From the elections in 49 LS seats to Rahul Gandhi's warning to poll officials to abide by their oath to the constitution, catch all the latest election news here
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said the battle against corruption is a serious one and the probe agencies must be allowed to do their work without interference. In an interview with PTI, he also asserted that his 'Adani-Ambani' remark has been validated by senior Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury when he "admitted" that he will not speak against Adani-Ambani if they send "tempo-loads of money". Prime Minister Modi had on May 8 for the first time during the Lok Sabha elections accused the Congress of having a nexus with "Ambani and Adani", and asked if the party has received "tempo loads of black money" from the two businessmen for its leader Rahul Gandhi to stop "abusing" them. Asked about the remark which had taken people by surprise, Modi told PTI, "For the past few years, the main campaign plank of Congress' 'shehzada' (prince) had been singing the same tune about two people. And suddenly, as the election began, the main campaign plank has shifted. Why this sudden ...
Lok Sabha elections 2024: Calcutta High Court bars BJP from publishing slanderous ads against TMC citing Model Code of Conduct
Voting for five Lok Sabha seats in Bihar began amid tight security arrangements on Monday, a senior election official said. Polling commenced at 7 am in Muzaffarpur, Madhubani, Sitamarhi, Saran and Hajipur constituencies and will continue till 6 pm, the official at the CEO office said. Over 95 lakh voters in the five seats will decide the electoral fate of 80 candidates at 9,436 polling stations. Of the total voters, 45.11 lakh are women, while 21 lakh are under 29 years of age and 1.26 lakh are in the age group of 18-19 years. Notable contestants include NDA ally Chirag Paswan in Hajipur, Lalu Prasad's daughter Rohini Acharya, who is pitted against two-term sitting BJP MP and former Union minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy in Saran, and Muzaffarpur's sitting MP Ajay Nishad, who crossed over to the Congress after being denied a BJP ticket for a third term. Sudhir Kumar Ojha, an advocate who remains in the news for his petitions against top political figures, Bollywood stars and even forei
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday attacked the Congress, saying the party did not revoke Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir for appeasement politics. Addressing an election rally here, Shah reiterated that Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) belongs to India and "we will take it back". The senior BJP leader also attacked the grand old party on the Ram temple issue, saying top Congress leaders such as Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi did not take part in the temple's consecration ceremony to please its minority vote bank. Targeting Congress on Kashmir, he said "For appeasement politics, they did not revoke Article 370." The Congress did not revoke the article despite a rise in terrorism in the area, he said. "You all made Narendra Modi ji the Prime Minister for the second time, and on August 5, 2019, he scrapped the Article 370. And now our tricolour proudly flutters in Kashmir," he said. Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, who is contesting the Karnal assembly bypo
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has hit out at the Congress for "orchestrating endorsements" from Pakistani leaders for electoral gains and said the opposition party often let national interest suffer when it came to dealing with Pakistan. In an exclusive interview to PTI here, the prime minister also slammed the Congress for statements by its leaders questioning the surgical strikes carried out by the Indian Air Force in Balakot in response to the 2019 terror attack in Pulwama. "Well, politicians from Pakistan are entering the electoral discourse of India by endorsing the Congress party's 'shehzada'," Modi said in response to a question on Pakistani leaders commenting on elections in India. Former Pakistani minister Chaudhary Fawad Hussain had shared a video of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on social media and praised him. "Perhaps the Congress party thinks orchestrating such endorsements will serve it well. That is how disconnected they are from ground realities. Further, it is also
