Lok Sabha elections updates | Congress to release poll manifesto on April 6

The West Bengal government has announced localised public holidays in the respective constituency during seven-phased Lok Sabha polls, and assembly by-elections, an official said.

All the state-run government offices, undertaking organisations, corporations, boards, statutory and local bodies, and educational institutions within the parliamentary constituencies and the assembly seats will remain closed on the respective dates of polling so that every employee can exercise his or her franchise, he said. - PTI

As many as 309 nomination papers were rejected during scrutiny by the returning officers for the April 19 single-phase general election in Tamil Nadu.

A total of 1,741 candidates including 238 women had filed their papers seeking to contest from 39 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state. About 309 papers were rejected, the election commission’s website said. - PTI

More than 70 candidates have filed their nomination papers for the four seats in Bihar where voting will take place in the first phase of Lok Sabha polls, the election department said. 

The maximum number of candidates were in Gaya (22), followed by Aurangabad (21), Nawada (17) and Jamui (12). 

Scrutiny is scheduled for March 30 while April 2 is the last date for withdrawal. - PTI

Rajasthan Chief Electoral Officer Praveen Gupta said 166 nominations were found to be valid after scrutiny of papers for the first phase of Lok Sabha polls for 12 seats in the state. 

He said the last date for withdrawal of names for the first phase of voting is March 30. Voting will take place on April 19 and the counting of votes will take place on June 4. 

In the second phase of elections in the state, voting will be held on 13 seats — Tonk-Sawai Madhopur, Ajmer, Pali, Jodhpur, Barmer, Jalore, Udaipur, Banswara, Chittorgarh, Rajsamand, Bhilwara, Kota and Jhalawar-Baran — on April 26.

Apart from this, byelection on Bagidora assembly seat falling under Banswara Lok Sabha constituency will also be held in the second phase on April 26. - PTI

Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said the Congress fights elections only for the chair while the BJP wants power to serve people and ensure the benefits of development reach the last man. 

“Uttarakhand is the first state in the country to pass the law on UCC. We have also made a strict law against those who indulge in riots and disrupt peace by making a provision for recovering the damage caused to public property during riots from the rioters themselves,” he said at the rally at Didihat. 

“While 2.30 lakh families in the state are getting free ration from the Modi government, 1.80 lakh families have received LPG cylinders free of cost under the Ujjwala scheme,” he said. - PTI

A Superintendent of Police was injured when a mob pelted stones at the security forces personnel after the returning officer for the Pongchou-Wakka Assembly constituency in Arunachal Pradesh rejected the nomination of a National People’s Party (NPP) candidate. - PTI

Darjeeling’s Hamro Party president Ajoy Edwards joined the Congress party in Delhi. The prominent leader from the hills putting his weight behind the Congress assumes significance ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. - Shiv Sahay Singh

Aam Aadmi Party’s Assam unit alleged that Guwahati Police came inside its party headquarters in an attempt to “scare” party workers, but police officials denied the allegations and said a small security unit has been stationed outside the building. 

“AAP has filed nominations in two Lok Sabha constituencies in the presence of over 10,000 supporters for both candidates. Within 24 hours, the Assam government sent police to our office and tried to scare the workers,” the release said. - PTI

Seventy-one of 155 nominations filed for eight Lok Sabha seats of Uttar Pradesh, that will go to polls in the first phase of elections, were rejected, Chief Electoral Officer Navdeep Rinwa said. 

Saharanpur, Kairana, Muzaffarnagar, Bijnor, Nagina, Moradabad, Rampur, and Pilibhit will vote in the first phase on April 19. 

Thirteen candidates filed nominations from the Saharanpur Lok Sabha seat. During scrutiny of nomination papers, one nomination was rejected and the remaining 12 nomination papers were found valid, the officer said. 

Seventeen candidates filed nominations from the Kairana Lok Sabha seat. Two of these were rejected. - PTI

BJP founding member and six-time Cuttack Lok Sabha MP Bhartruhari Mahtab joined the BJP, dealing a big blow to the Odisha’s ruling party ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. 

