main opposition BRS and the BJP announcing all the 17 candidates, the Congress party is treading a cautious path in finalising the names for the remaining eight constituencies. Read more

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said the Mahayuti alliance is confident of a clean sweep in east Vidarbha region going to polls in the first phase on April 19.

He claimed people will vote for the saffron alliance on account of the work done by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the last 10 years.

“BJP is seeing a favourable mood in the constituencies in east Vidarbha going to polls in the first phase. In Nagpur, a very strong candidate like Nitin ji (Union Minister Nitin Gadkari) is contesting again,” Mr. Fadnavis told reporters at Nagpur airport when asked if BJP and Congress will be locked in a straight fight. Read more

The National Commission for Women has written to the Election Commission demanding strict action against Congress leaders Supriya Shrinate and H.S.Ahir for their derogatory comments against actress Kangana Ranaut, who is the BJP candidate from Mandi Lok Sabha seat.

Ms. Shrinate’s Instagram post containing objectionable remarks about Ms. Ranaut has been removed from her Instagram handle.

Ahir, state joint co-ordinator of Kisan Congress, also made derogatory remarks against her.

The NCW said its chairperson Rekha Sharma has written to the Election Commission demanding action against Shrinate and Ahir.

“National Commission for Women is appalled by the disgraceful conduct of Ms. Supriya Shrinate and Mr. H.S. Ahir, who made lewd and derogatory remarks about @KanganaTeam on social media. Such behavior is intolerable and goes against the dignity of women. @sharmarekha has sent a letter to the Election commissioner of India demanding an immediate and strict action against them. Let’s uphold respect and dignity for all women. #RespectWomen,” the NCW said in a post.

Ms. Ranaut also hit out at Ms. Shrinate, saying that she has played various roles and every woman deserves dignity.

However, Ms. Shrinate clarified that many people have access to her Facebook and Instagram accounts, and someone from them made an extremely inappropriate post. Read more

BJP MP G.V.L. Narasimha Rao has said that he will continue to work on developing Visakhapatnam through the various activities of the ‘GVL For Vizag’ programme with an eye on the general elections.

Mr. Narasimha Rao sent a video message on Monday thanking party leaders and workers, his friends, and well-wishers for standing by him and for expressing unhappiness over the party denying him the ticket for the Visakhapatnam Lok Sabha constituency. He said that he has been working in Visakhapatnam for the past three years and was successful in finding a solution to some of the issues. Read more

A mixed bag of results was witnessed in nine Lok Sabha constituencies in the 2009 and 2014 polls where the three lead parties of their respective fronts - DMK, AIADMK and BJP are contesting now. 

In 2009, the ruling DMK won in six while the AIADMK-headed front, three. The former bagged North Chennai, Vellore, Tiruvannamalai, Namakkal, Nilgiris and Perambalur. The AIADMK captured South Chennai and Pollachi and its ally Communist Party of India (CPI-Marxist), Coimbatore. Read more

Kapu leader Mudragada Padmanabham on Monday exhorted Kapu cadre to hand a resounding defeat to Jana Sena Party (JSP) president Pawan Kalyan in the Pithapuram Assembly constituency of Kakinada district.

On Monday, YSRCP’s Kakinada Lok Sabha candidate Ch. Sunil Kumar met Mr. Padmanabham at the latter’s residence to discuss the strategy for the upcoming election. Read more

In the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections, the Congress seems to have chosen Telangana and Karnataka as pivotal states for its nationwide campaign, aiming for optimal electoral success. 

According to party sources, it is apparent that the party has formulated an extensive manifesto named ‘Paanch Nyay’ (Five Justice), tailored to resonate with key voter demographics including women, farmers, and youth. The party think-tank is of the opinion that there is a positive response to ongoing welfare initiatives in Telangana. Read more

he Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), which has been going through a rough patch following drubbings in the 2017 and 2022 Assembly elections, is seeking a return to its panthic (Sikh) agenda ahead of the general election. 

The party also asserted that it would continue to champion the cause of farmers and farm labourers and said all promises made to them must be fulfilled. The resolution also called for an end to interference in the religious affairs and institutions of the Khalsa Panth. The resolution also urged the Government of India to honour its written commitment to release Bandi Singhs (Sikh prisoners) who had completed their jail terms. Read more

The Congress laid speculation to rest by announcing Pratibha Dhanorkar as its candidate for the Chandrapur Lok Sabha seat in Maharashtra on Saturday night. However, the announcement was marked by a fierce intra-party battle in the local party unit.

Ms. Dhanorkar, widow of the late Suresh ‘Balu’ Dhanrokar who secured the sole victory for Congress in the western State in the 2019 general election, had got the nod due to her husband’s untimely death. She is also a Congress MLA from Warora in the district and is said to have had the support of State unit chief Nana Patole. Read more

When the Union government notified the rules for the implementation of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), 2019 on March 11, just days ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, there was little doubt about its real intent. While the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), with an eye on votes, proudly owned the move, the reaction of its Kerala unit has been muted given the significant minority population in the State.

The ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) in Kerala was quick to criticise the CAA and place itself as the bulwark against the Sangh Parivar’s designs, followed by the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF), even though both the fronts called the notification a diversion from the electoral bonds issue. While the LDF government reiterated that the CAA and the National Register of Citizens will not be implemented in Kerala, Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president K. Sudhakaran said that the CAA will be “thrown into the Arabian Sea” if INDIA comes to power. Read more