Election 2024 News LIVE: FIR lodged over ‘vote for jihad’ call

I request all Congress candidates and leaders to keep the sacred Constitution with them during nominations, meetings, speeches and public outreach. Announce it in every village and every street that as long as the Congress is there, let alone BJP, no power in the world can snatch away the Constitution of India: Rahul Gandhi on X (formerly Twitter)

BJP’s Mohan Yadav, Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, holds a roadshow in Bhopal for party candidate Alok Sharma.

The BJP has troubled every CM in the country. But they were unable to catch hold of (Delhi CM) Arvind Kejriwal and K Chandrashekar Rao. So they framed a conspiracy for political benefit through the LG of Delhi. The excise policy was turned into a scam and a false case was framed. They arrested Arvind Kejriwal and my daughter K Kavitha unnecessarily. Delhi liquor scam is not a scam at all, but Narendra Modi’s creation: K Chandrasekhar Rao, former Telangana CM

FIR lodged against Congress leader Salman Khurshid and SP’s Maria Alam Khan under sections 188 and 295A IPC in Kayamganj police station in Fatehgarh district for allegedly asking for votes on religious lines.

The Congress made Akshay Bam their candidate and made me substitute candidate. Now, Akshay Bam has withdrawn his nomination. That’s why I have filed a petition in the High Court to make me a candidate. I want the Congress party to announce my name as the candidate from: Moti Singh Patel

The Congress has some sort of hatred for our constitution ever since their inception. If they look at the Constitution given by BR Ambedkar, they will see a depiction of scenes from the Ramayana and Mahabharata on each and every page. It started insulting the Constitution from the first day itself: PM Modi

For us, each and every vote is superior, your dream is superior, but for the Congress, their vote bank means everything to them. The faith of people who are not its vote bank, does not matter to the Congress. This is why in Telangana, its government is trying to stop our festivals and celebrations. Even Ram Navami Shobha Yatra was prohibited to appease their vote bank: PM Modi

Congress-BRS are members of the same corruption racket. Their corruption racket is branched out so much that it can be understood by Delhi’s Liquor scam. The party (AAP) involved in the Liquor scam in Delhi, BRS was also a party in it. The Congress is in an alliance with the same party in Delhi. When action was taken on this scam, all members of this corruption racket cam out in support of each other: PM Modi

Wherever the Congress forms government, they have five markers of their governance. False slogans, and false promises, vote bank politics, encouraging mafias and criminals, dynasty, and corruption. These five markers make the Congress hand. People in Telangana can also experience these traits of the Congress: PM Modi in Zahirabad, Telangana

I resigned due to RJD’s policies. I served as an MLA and MP as well in the past. We saw a new young face, and we could see the possibility of a developed Bihar, but in a short time only I realised the party’s policies were against my own ideologies. I am in politics and naturally expect an MLA or MP election ticket. In the past, I have defeated many RJD leaders..I will give information on my future plan tomorrow: Rama Singh, ex-MP

The Congress is out of topics, they can see their defeat clearly. Therefore they are cutting and editing the statements of our top leaders and presenting it. There is chaos in the Congress. in Chhattisgarh itself, in the last 3-4 months, more than 25,000 Congress workers left their party and joined BJP: Vishnu Deo Sai

The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) of TDP, Jana Sena, and BJP, releases manifesto for the Andhra Pradesh assembly polls.

“In Olympics, Paralympics, Asian Games, Commonwealth Games, and University Games, Indian players are breaking decades-old records. This confidence among Indian citizens will take us towards a developed India. It is my dream to host the 2029 Youth Olympics in India. it is my dream that the 2036 Olympics be held in India,” PM Modi declares at a rally in Maharashtra’s Latur.

In a major setback to the Congress, Ramnivas Rawat, its six-time MLA in Madhya Pradesh, resigns from the party, and joins the ruling BJP, in the presence of CM Mohan Yadav.