Along with him, former BJD MP Sidhant Mohapatra and noted Santali language litterateur Damayanti Beshra, who was conferred the Padma Shri in 2020, also joined the BJP in the presence of Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, party national vice president Baijayant Jay Panda, party’s Odisha unit president Manmohan Samal and other senior leaders. - PTI

The BJP will contest 13 of the 14 Lok Sabha seats in Jharkhand while its ally AJSU party will field its candidate from Giridih parliamentary constituency, BJP national general secretary Arun Kumar announced. The BJP and the AJSU party are “old and natural” allies in Jharkhand, he said. - PTI

The nomination papers of two candidates, one each from Kaziranga and Sonitpur seats, were found invalid during scrutiny, an election official said. 

Altogether 38 contestants have filed nominations for five constituencies which will go to polls in the first phase in the state on April 19. 

The papers of the Republican Party of India (Athawale) nominee Faisal Ahmed Majumdar in Kaziranga, and those of independent candidate Mahendra Orang in Sonitpur were rejected, the official said. 

The papers of the remaining 36 candidates in all five constituencies were found to be valid. The last date for withdrawal of candidature is March 30. - PTI

The Shiv Sena led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde announced candidates for eight Lok Sabha seats in the state, with the list including seven sitting MPs. 

It gave a ticket to former Congress MLA Raju Parve from Ramtek (SC) seat. The other seven names on the list, all sitting MPs, are Rahul Shewale (Mumbai South Central), Sanjay Mandlik (Kolhapur), Sadashiv Lokhande (Shirdi (SC)) Prataprao Jadhav (Buldhana), Hemant Patil (Hingoli), Srirang Barne (Maval) and Dhairyasheel Mane (Hatkanangale). - PTI

The Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) announced five candidates for Punjab and two for Haryana for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. 

Addressing the media in Chandigarh, SAD (Amritsar) president and Sangrur MP Simranjit Singh Mann said he will fight from the Sangrur seat. 

He said his party fielded Mahinderpal Singh from Patiala, Amritpal Singh from Ludhiana, Baldev Singh from Faridkot and Kushalpal Singh from Anandpur Sahib. 

Mr. Mann further said Harjit Singh has been fielded from Karnal seat and Khazan Singh from Kurukshetra parliamentary seat in Haryana. - PTI

Congress nominee Lalbiakzama is the richest among six candidates, who have filed nominations for the lone Lok Sabha seat in Mizoram, as per affidavits filed by them. 

The 64-year-old retired Mizoram Police Service (MPS) officer has declared total assets worth over ₹3.84 crore as per the affidavit he filed before the Returning Officer. 

Of the six candidates in the fray for the Lok Sabha seat in Mizoram, three including ruling Zoram People’s Movement (ZPM) nominee Richard Vanlalhmangaiha, are ‘crorepati’. 

Independent candidate Lalhriatrenga Chhangte is the ‘poorest’ among the six as he has only movable assets worth ₹6.75 lakh. - PTI

The Congress will release its manifesto for the Lok Sabha polls in Jaipur on April 6, party’s Rajasthan in-charge Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa said. 

He said Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, and Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi will release the party’s manifesto at a public meeting in Jaipur. 

Mr. Randhawa was talking to reporters after the meeting regarding election strategy in the Congress’ ‘War Room’ in Jaipur. He said in today’s meeting, the preparations for this public meeting were also discussed. - PTI

Kriti Devi Debbarman, the ‘joint candidate’ of Tipra Motha and BJP submitted her nomination papers for Tripura East Lok Sabha constituency. 

Accompanied by Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha, Tipra Motha chief Pradyot Kishore Debbarma and other senior BJP and Tipra Motha leaders she filed her nomination papers at the Office of the Returning Officer of Tripura East Lok Sabha constituency. 

Kriti Devi, sister of Pradyot Kishore Debbarma is married to Yogeswhwar Raj Singh of the Rajkot royal family of Chhattisgarh. 

