ELECTIONS LIVE: Shah replaces Advani in Gandhinagar; check BJP's first list

General VK Singh will contest the Ghaziabad seat. Smriti Irani will contest from Congress bastion Amethi, while Nitin Gadkari will fight for the Nagpur seat

9:51 PM

BJP drops 4 Dalit MPs in Uttar Pradesh

BJP drops 4 Dalit MPs from Uttar Pradesh in its first candidate list for Lok Sabha elections 2019.

 

9:51 PM

BJP retains 2014 winners in Karnataka

BJP has retained in Karnataka all those MPs who won Lok Sabha elections in 2014.

 

8:29 PM

Amit Shah to contest from seat that LK Advani retained for 20 years

Amit Shah will contest from Gandhinagar constituency, which LK Advani retained for from 1998 to 2019

8:20 PM

Kerala BJP chief to contest against Shashi Tharoor

Kerala BJP chief Kummanam Rajasekharan to fight Shashi Tharoor in the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha constituency

8:13 PM

In Guwahati Lok Sabha constituency, BJP fields new candidate Queen Ojha to replace veteran leader Bijoya Chakravarthy

 

8:02 PM

Arjun Ram Meghwal to contest from Bikaner, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore from Jaipur

7:48 PM

Sujay Vikhe to contest from Ahmednagar

Sujay Vikhe, son of former Maharashtra leader of oppn Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, to contest from Ahmednagar. Both father and son crossed over to BJP recently

7:38 PM

General VK Singh to contest from Ghaziabad, Smriti Irani from Amethi

General VK Singh to contest from Ghaziabad, Smriti Irani from Amethi, Nitin Gadkari from Nagpur

7:34 PM

BJP announcing list of 182 candidates for Lok Sabha polls

Narendra Modi to contest from Varanasi, Amit Shah from Gandhinagar, Rajnath Singh from Lucknow

 

 

7:14 PM

BJP to name 250 candidates for Lok Sabha elections, say TV reports

BJP is going to name 250 candidates for Lok Sabha elections, say TV reports. Congress has already announced more than 130 candidates.

10:34 PM

Facebook, Twitter, TikTok to come up with code to prevent misuse of social media during polls

Social media intermediaries and the internet and mobile association Tuesday told the Election Commission that they would come up with a draft 'code of ethics' for the industry in the next 24 hours as part of a mechanism to prevent abuse of social media platforms during the Lok Sabha elections beginning April 11

 

9:36 PM

BJP drops all 10 sitting MPs from Chhattisgarh, to field fresh candidates

BJP General Secretary Anil Jain, says the party has decided to face the Lok Sabha elections with "new candidates and fresh energy" to make it victorious under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

 

8:29 PM

Mamata lashes out at BJP for questioning her religion

"There are people who question my religion. I want to tell them that my religion is humanity and I do not need lectures from others about religion,"  says Mamata Banerjee at a programme in connection with the upcoming Holi festival.

 

 

"They (BJP) try to point fingers at me and say I do not allow puja to be conducted in Bengal. They should go and see how many 'mandir' (temples) have been constructed during the TMC regime," the Trinamool Congress supremo said.

8:09 PM

BJP Central Election Committee (CEC) meeting begins at the party headquarters

Delhi: BJP Central Election Committee (CEC) meeting begins at the party headquarters. Discussions will be held on seats in 10 states including Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Karnataka, and Odisha.

7:06 PM

CPI announces list of 7 candidates for the upcoming LS polls

Communist Party of India (CPI) announces list of 7 candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in Tamil Nadu, Assam and West Bengal.

7:05 PM

Left parties announced candidates for 38 constituencies out of 42 in West Bengal

Left parties announced candidates for 38 constituencies out of 42 in West Bengal. Seats that Congress had won in 2014 Lok Sabha elections have been left vacant for now.

 

6:18 PM

No riots in UP in 2 years, law and order a model for country: Adityanath

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath asserts that his government has changed the image of Uttar Pradesh and the state's law and order has become a model for the country as not one incident of rioting happened under his watch.

 

Presenting a report card on the completion of two years of his government, he said when he assumed office in March 2017, debt-ridden farmers were committing suicides and Uttar Pradesh had become "synonymous with murder, loot and riots." 