The opposition can stay in illusion. Our vote share is going up in Tamil Nadu, and we are also winning seats there. We are retaining Karnataka. We will also go ahead in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana this time. We will go ahead in Odisha too. We are doing very well in West Bengal too. Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and other northern states . They (opposition) are nowhere to be seen anywhere, their candidates are nowhere to be seen: JP Nadda

BJP assures you that we will seize all wealth of mafias here and distribute it among the poor. All big mafias have either left Uttar Pradesh or they have been sent to ‘jahanum’ (hell): Yogi Adityanath, UP chief minister

Lok S“The public have made up their minds to re-elect Narendra Modi as the Prime Minister with over 400 seats. The Congress party does not have anything except fake narratives. It is finished…they do not even have a candidate for the Mumbai North seat,” says Union minister Piyush Goyal, BJP candidate from the seat.

We all have faith that Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi will come and defeat the BJP: Deepak Singh, Congress

The city cyber crime cell on Tuesday arrested two persons, including Satish Vansola the personal assistant of Congress MLA from Vadgam Jignesh Mevani and Rakesh Bariya of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) over circulation of a doctored video of Union home minister Amit Shah’s speech on social media. In the edited video, Shah is seen advocating the abolition of reservation quotas for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes. Lavina Sinha DCP Ahmedabad Crime Branch said the two were arrested made on Monday night based on a complaint filed by a crime branch official. The accused edited the video of the speech made by Union minister Shah, uploaded it on various social media platforms without permission and with the intent of creating disharmony among communities which is likely to affect public tranquility and public order, she said.

Odisha CM and BJD president Naveen Patnaik files his nomination papers from the Hinjili Assembly seat CM Patnaik is contesting the Assembly elections from Kantabanji and Hinjili Assembly seats. The Assembly elections will be held in Odisha in four phases from May 13 to June 1 along with the Lok Sabha elections.

Former Maharashtra minister Suresh Navale has resigned from the Shiv Sena led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, claiming the CM has succumbed to the pressure from the BJP. Navale has also said he will not join any party and announced his support to NCP (SP) Beed Lok Sabha seat nominee Bajrang Sonawane. Talking to a news channel on Monday, Navale, who hails from Beed, said he resigned from the Shiv Sena on April 25.

Reacting to Congress leader P Chidambaram’s remark on India’s economy, Goa BJP Lok Sabha election in-charge Ashish Sood asked the Congress leader to recall the previous state of the economy and highlighted the efforts made by the BJP in uplifting it. Highlighting former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s words that “money does not grow on trees,” Sood asserted that the BJP has pulled India’s economy from the “fragile five” to the “top five” economies. “P Chidambaram forgets how Indian economy was. One of the top economists in the world Dr Manmohan Singh used to say that money does not grow on trees, somebody needs to remind this to P Chidambaram. PM Modi has pulled India’s economy from the ‘fragile five and put it in the top five’. Hence there is no need to take him (P Chidambaram) seriously.”

The display unit connected to EVMs of the Komarapalayam assembly segment part of the Erode Lok Sabha constituency placed at a college here failed on Tuesday. Officials said that the CCTV cameras were functioning and recording the visuals.

On being asked about Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s candidature from Amethi and Raebareli, Union Home Minister Amit Shah says “I don’t know whether they will contest elections or not but the amount of confusion shows that they lack self-confidence. The situation in Uttar Pradesh is that they have left their traditional seats and ran away…”

The Janata Dal (Secular) core committee on Tuesday recommended the suspension of its Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna from the party. Prajwal Revanna, grandson of former prime minister and Janata Dal (Secular) president, H D Deve Gowda, finds himself embroiled in a sex tapes scandal in Karnataka. Thousands of pen drives allegedly having his sexual assault videos were circulated in Hassan, the Lok Sabha constituency, from where he was BJP-JD(S) candidate. Following the core committee meeting, the chairman of the committee said that following the meeting a recommendation has been made to national president HD Deve Gowda to suspend Prajwal. “The party has already welcomed the probe by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) that has been ordered by the state government. (In the meeting), we have decided to support the investigation completely. Since there is an allegation that there has been disrespect towards the women, we have recommended to our national president HD Deve Gowda to suspend him from the party,” said D(S) core committee chairman and senior party leader GT Devegowda.