Voting for the fifth phase of Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh covering 14 Lok Sabha constituencies, which will decide the fate of five Union ministers, including Rajnath Singh and Smriti Irani, and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, began on Monday morning. Voting will also take place for the assembly bypoll to Lucknow East assembly constituency. The Election Commission said voting will be held from 7 am to 6 pm. The seats going to polls in the fifth phase are Lucknow, Mohanlalganj (SC), Rae Bareli, Amethi, Jalaun (SC), Jhansi, Hamirpur, Banda, Fatehpur, Kaushambi (SC), Barabanki (SC), Faizabad, Kaisarganj and Gonda. Besides Defence Minister Singh (Lucknow) and Minister for Women and Child Development Irani (Amethi), those in the fray are Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Kaushal Kishor (Mohanlalganj), Minister of State for Consumer Affairs Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti (Fatehpur) and Union Minister of State for MSME Bhanu Pratap Singh Verma (Jalaun). Rahul Gandhi is in the
The Aam Aadmi Party on Monday alleged that graffiti threatening Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal were scribbled inside the metro trains in Delhi, as it accused the BJP of being behind this incident. A senior police officer said they have taken cognisance of the matter and probing into it. Addressing a press conference, AAP leader Atishi said the BJP is rattled by the fact that it is going to lose all seven seats in Delhi, that is why it has been targeting Kejriwal by "hatching different conspiracies." "They got him arrested on March 21 and then when he was lodged inside Tihar jail, they stopped his insulin for 15 days and we had to approach the court. After he came out, they used Swati Maliwal to target him but that conspiracy also did not pay off since the videos revealed that the assault allegations were false." she alleged. "Now there is a danger to his life," she added. Atishi claimed that a man had scribbled graffiti on the walls of three metro stations -- Rajiv Chowk, Patel Ch
Indicating implementation of the One Nation, One Election and Uniform Civil Code plans if he returns to power, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said his government fulfils promises made in the BJP's election manifesto. In an interview to PTI, the prime minister said he has added 25 more days to the 100-day plan for his next term to seek suggestions from the youth of the country on what they expect from the government immediately after coming back to power. Before the Lok Sabha elections were announced, Modi had asked all ministries to prepare a 100-day plan for implementation of projects for the next government. "And now, I have added 25 more days in this plan, where I would take the suggestions of India's Yuva Shakti. What they expect us to do the first thing after coming back to power? It is ultimately their expectations that I am here to fulfil and how they want the nation to develop," he said. Asked whether One Nation, One Election and a central law on UCC would be part of th
Days after snubbing him for questioning the trustworthiness of TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday heaped praise on West Bengal Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, lauding him as a "combative soldier" of the party. Kharge had snubbed Chowdhury, five-time Lok Sabha MP from Bahrampur, last week for his remarks that Banerjee cannot be trusted and that she might go with the BJP. "Vo hamarey ladaku sipahi hain (combative solider)," he said about Chowdhury, who has only intensified his offensive against the West Bengal chief minister by alleging that she has used violence to crush the Congress in the state and has been helping the BJP. Asked if the Congress was making the same mistake with Chowdhury as it had made with Banerjee in 1998 when she had quit the party to form her own protesting its coyness in the face of Left "atrocities" on party cadres in Bengal, Kharge told PTI, "I do not want to speak about an individual. He is a combative soldie
Eyeing major gains for the BJP in Odisha, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said he is witnessing a high intensity of anti-incumbency against the state's ruling Biju Janata Dal, making it very difficult for the regional party to survive. In the eastern state for another day of hectic campaigning, Modi told PTI Videos in an interview late Sunday that people have made up their mind for a change in Odisha, where the assembly polls are being held alongside the parliamentary elections. People will vote positively for the BJP in choosing a government at the Centre, he said, adding that a section of society will do negative voting due to the anti- incumbency for the state government led by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. Modi said, "We will win the elections on the basis of people's faith. Even though we don't have a big face, we are still the second largest party in the Assembly. In Lok Sabha also, we have been at number two. My party has worked very hard in the last five years to reach ...
