Highlights: Govinda joins Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena ahead of LS

Lok Sabha polls 2024 latest news: Catch all the latest updates on the announcements related to the General Elections here

9:53 PM

Kharge, Sonia, Rahul Gandhi to release Congress poll manifesto in Jaipur on April 6

The Congress will release its manifesto for the Lok Sabha polls here on April 6, party's Rajasthan in-charge Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa said Thursday. 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. Randhawa was talking to reporters after the meeting regarding election strategy in the Congress' 'War Room' here.

9:50 PM

Congress MP Adhir praises economist, Sitharaman's husband Parakala Prabhakar for his views on electoral bonds

West Bengal Congress president Adhir Chowdhury on Thursday heaped praise on Parakala Prabhakar, eminent economist and husband of Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for his views on the electoral bonds saying that he should be thanked for it. Chowdhury also came down heavily on the BJP government at the Centre saying that "electoral bonds were a systematic way to extort money". "He (Prabhakar) has spoken the truth. I would like to thank him for that. He is an honest, upright and determined person and that is why he could say this. He deserves to be praised lavishly," Chowdhury told reporters. "We in Congress as well as Rahul Gandhi have been saying this (what Prabhakar said) for a long time... since the day when electoral bonds issue was passed in Parliament along with the Financial Bill (in 2017). We had protested against it. We understood that the electoral bonds were a systematic way to extort money," he added.

8:37 PM

Lok Sabha Polls: 71 nominations of 155 nominations rejected in UP's first phase seats

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 on Thursday. 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.

7:53 PM

LS polls: Savitri Jindal quits Congress, joins BJP days after son Naveen switched sides

Former Haryana minister Savitri Jindal quit the Congress and joined the BJP in Haryana's Hisar on Thursday, days after her son and industrialist Naveen Jindal switched parties. The 84-year-old Savitri Jindal joined the BJP along with her daughter Seema in the presence of Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, former chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar and other BJP leaders.

6:05 PM

To browbeat, bully others is vintage Congress culture: PM Modi on lawyers writing open letter to CJI

To browbeat and bully others is vintage Congress culture, said PM Modi on lawyers writing to CJI against 'vested interest group' trying to defame courts. 

5:01 PM

NDA govt changed telecom policy after getting Rs 150 crore donation via bonds, alleges AIMIM chief Owaisi

The central government  has changed the telecom policy after receiving electoral bonds worth Rs 150 crore from a company, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi alleged today.

The Hyderabad Lok Sabha MP wrote in a post on X that the Modi government got electoral bonds worth Rs 150 crore from a company and the government changed its telecom policy. You can understand who benefited from the change in policy.

4:58 PM

Money laundering case: ED questions AAP's Goa unit chief, 3 others

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) today started questioning Aam Aadmi Party's Goa unit president Amit Palekar and three others in connection with a money laundering case. The probe agency had summoned Palekar, AAP leader Ramrao Wagh and two others - Dattaprasad Naik and Ashok Naik - for questioning in a case registered under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

4:55 PM

General Elections 2024 updates: Rs 1.76 crore cash sized in Gondia amid pole code

Officials in Gondia district in Maharashtra has caught cash worth Rs 1.76 crore cash from two places ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, officials said.

Cash worth Rs 1.71 crore was seized at the check-post of Soni village and Rs 5 lakh from the Murdoli village check-post. 

4:52 PM

Himachal BJP workers welcome Congress rebel Rajinder Rana

Ex-Congress member Rajinder Rana, now the saffron party' s candidate for the Sujanpur assembly seat in Himachal Pradesh's Hamirpur district, faced black flags from the NSUI activists but he also received a welcome from his supporters on visiting his constituency Thursday. Rana, a three-time MLA came into limelight by defeating former Chief

3:46 PM

Padma awardee Dr Damayanti Beshra and former BJD leader Sidhant Mohapatra join BJP, meet party chief JP Nadda

3:30 PM

We hope that Prakash Ambedkar will continue discussions with us: Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Priyanka Chaturvedi

3:26 PM

Lok Sabha polls 2024: Former BJD MPs Bhartruhari Mahtab, Sidhant Mohapatra join BJP

Ahead of the simultaneous Lok Sabha and assembly polls in Odisha, senior leader and MP Bhartruhari Mahtap had resigned from the primary membership of the BJD on March 22.

 

2:39 PM

Congress to announce remaining candidates for Jharkhand LS seats by April 1

The Congress will declare the names of its remaining candidates for the four Lok Sabha constituencies of Jharkhand by April 1, a party official said.

"Congress will announce the remaining candidates for four seats by April 1, while a consensus on seat-sharing is likely by tomorrow," a party leader said.

2:37 PM

Prajwal Revanna of JD(S) files nomination papers in Hassan for Lok Sabha polls 2024

2:17 PM

Ex-Haryana minister and industrialist Savitri Jindal quits Congress

Industrialist Savitri Jindal has severed links with the Congress, days after her son and industrialist Naveen Jindal left the party to join the BJP.

The 84-year-old Savitri announced her decision to quit the Congress on a social media post late Wednesday night.

"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," she posted in Hindi.