She changed her surname to Kriti Devi Debbarman by an affidavit before filing her nomination papers as the Tripura East Lok Sabha seat is reserved for Scheduled Tribe candidates. - PTI

A BJP leader in Chhattisgarh’s Durg district has written to the Election Commission accusing former chief minister and senior Congress leader Bhupesh Baghel of trying to instigate people to file as many nominations as possible to overwhelm EVMs and force polls to be conducted through ballot papers. - PTI

Nakul Nath, the lone Congress MP from Madhya Pradesh who has been renominated from Chhindwara by his party, has declared assets worth nearly ₹700 crore, according to his election affidavit.

Mr. Nath is among the 113 candidates who have filed their nomination papers for the first phase of Lok Sabha polls in the central state on April 19. The filing of nomination papers for this phase drew to a close on Wednesday. 

In his latest submission to the Election Commission, Nakul Nath has declared movable property, including cash, shares and bonds, worth ₹649.51 crore and ₹48.07 crore of immovable property. - PTI

With the latest appointments, the Himachal Congress now has four working presidents — Chander Kumar, Vinay Kumar, Sanjay Awasthi and Chander Shekhar. - PTI

Former Lok Sabha member Ramlakhan Singh of the BSP, ex-Congress MLA Neelesh Awasthi, former legislator and Congressman Ajay Yadav, among others, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Madhya Pradesh. 

This was the third time that Ramlakhan Singh has joined the BJP. In the past, he had left the BJP on two occasions and joined the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). He is a former BJP Lok Sabha member from Bhind. - PTI

Bollywood actor and former Congress Lok Sabha MP Govinda joined the Shiv Sena in the presence of Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde in Mumbai. 

Mr. Govinda had emerged as a “giant killer” in 2004 when, as the Congress candidate, he defeated BJP stalwart Ram Naik in the Mumbai North Lok Sabha seat. 

Mr. Shinde welcomed the 60-year-old actor into his party, saying he was a popular figure in all sections of society. 

“I am back (in politics) after a 14-year-long ‘vanvas’ (exile),” he remarked. - PTI

The villagers of Dumak in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district have decided to boycott the upcoming Lok Sabha polls over the non-construction of a vital road linking the village with the district headquarters for which they have been agitating for four decades. 

The residents of several villages of the area have formed a joint struggle committee for the construction of the road from Syund to Dumak and Kalgot. 

It has been five years since but the fate of the road is still uncertain, the villagers said. - PTI

The Congress candidates for the four Lok Sabha constituencies of Jharkhand are Kalicharan Munda, Sukhdeo Bhagat and Jai Prakashbhai Patel, who will contest the polls in Khunti (ST), Lohardaga (ST) and Hazaribagh seats, respectively. 

“Congress will announce the remaining candidates for four seats by April 1, while a consensus on seat-sharing is likely by March 29,” the party leader told PTI.

The CPI(M) released its first list of 44 candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

The list, which was shared by the party on X, includes 15 candidates for Kerala, including sitting MP A.M. Arif from Alappuzha, former health minister K.K. Shailaja, and Rajya Sabha MP E. Kareem.

The CPI(M) announced 17 names for West Bengal, including Md. Salim from Murshidabad. The names had been announced earlier by the party’s state unit.

It named two candidates for Tamil Nadu — sitting MP S. Venkatesan from Madurai and R. Sachidhanandham from Dindigul.

The party also announced one candidate each for Bihar, Jharkhand, Assam, Karnataka, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Punjab, Rajasthan, Telangana and Tripura. - PTI

Prajwal Revanna, Janata Dal (Secular) candidate in Hassan in Karnataka, possesses assets worth over ₹40.84 crore. This is against around ₹10 crore he had declared in 2019 when he contested the Lok Sabha elections for the first time. Read more

The second phase of the Lok Sabha elections will take place on April 26, when 89 constituencies from 13 States will go to the polls. The process of filing nominations for 88 of these ​began on March 28​. The last date of nominations in Phase 2 is April 4. For the sole seat in Jammu and Kashmir polling in this phase, the scrutiny will be held on April 6.