 

5:33 PM

Congress mulling alliance with AAP, Sharad Pawar trying to bring them together

 

Days after having unanimously decided to go it alone in Delhi, the Congress is again mulling options to align with the Aam Aadmi Party in the national capital, with NCP leader Sharad Pawar actively involved in getting the two parties together.

 

5:24 PM

SP-BSP announce alliance for 48 Maharashtra Lok Sabha seats

 

The Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party Tuesday announced they would contest all 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra in alliance.

 

 

SP MLA Abu Asim Azmi claims only the SP-BSP alliance was strong enough to stop the BJP from winning over 5-7 seats in Maharashtra.

 

 

 

5:10 PM

Modi to interact with people from 500 places in 'Mani Bhi Chowkidar' campaign

Intensifying his 'Main Bhi Chowkidar' (I too am a watchman) campaign, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 31 will interact with people, who have pledged their support to the campaign, from 500 places across the country.

 

Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the campaign has become a "people's movement" as the 'Main Bhi Chowkidar' hashtag has been tweeted 20 lakh times and had 1680 crore impressions.

4:58 PM

CPI(M) announces candidates for 38 LS seats in West Bengal

CPI(M) announces candidates for 38 LS seats in West Bengal. Left Front chairman says still chance for dialogue with Congress on alliance

3:42 PM

Rant of nothing done in 70 years has expiry date: Priyanka Gandhi

"There is a big difference between polls promises and fulfilling them. As far as the rant about (no development in) 70 years is concerned, it also has an expiry date. You (BJP) are in the government for the past five years, what have you done in five years?" asks Priyanka Gandhi.
 

 

"Everyday, I'm meeting people from different sections of the society and I'm getting to know that students, youngsters, 'shiksha mitras', anganwadi workers and ASHA workers are feeling harassed," says the Congress leader.

 

3:31 PM

BJP running coalition governments in many states, says JDS Chief HD Devegowda in Bengaluru

 

 

JDS Chief HD Devegowda in Bengaluru: Modi mocks the idea of mahagatbandhan but BJP itself is running coalition governments in many states. We will answer BJP by winning this election

 

2:51 PM

Congress fields state unit chief to boost prospects in LS polls

Seeking to put up a keen fight in the Lok Sabha polls in Telangana after a disastrous show in the assembly elections in December last year, Congress has fielded its state unit chief N Uttam Kumar Reddy to boost the morale of its cadres and prospects.

 

Reddy, sitting MLA from Huzurnagar, would be the party candidate from Nalgonda, according to the second list of candidates announced by Congress late on Monday night.
 

Though he was initially said to be reluctant to contest, his candidature is, however, expected to boost the morale of partymen.

 

The list also includes former MP Madhu Yashki Goud, who will take on TRS president Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao's daughter and sitting MP Kavitha in Nizamabad.
 

Firoz Khan, who unsuccessfully contested in the Assembly elections, would take on AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi.

2:26 PM

Subal Bhowmik, Tripura BJP Vice President resigns from the party stating "unavoidable circumstances".

2:18 PM

Priyanka Gandhi said farmers and youth were angry with PM Modi.

2:17 PM

2:16 PM

India may not have elections if Modi re-elected, may go China way: Ashok Gehlot

India may not see another election if Narendra Modi is re-elected as prime minister, Rajasthan Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Ashok Gehlot has claimed, suggesting that the country may go the way of China and Russia.

 

Gehlot also said both democracy and the country were in danger under Modi, who he said would “do anything” to get back to power. People felt he could even go to war with Pakistan to achieve this goal, the Congress leader said.

 

Dubbing Modi a “good actor”, Gehlot said he could do much better in Bollywood and would have left his indelible mark in acting. He also alleged that he was a "master in marketing false promises".

 

"If people re-elect Modi, then there is no surety on whether elections will be held in the country or not. 'Chunav honge bhi, aur nahin bhi honge...jaise China, Russia mein hota hai' (Elections will be held in the country and yet not be held, like what happens in China, Russia)," Gehlot said during an interaction with PTI.

2:05 PM

Congress will restore special category status to Arunachal Pradesh and other NE states if voted to power: Rahul Gandhi at Itanagar rally

2:03 PM

Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad: Prime Minister on March 30, will interact through video conference with people who have pledged their support to 'Main bhi Chowkidaar' movement, from 500 locations in the country.