Addressing a public gathering in Madha, Maharashtra, Prime Minister Narendra Modi says “Women have a huge role to play in building a Viksit Bharat. Modi has left no stone unturned to empower women. Thousands of women have joined Self Help Groups in the past 10 years. Women are contributing to the fast-paced development of villages. We have made 1 crore women Lakhpati Didis. India will soon have 3 crore Lakhpati Didis and that’s my guarantee…”

Addressing a public gathering in Madha, Maharashtra, Prime Minister Narendra Modi says “15 years ago, a very big leader came here to contest elections. Then he took an oath and said that he would provide water to the drought-affected areas here. But he did not fulfil his promise, and now the time has come to punish him…Be it Vidarbha or Marathwada…this sin of making people yearn for every drop of water has been going on for years. The country gave Congress a chance to rule for 60 years. In these 60 years, many countries of the world have changed completely, but Congress could not provide water to the farmers’ fields…In 2014, there were about 100 irrigation projects that were stuck for decades, out of which 26 projects were from Maharashtra. Just think, what a big betrayal Congress has done to Maharashtra…”

Lok Sabha Speaker and BJP candidate from Kota, Om Birla says, “People are enthusiastic about making Narendra Modi the Prime Minister again. Welfare schemes were launched for all the poor and deprived sections, works done to bring a change in their lives… They (the opposition) have neither a candidate for the post of Prime Minister nor any policy or intention. They want to contest elections only based on lies. Prime Minister Modi clearly said that the social reservation system will not end …”

Why waste your vote by giving it to those who are not contesting even the number of seats needed for majority in Lok Sabha, says PM Modi in Maharashtra.

I have left no stone unturned to empower women; thousands of women have joined Self Help Groups in last 10 years: PM Modi.

Addressing a public gathering in Madha, Maharashtra, Prime Minister Narendra Modi says “A stable government takes care of the present while keeping in mind the needs of the future. Today, we are making huge investments in railways, roadways and airways… Our annual budget for infrastructure projects is equal to Congress’ infra budget of 10 years…”

Weighing in on the controversy around an alleged fake video, purportedly showing Union Home Minister Amit Shah as claiming that the BJP stands against reservations; Chief Minister Mohan Yadav came down heavily on the Congress on Tuesday, saying it has a history of instilling ‘fear’ in people’s minds for the sake of votes. Speaking to ANI on board a chartered flight, on the sidelines of campaigning for the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, on Tuesday, CM Yadav said, “The Congress has a history of instilling fear in people’s minds through unfounded claims for the sake of votes. On the issue of reservation, too, the Congress is treading the same line. It was the Congress that brought amendments to our Constitution (countering the Opposition claim that the BJP-led NDA would ring in changes to the Constitution if elected for a third term). The BJP, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has worked to give reservation to the poor and the backward sections. We even moved the Supreme Court in the interest of reservations and social justice.” Echoing PM Modi’s refrain, the Madhya Pradesh CM said Rahul was eyeing a flight from Wayanad, his current Lok Sabha constituency from where he is seeking a fresh term, in the same way as he ‘ran away’ from Amethi (in Uttar Pradesh) after his defeat to Union Minister Smriti Irani in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

RJD president Lalu Prasad’s daughter Rohini Acharya, who is contesting the elections from Saran Lok Sabha seat as a Mahagathbandhan nominee, has movable and immovable assets worth ₹15.82 crore, according to the affidavit filed by her. Her husband has movable and immovable assets worth ₹19.86 crore. Acharya filed her nomination papers from Saran Lok Sabha seat on Monday. She was accompanied by her father, the RJD supremo, and mother, former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi, brother and party heir apparent Tejashwi Yadav, former state minister Tej Pratap Yadav and sister Misa Bharati.

HD Kumaraswamy of the Janata Dal (Secular) on Tuesday asserted that the party will not protect his nephew Prajwal Revanna amid the controversy over the obscene video case against the Hassan MP in Karnataka. Describing it a “shameful issue”, HD Kumaraswamy told reporters, “…We are not going to protect him, we will take severe action but the government’s responsibility is more. Not only as an uncle but as a common man of the country, we have to move further. I am not protecting any person. We have fought against these kinds of illegal things. This is a serious issue. Who is running the government, they have to expose the real picture and the ground reality has to be exposed by the govt and not me…”

Union home minister Amit Shah on Tuesday accused the Congress of spreading lies with fake videos and stressed that the Bharatiya Janata Party supports reservations of scheduled tribes (ST), scheduled castes (SC) and other backward castes (OBCs). Addressing a press conference in Guwahati, Shah said that the party and its allies will cross 100 seats in the first two phases of polling and are on course to reach their aim of bagging 400 plus seats.