The Congress on Monday claimed that the BJP and the BJD are in cahoots with each other and asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to come clean on his party's association with the BJD. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh posed questions to the prime minister ahead of his rallies in Odisha. "Why have the Mahanadi and Kathajodi rivers been poisoned under the Modi Sarkar? Why are Odisha's poorest being exploited through GST? Na-veen and Na-rendra are 2 sides of the same coin. Why is the PM lying about his party's 'relationship status' with the BJD?" Ramesh said in a post on X. Elaborating on what he said were "jumla details", Ramesh said the Mahanadi and Kathajodi rivers pass through Cuttack on their way to the Bay of Bengal and ground reports speak of massive encroachment of the river bed, sand mining, garbage and debris dumping, and sewage outflow, causing the slow death of Mahanadi and Kathajodi rivers. In 2019, the central government had committed to cleaning the Mahanadi "on the
Asserting that the BJD government in Odisha is on its way out, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said he was hurt over the "destruction" of the state. Modi said this while addressing a public meeting here under Dhenkanal Lok Sabha seat. Though the state is rich in mineral resources, its people are distressed, he added. "Who is responsible for the sorry state of affairs in Odisha? It is the BJD government which is under the control of some corrupt people. A handful of corrupt persons have grabbed the chief minister's office and residence. Small workers of the BJD have now become crorepatis," the Prime Minister said. Coming down heavily on the ruling BJD, Modi said the state government has prevented people from availing benefits of the mineral resources. "In 2014, Modi has prepared a new mineral exploration policy, under which Odisha is getting high royalty," he said. Stating that Odisha received Rs 26,000 crore from the newly formed district mineral fund (DMF), Modi said the mo
Elections in Maharashtra state, where Mumbai is located, have been fairly predictable until 2019 with the regional Shiv Sena party dominating in alliance with the BJP
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asserted that the BJP will emerge as the single largest party in the south, as he remained unwaveringly confident that his NDA alliance will cross 400 seats in Lok Sabha when election results come out on June 4. Our strategy for the entire nation is the same. Phir ek baar modi sarkar. Aur chaar June 400 paar, Modi said in an interview to PTI Videos on Sunday night. Modi said his opponents have created a myth that the BJP has no strength or presence in the southern states. Look at 2019 elections. The largest party even then in the south was BJP. Again, I say this: the largest party in the South this time will be BJP, and its allies will add more (seats) to it, he said. In a separate written reply to questions submitted by PTI, Modi said we will be the single largest party in Southern India and by an even bigger margin than the last time. We have seen a jump in mind-share already. We will see a big jump in seat share and vote share for us across the
The rising power of young voters in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections: How new demographics are shaping India's political future
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said he has never uttered a word against minorities, and the BJP has not just today but never acted against them. He, however, made it clear that he is not ready to accept anyone as "special citizens". The comments in an interview to PTI Videos late Sunday is Modi's most unequivocal on minorities amid an outcry from the opposition that his election speeches are communally divisive and polarising. He also said the Congress has constantly violated the secular spirit of the Constitution, and that his campaign speeches are aimed at exposing the opposition parties' bid to appease minorities with vote bank politics. In the interview, he was asked what he has to say about the apprehension among minorities because of his statements. I have not spoken a word against minorities. I am only talking against the vote bank politics of Congress. Congress is working against the Constitution, that's what I have been saying," he replied. Modi said the makers of India'
As polling began in 49 constituencies for the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha elections, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday urged people to vote for love and not hatred and cast their ballot against unemployment and inflation. Voting is being held in 49 constituencies in six states and two union territories in the fifth phase, which will decide the electoral fate of several prominent leaders like former Congress president Rahul Gandhi, Union ministers Rajnath Singh and Smriti Irani and former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah. In a post in Hindi on X, Kharge said, "If we want to protect democracy and the Constitution, we must vote. Before pressing the button on EVM, remember that we should vote for love and brotherhood, not for hatred." "We have to vote against unemployment and inflation, not to make a few capitalists richer. We have to vote for the protection of our fundamental rights, not for those who snatch our rights," the Congress president said. He urg
Several AAP leaders are uncertain about their next political step, and some have already quit. More may desert the party either before the polling in Delhi and Punjab or after June 4
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday urged all officials on election duty not to forget their constitutional responsibilities in the face of pressure and warned of strict action against anyone who insults the constitutional oath once the INDIA bloc forms government. His remarks on 'X' came over Samajwadi party chief Akhilesh Yadav's post on the social media platform in which he shared a video purportedly showing a person voting for the BJP "eight times". Late in the night, responding to the posts of the Congress and Samajwadi Party, Uttar Pradesh's Chief Electoral Officer Navdeep Rinwa said in post on 'X' that an FIR has been registered in the matter at the Nayagaon police station in Etah district. He also said that one person has been arrested and instructions given to suspend an institute disciplinary proceedings against all members of the polling party. "Repolling has been recommended to the ECI in the polling station," he said In a post on X, Gandhi said, "Seeing its defeat,