​Click here to read the full list of constituencies that go to poll on April 26, 2024​.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah along with cabinet colleagues Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Sarbananda Sonowal, Piyush Goyal and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma would be star campaigners for the BJP in the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in Arunachal Pradesh, a party leader said. 

Arunachal Pradesh will go to simultaneous polls in the first phase on April 19 for the two Lok Sabha seats and 60 assembly constituencies. - PTI

Former Haryana minister Savitri Jindal quit the Congress and joined the BJP on Thursday, days after her son and industrialist Naveen Jindal left the party to join the saffron outfit.

The 84-year-old Savitri Jindal joined the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at an event in Hisar.

Announcing her decision to quit the Congress on a social media post late Wednesday night, she said, “I represented the people of Hisar for 10 years as an MLA and have served Haryana state selflessly as a minister. The people of Hisar are my family and on the advice of my family, I am resigning from the primary membership of the Congress today”.

Savitri Jindal was listed as the richest woman in the country by Forbes India this year. - PTI

Six time Lok Sabha member and Cuttack MP Bhartruhari Mahtab, former BJD MP Sidhant Mohapatra and Padma Shri Damayanti Beshra, litterateur of Santali language, joined Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday.

Mr. Mahtab was first elected to the Lok Sabha in 1998 from Cuttack. He was re-elected to the Lok Sabha in 1999, 2004, 2009, and 2014. He retained the seat for BJD in 2019.

He was awarded the ‘Sansad Ratna’ for four consecutive years from 2017 to 2020 for his outstanding performance in Parliament debates.

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Thursday flagged developmental issues such as unemployment, price rise and farmers’ plight, as she questioned the BJP-led government under her party’s ‘Mere Vikas Ka Do Hisaab’ campaign for the Lok Sabha polls.

She posed questions to the Modi government and asked it to give an account of development during its tenure of 10 years.

“Why are 83% of the total unemployed in the country youth? Where are the 2 crore jobs annually? Why are 30 lakh government posts vacant in the country? Why is every exam paper leaked?” she said, attacking the government on youth issues.

She alleged that corporate’s ₹16 lakh crore has been “waived off” and asked why are farmers committing suicide due to debt. - PTI

JD(S) candidate for Hassan Prajwal Revanna submitted his nomination papers to the district electoral officer in Hassan on March 28. He is seeking re-election to the Lok Sabha.

He was accompanied by his father and former minister H.D. Revanna, JD(S) MLAs A. Manju, C.N. Balakrishna and H.P. Swaroop. There was no leader of the BJP, the party’s alliance partner.

The nomination of AMMK candidate T.T.V. Dhinakaran has been withheld by the Returning Officer in Theni. 

Theni police had registered a case against the AMMK coordinator, who is contesting in the Theni Lok Sabha constituency, with the BJP’s support, on charges of violating the model code of conduct while filing nomination on Wednesday.

Mr. Dhinakaran, who was coming to the Theni Collectorate to file his nomination, was accompanied by over 70 four-wheelers and two and three-wheelers. Though the guidelines stipulated by the Election Commission was given to the contestants, the party cadres forcibly pushed the barricades laid 200 metres away from the Collectorate and moved with the candidate.

Actor-cum-politician Mukesh, the LDF candidate from Kerala’s Kollam constituency, was the first among all the candidates from the State to file his nomination.

M.L. Ashwini, the BJP nominee from Kasaragod constituency, was the other candidate who filed nomination in the morning.

Kerala will vote in the second phase of the Lok Sabha polls on April 26. -PTI

Erode MP A. Ganeshamurthi, who allegedly attempted suicide recently, died at a Coimbatore hospital on Thursday morning, sources from his party MDMK and police said.

“His loss has given an inexpressible grief. He was an energetic diplomat. I offer my deepest condolences and sympathies to the members of the DMK, MDMK, his family and friends,” Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin said in a statement. -PTI

The Election Commission on Thursday issued notification for the second phase of polling in three parliamentary constituencies of West Bengal on April 26. Voting will take place in the Darjeeling, Raiganj and Balurghat Lok Sabha constituencies in the second phase.