A voter turnout of 16.68 per cent was recorded till 9 am at six polling stations in Outer Manipur Lok Sabha seat, where repolling is underway on Tuesday, election officials said. No untoward incident was reported so far and voting, which commenced at 7 am, is underway under tight security arrangements, they said. Repolling was necessitated as unidentified persons had damaged EVMs and VVPATs before the completion of voting at four of these six polling stations on April 26, while EVM malfunctioning was reported at one polling station, and voting could not be completed at another due to “threat and intimidation by unknown miscreants”, they said.

TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu has said the anti-incumbency wave coupled with failure of all institutional frameworks will ensure his party sweeps both assembly and Lok Sabha elections in Andhra Pradesh as people have ‘realised’ the ruling YSR Congress has failed to live up to all its promises. The former Chief Minister who is fighting to regain power in the state, expressed confidence that the TDP-BJP-Jana Sena Party (JSP) combine will win 24 out of 25 Lok Sabha seats and 160 of the 175 assembly seats comfortably in the simultaneous elections to be held on May 13. Naidu (74) said the YSRCP came to power on the promise of getting a special status to AP but the issue has been relegated to the background as people are struggling to deal with alleged mismanagement of every government department.

Out and about for a morning stroll by the Sukhna Lake, former Union Minister and the Congress’ Lok Sabha candidate from Chandigarh, Manish Tewari caught up with locals, engaged with them and also exchanged greetings as part of his campaign for the general elections on Tuesday. Speaking to ANI on the sidelines of his campaign, the senior Congress leader said, “Me and my campaign team decided to take a walk by the Sukhna Lake this morning, meeting and engaging with locals while we were at it. We received a lot of love and affection from the people here. There’s a culture of fitness here in Chandigarh and we decided to be a part of it and promote physical activity in the interest of staying fit and healthy.”

After the second phase of the Lok Sabha elections concluded, both the ruling and opposition parties in Uttar Pradesh have intensified their campaigns across for the third phase of polling. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders have claimed that the party is going to win all 80 parliamentary seats in UP. Dimple Yadav, the wife of Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav, who is contesting from the Mainpuri Lok Sabha constituency, known as the stronghold of the Party, on Monday dismissed the BJP’s claims as a “blatant lie.”

In a bid to bolster their businesses and contribute to the state’s agricultural sector, Coconut growers in Gujarat are seeking governmental assistance after the Lok Sabha elections for the expansion of business. With a rich history of coconut cultivation in the region, farmers are eager to expand their operations and meet the growing demand for coconut products both locally and internationally. Recognizing the potential economic benefits, the coconut growers are advocating that political representatives should take some measures to assure subsidies for modern farming equipment, access to affordable loans, and technical training programs to enhance productivity and quality.

Repolling is underway under tight security arrangement at six polling stations in three assembly constituencies in the Outer Manipur parliamentary constituency on Monday. The re-polling which was held as voting could not be completed during the second phase of the 18th Lok Sabha Polls on April 26, began at 7am and is scheduled to conclude at 4pm. “Repolling at six polling booths was peaceful,” says an official of Chief Electoral Officer(CEO) office on Tuesday. “A voter turnout of 16.68 per cent was recorded till 9 am.” A resident of Ukhrul town,84 km north of Imphal when contacted said the voters coming out in groups were seen standing in a long queue at a polling station.”There is also a large-scale security personnel deployment at most of the polling booths,”he added.

The state election commissioner (SEC) Nagaland has notified the schedule of the long-due elections to the state’s urban local bodies (ULB). Elections to these have last been conducted in 2004 in Nagaland and had since been marred with controversies and lawsuits on issues surrounding property tax and 33% quota for women. The fresh polls will now be conducted under the new Nagaland Municipal Act 2023 which addresses the public concerns on these issues, in particular, with 33% of seats reserved for women. On Tuesday, SEC TJ Longkumer notified that the pending polls for the state’s three municipal councils and 36 town councils would be conducted on June 26 and model code of conduct (MCC) comes into operation with immediate effect.

In his inaugural address on the floor of the National Assembly (NA) following the 2024 elections, JUI-F chief and Pakistani Opposition Leader, Maulana Fazlur Rehman drew a sharp contrast with India, asserting, “India is dreaming of becoming a superpower, while we are begging to avoid bankruptcy. Who is responsible for this?” ARY News reported. 