“The notification for the three Lok Sabha constituencies going for polls in the second phase has been issued today,” an EC official told PTI.

The notable candidates in the second phase are BJP’s West Bengal president and sitting MP from Balurghat, Sukanta Majumdar, who is pitted against TMC’s Biplab Mitra.

In the Darjeeling constituency, the TMC has nominated Gopal Lama against BJP MP Raju Bista. - PTI

National President of Lok Janshakti Party (Ramvilas), Chirag Paswan who is part of the NDA alliance in Bihar is confident of his party’s showing in the 5 seats that they are contesting. Pawan on Thursday accompanied his brother-in-law Arun Bharti as he filed his nomination from Jamui.

The LJP (Ramvilas) is contesting on Vaishali, Hajipur, Samastipur, Khagaria and Jamui seats.

Chirag Paswan, who is a sitting MP from the Jamui Lok Sabha constituency, has allotted the seat to Arun Bharti this time. Chirag himself is contesting the Hajipur seat against his uncle Pashupati Paras. -ANI

Amid drama in the Karnataka Congress over the Kolar Lok Sabha seat, Karnataka Deputy CM DK Shivakumar on Thursday said that there was no room for individual interest in the party, adding that all the party leaders would work towards victory in Kolar. 

Speaking to reporters at his Sadashivanagar residence here, Mr. Shivakumar said, “There is pressure from candidates for the ticket in Kolar. It will be discussed in a meeting with the Chief Minister. No one will resign from the Party over this,” he said. 

ANI

Denied a ticket from Pilibhit Lok Sabha seat, BJP MP Varun Gandhi on Thursday wrote an emotional letter to the people of his constituency in which he asserted that his relationship with them will remain intact till his last breath.

Sharing the letter on X, he said, his relationship with Pilibhit is one of love and trust which is far above any political calculations. 

An FIR has been lodged against senior BJP leader Dilip Ghosh at Durgapur Police Station for his remarks on West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, an official said on Thursday.

Mr. Ghosh has been booked under IPC sections 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) and 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman), he said.

The FIR was lodged based on complaints lodged by an advocate at Durgapur court and another person, the official said. 

PTI

The BJP’s decision to induct independent MP Navneet Rana into the party and fielding her from the Amravati Lok Sabha seat has not gone down well with some ruling allies in Maharashtra as they termed the development as the “downfall of democracy” and “political suicide”.

Rana, who currently represents the Amravati Lok Sabha seat, joined the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the party’s state unit chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule’s residence in Nagpur along with her supporters late Wednesday night. 

Kadu described Rana’s candidature as the “downfall of democracy” and said she has to be defeated, while Adsul termed the move as Mahayuti’s “political suicide” and announced that even if his party does not support him, he would fight against her as an independent candidate. 

PTI

The notification for the second phase of polling in five Lok Sabha seats of Assam on April 26 was issued on Thursday, an election official said. 

Voting will take place in Nagaon, Darrang-Udalguri, Diphu (ST), Silchar (SC) and Karimganj during the second phase. 

The prominent candidates to contest in this phase are Congress MP Pradyut Bordoloi from Nagaon against BJP’s Suresh Bora and AIUDF’s Aminul Islam, while BJP MP Dilip Saikia has been pitted against Congress candidate Madhab Rajbongshi in Darrang-Udalguri. 

In Silchar (SC), Assam Excise Minister Parimal Suklabaidya is the BJP candidate, who will take on Congress youth leader and district general secretary Surjya Kanta Sarkar. 

BJP MP Kripanath Mallah has been given the ticket in Karimganj against Congress nominee Hafez Ahmed Choudhury and AIUDF’s Sahabul Islam Choudhury.

PTI

TMC leader Mahua Moitra has said she will campaign in her Krishnanagar constituency on Thursday, giving a miss to the Enforcement Directorate summons that asked her to appear for questioning at the ED office in New Delhi. “I will be out for campaigning in the Krishnangar constituency in the afternoon,” she told reporters. 

The Enforcement Directorate had issued fresh summons to Moitra and Dubai-based businessman Darshan Hiranandani for questioning in a Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) contravention case. 

Ms. Moitra has denied any wrongdoing.

PTI

Rebel Congress candidate for Tirunelveli Parliamentary constituency and former Congress MP S.S. Ramasubbu will withdraw his nomination, he told reporters on Thursday. 

Will canvas votes for “official candidate” C. Robert Bruce, Mr. Ramasubbu said. 

Interestingly, Mr. Ramasubbu on Wednesday had filed the nomination against Mr. Bruce. 

As so many aspirants in the Congress party were keen on getting the ticket for Tirunelveli constituency, the party, after marathon efforts, announced the name of Mr. Bruce from the neighbouring Kanniyakumari district. 

The recent summer showers might have helped Pathanamthitta restore a semblance of its usual tranquillity amidst a searing summer. But the mercury level on its ground has caught up with the election heat elsewhere, thanks to an intense fight that the seat is witnessing this time.

A plethora of issues, ranging from the relentless onslaught of wildlife to pressing matters of development, land titles, and agricultural woes, swirl within the region’s political arena long before the official announcement of elections. At the same time, this also happens to be a battle where pressure groups other than the political parties do have their roles to play.

The United Democratic Front (UDF), which has long held an upper hand over the region, is taking no chances and has reposed its faith once again in Anto Antony — the Congress veteran who has represented the seat for three consecutive terms since 2009. The Left Democratic Front (LDF), which has been on an ascent in the region since 2016 and currently holds all seven assembly segments in the constituency, has brought in the CPI(M) central committee member T.M. Thomas Isaac to seize the coveted victory. 

With the filing of nominations for the April 19 Lok Sabha election in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry coming to a close on Wednesday, three major fronts, led by the DMK, the AIADMK, and the BJP, have together fielded less than 15% of women candidates. The NTK, however, has again fielded women in 20 of the 40 (50%) constituencies.

Of the 12 women candidates fielded by the three fronts, six belong to the BJP-led NDA; five, the DMK-led INDIA; and one, the AIADMK-led alliance. The DMK renominated its general secretary Kanimozhi Karunanidhi from Thoothukudi and Thamizhachi Thangapandian from Chennai (South). The BJP has fielded Tamilisai Soundararajan, who recently resigned from her gubernatorial posts, for Chennai (South). 

To read the whole story, click here.

The Congress in the State does not seem to be on the same page with its poll ally, the Left Parties, on seat-sharing.

Unlike the ruling YSR Congress Party and the TDP-JSP-BJP alliance which have declared their respective candidates for most of the Lok Sabha and Assembly constituencies, the Congress with its limitations, is working hard to put together a list of suitable candidates who can face their formidable opponents in the poll fray.

The senior party leaders say the final list of candidates is not yet ready as the party president is still ‘fine-tuning’ it. The local-level screening of the list of 1400-odd aspirants has been completed and now it has to be presented before the party’s Central Election Committee (CEC). 

Read here.

Altogether 42 candidates, including Union minister Nisith Pramanik, filed their nominations for the first phase of polling in three Lok Sabha constituencies of West Bengal on April 19, an official said. 

On the last day of filing of nominations on Wednesday, 17 people submitted their papers for the constituencies of Cooch Behar, Alipurduar and Jalpaiguri - all in the northern part of the State. 

Besides Mr. Pramanik, TMC nominee Jagadish Chandra Barma Basunia was among the 18 candidates to file their nominations for the Cooch Behar Lok Sabha constituency, the official said. 

In Alipurduar, TMC candidate Prakash Chik Baraik and BJP nominee Manoj Tigga, who is a party MLA from Madarihat, were among 11 contestants who submitted their nomination papers. 

A total of 13 candidates filed their nominations in Jalpaiguri. Of them, the key ones include BJP’s Jayanta Kumar Roy and Nirmal Chandra Roy of the TMC. 