He attributed the nation’s predicament to unseen forces orchestrating decisions from behind the scenes, reducing elected officials to mere puppets. “There are powers behind the walls controlling us, and they make decisions while we are just puppets,” he claimed.

With the nomination process for the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha elections underway, a total of nine candidates, including Shiv Sena’s (UBT) leaders, Arvind Sawant and Anil Desai, filed their nominations in Mumbai on Monday. Arvind Sawant is contesting from Mumbai South, while Anil Desai is from Mumbai South Central. Sawant also submitted information about his wealth to the Election Commission through an affidavit along with his nomination form. The affidavit also mentioned information about the assets in the name of Arvind Sawant’s wife, Anuya Arvind Sawant.

Congress leader P Chidambaram on Tuesday said that the manifesto of the BJP for the Lok Sabha polls has vanished without a trace after it was announced. On the other hand, Congress manifesto recieved popularity because of its welfare promises. In a post on X, P Chidambaram said, “Congress’ manifesto is based on three driving principles: work, wealth and welfare. There is nothing in the BJP’s manifesto that is comparable to the Congress’ Manifesto. That is why PM Modi and other BJP leaders do not speak about their manifesto. The BJP’s manifesto vanished without a trace. The Congress’ manifesto has left a deep impression on the minds of the people and has become a talking point among millions of people of the country.” Chidambaram, who heads the Congress manifesto committee, said that his party’s poll document has an inclusive approach and that it only talks about the poor.

In the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha election, Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami appealed to the voters to ensure a grand victory for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), saying that the ongoing polls will realise Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision for a developed India. Dhami, while addressing a public rally in Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly, said that this election will mark the building of the nation as the third-largest economy in the world.

In her first rally in Karnataka following the scandal involving JD(S) MP Prajwal Revanna, senior Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s silence on the issue. Addressing a public gathering in Kalaburgi, she questioned the Central government’s stance on allowing Revanna to depart the country amidst allegations of sexual exploitation of women. “The individual (Prajwal Revanna) who stood alongside Prime Minister Modi, for whom the Prime Minister solicited votes, stands accused of abusing thousands of women. The numbers are staggering. I want to know Modi’s response to this. I am keen to hear what the home minister has to say,” remarked Priyanka Gandhi. Prajwal Revanna, the incumbent MP from Hassan and grandson of former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda faces allegations of sexual exploitation of women, leading to the registration of an FIR against him for sexual assault. Police reported that Revanna fled the country a day before the filing of the FIR.

There was a minor scare when the Pawan Hans chopper in which Union home minister Amit Shah was flying in, drifted behind, sideways for a few metres due to strong cross winds, immediately after lift-off from the GD College ground in Begusarai, as per a purported video shown on some TV news channels on Monday. The twin engine Pawan Hans chopper (VT ENZ), drifted away momentarily before turning around and re-aligning, as it stabilised and took off from the GD College ground in Begusarai. The chopper landed safely at the Patna airport, said officials. The home ministry, however, denied that the chopper faced some balance issues while taking off from Begusarai on Monday, as per an All India Radio (AIR) post on X. “The ministry says there was no such issue as was being reported by some channels,” said the AIR post on X.

The Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress have asked for more time to respond to Election Commission’s April 25 notices to their party presidents for violations of the Model Code of Conduct by their star campaigners Narendra Modi (BJP), and Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge (Congress), respectively, an EC official aware of the matter said. The notices required BJP’s JP Nadda and Congress’s Kharge to respond by 11 am on April 29. The BJP has asked for a week while the Congress initially asked for an extension until 5 pm on April 29, and then asked for 14 more days. 

The poll body had sent a notice to Nadda on April 25 on the basis of complaints raised by the Congress, Communist Party of India, and the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation against Modi’s anti-Muslim hate speech delivered in Rajasthan on April 21. An idential notice was sent to Kharge to respond to complaint raised by the BJP against Rahul Gandhi’s speech in Kerala wherein the BJP had accused him of saying “derisive and obnoxious utterances” against Modi. 

Both Nadda and Kharge were directed to notify all star campaigners of their parties “to set high standards of political discourse and observe the proviisions of MCC in letter and spirit”.