PTI

Vasava’s aide Ambalal Jadhav said members of the Bharat Adivasi Party (BAP), founded last year in Rajasthan where it won three seats and one in Madhya Pradesh in the 2023 Assembly elections, will meet Vasava on Friday to chart the next course of action for the parliamentary polls. 

“Four MLAs (three from Rajasthan and one from MP) are among the members of the BAP who will meet Chhotu Vasava on Friday. We will also decide on contesting the elections,” he said. 

Vasava’s younger son Dilip Vasava is the national vice president of the BAP. 

The BTP, which was founded by Vasava and led by his elder son Mahesh Vasava as its president, merged with the BJP after the latter joined the ruling party on March 11. 

Chhotu Vasava, who had contested the Lok Sabha elections from Bharuch seat in 2004 and 2009 as a Janata Dal (United) candidate, and in 2014 as a BTP candidate, said his new outfit BASS has been formed to safeguard the interest of the tribal population to counter the forces working against them. 

Vasava had founded the BTP ahead of the 2017 Gujarat Assembly elections when the JD(U) allied with the BJP. The party won two seats that time: Chhotu Vasava from Jhagadia and his son Mahesh from Dediapada. 

In 2022, he fought as an independent from Jhagadia after differences with his son, but lost to BJP’s Ritesh Vasava. 

On March 20, he announced the formation of the BASS at Jhagadia in Bharuch district after offering tributes to tribal leader and member of constituent assembly Jaipal Singh Munda on his death anniversary. 

PTI

A prominent tribal leader from Gujarat, Chhotu Vasava, has said he has formed a new organisation to fight for the rights of the country’s tribal population, days after his son and president of the Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) joined the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). 

The BTP founder said on Wednesday that his new organisation, the Bharat Adivasi Samvidhan Sena (BASS), was a social and not a political outfit, and added that he would soon announce under which banner he planned to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

In a veiled attack on his son Mahesh Vasava for joining the BJP, he said the community will never forgive those who have betrayed it for the greed of money and power. 

PTI

The Deputy Secretary of the Student Wing of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), Ka Amutharasan, has accused the Election Commission of India (ECI) of having a biassed attitude towards opposition parties by allocating election symbols as per their wishes.

“ECI has allocated the symbols for the Tamil Manila Congress and Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhgam that those parties wished for. They are in the BJP alliance,” said DMK’s youth leader on Wednesday.” 

“But whereas ECI refused to allocate symbols that parties wished for, like Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) and Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), which are in DMK alliance, even ECI refused to allocate a wish symbol for NTK (Naam Tamilar Party),” he said further. 

ANI

DMK MPs Dayanidhi Maran, A. Raja and State BJP chief K. Annamalai filed their nominations on Wednesday for the Lok Sabha polls and a total of 1,403 candidates have submitted their papers to contest the general election from Tamil Nadu.

Polling to all the 39 Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu and one in Puducherry will be held on April 19 in the first phase. 

According to the office of the Chief Electoral Officer, Tamil Nadu, as many as 1,403 candidates have filed nominations. 

PTI

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK president M.K. Stalin on Wednesday tore into Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his “failure to keep the poll promises” and said the electoral bond scheme was the Himalayan corruption, the biggest scam not only in India but also in the world. 

Quoting the editorial of The Hindu, he said the BJP had encashed several crores of rupees by misusing the raids conducted by Central agencies. He wondered whether the BJP had done anything beneficial to the country. 

Read more here.

The BJP on Wednesday appointed its Lok Sabha poll in-charges and co-in-charges for several States and Union Territories, drafting in some leaders who did not get tickets to fight the elections.

Bihar MLA Nitin Nabin will be in-charge for Chhattisgarh and Rajya Sabha MP Dinesh Sharma for Maharashtra, a party statement said.

Bihar MLA Sanjeev Chaurasia, Ramesh Bidhuri and Sanjay Bhatia were named as co-incharges for Uttar Pradesh. Both Bidhuri and Bhatia are MPs in the outgoing Lok Sabha but were not renominated by the party for the polls.