Page 240 - Bjp

Ceiling for LS polls expenditure: District poll panels fix menu, rates

Candidates in Punjab's Jalandhar can spend Rs 15 for a cup of tea and the same price for a samosa they offer to people during public meetings and campaign trails in the Lok Sabha elections. However, those in Madhya Pradesh's Mandla can spend Rs 7 for a cup of tea and another Rs 7.50 for a piece of samosa, considered a staple snack in many parts of the country. With polls to elect the 18th Lok Sabha approaching, district poll panels are fixing the rates for expenses as part of the election expenditure monitoring process. The candidates will have to manage their expenditure within the prescribed limit. These rate cards often become a subject of "meme-fest" on social media about the prices not being in sync with the current inflation level. In most states, including Andhra Pradesh, the expenditure ceiling for a Lok Sabha candidate is set at Rs 95 lakh. However, in Arunachal Pradesh, Goa and Sikkim, the limit is slightly lower at Rs 75 lakh per candidate. Similarly, for Union territori

Highlights: RBI to halt facility to exchange Rs 2,000 notes on April 1

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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

LS polls: PM, 10 Union ministers, 5 CMs among BJP's star campaigners in Raj

The BJP has released its list of star campaigners for the Lok Sabha polls in Rajasthan. The list of 40 names includes Prime Minister Narendra Modi, 10 Union ministers and the chief ministers of five states. The names of Jhalawar MLA and former Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje and former MLAs Rajendra Rathore and Satish Poonia also feature in the list. The Union ministers who would be campaigning in the desert state include Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Bhupendra Yadav, Arjun Ram Meghwal, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Kailash Choudhary. The chief ministers of five states, including Rajasthan's Bhajanlal Sharma, will also campaign in support of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidates. Yogi Adityanath (Uttar Pradesh), Mohan Yadav Madhya Pradesh), Bhupendra Patel (Gujarat) and Nayab Saini (Haryana) are the other chief ministers who would campaign for the saffron party in the desert state. Besides Raje, state BJP president C P Joshi, Rajya Sabha MPs Ghanshyam Tiwa

Savitri Jindal quits Cong, joins BJP days after son Naveen switched sides

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

BSP leader Ramlakhan Singh, Congress members join BJP in Madhya Pradesh

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 on Thursday as the saffron outfit continued to induct leaders from rival parties ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. Welcoming them in the ruling party at a function here, Chief Minister Mohan Yadav said the BJP's family was continuously growing under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "You all have joined the party after being inspired by the BJP's ideology and policies of Modiji. I welcome you," he added. 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. Over the last few months, Congress leaders are joining the BJP in droves in Madhya Pradesh. In the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls, the BJP has set a target .

LS elections: Varun Gandhi pens emotional note for Pilibhit after BJP snub

Gandhi was replaced with former Congress leader Jitin Prasada in the party's fifth list of candidates to contest from Uttar Pradesh's Pilibhit seat

Kerala police file 2 cases amid protests against BJP's Kollam candidate

Police here have filed two cases against several persons in connection with the protests faced by the BJP candidate for the Kollam Lok Sabha seat, G Krishnakumar, when he visited an educational institution in the district for canvassing. The cases were booked last night based on two complaints, one by a BJP member and another by ABVP activists, alleging unlawful assembly, rioting with weapons and causing hurt to members of both organisations by the accused persons. Police have booked seven persons for the offences of unlawful assembly, rioting, rioting with weapons, wrongful restraint, use of obscene words and songs and voluntarily causing hurt under the IPC. An officer of Kundara police station, where the cases have been filed, said that the accused persons have been summoned for recording their statements. Actor-turned-politician Krishnakumar had strongly condemned the protests against him on Wednesday when he visited the campus of the Industrial Training Institute at Chandanthop

LS polls: BJP president Nadda appoints CR Kesavan as national spokesperson

Lok Sabha elections will be held across seven phases beginning April 19. The counting of votes will take place on June 4

Assembly elections: BJP releases list of 10 candidates for Andhra polls

The BJP has fielded Navneet Rana from Amravati in Maharashtra and Govind Karjol from Chitradurga in Karnataka

Highlights: HC rejects CM Kejriwal's bail plea, next hearing on April 3

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I do not have the kind of money to contest LS elections: FM Sitharaman

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday said she declined the offer of the BJP to contest elections pleading that she did not have the 'kind of funds' required for fighting the Lok Sabha polls. The minister said that the BJP President (J P Nadda) gave her the option to contest either from Andhra Pradesh or Tamil Nadu. "After thinking over a week or ten days, I just went back to say... maybe not. I do not have that kind of money to contest. I also have a problem whether it is Andhra Pradesh or Tamil Nadu. It's also going to be a question of various other winnability criteria that they use...Are you from this community or are you from that religion? Are you from this? I said no, I do not think I am going to able to do it," she said. Sitharaman was speaking at the TIMES NOW Summit 2024 here. "I am very grateful that they accepted my argument...So I am not contesting," she added. When asked why even the finance minister of the country does not have enough funds to fight Lok S

Highlights: EC withholds Akola West Assembly bypoll in Maha after HC order

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Lok Sabha polls: 38 candidates file nomination for first phase in Assam

Altogether 38 candidates, including Union minister Sarbananda Sonowal and senior Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi, have filed their nominations for the first phase polls scheduled on April 19 in Assam, an election official said. On the last day of filing of nominations on Wednesday, 26 people filed their papers and they include sitting BJP MP Topon Gogoi in Jorhat, Rajya Sabha MP Kamakhya Prasad Tasa in Kaziranga and MLA Ranjit Dutta in Sonitpur. The constituencies going to the polls in the first phase are Dibrugarh, Jorhat, Lakhimpur, Sonitpur and Kaziranga. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma accompanied Gogoi and Tasa during their nomination filing at Jorhat and Golaghat and exuded confidence that both the candidates would win their respective seats and help Prime Minister Narendra Modi to lead the nation for the third consecutive term. He said that the massive support for Gogoi is reflective of the love and faith people have in the Prime Minister and 'I am sure that he will win by a

Delhi CM Kejriwal likely to be produced before Delhi court on Thursday

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is likely to be produced before a Delhi court on Thursday on the conclusion of his Enforcement Directorate custodial remand. The federal probe agency had arrested Kejriwal last Thursday in connection with an excise policy-linked money laundering case. The next day, Special Judge Kaveri Baweja remanded him in the custody of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) till March 28. The court remanded Kejriwal in the ED custody for six days after the agency pressed for his custodial interrogation for 10 days. The ED has accused the AAP leader of "being involved in the entire conspiracy of the Delhi liquor scam, in drafting and implementation of the policy, for favouring and benefiting the quid pro receiving kickbacks and eventually using part of the proceeds of crime generated out of the scheduled offence in the election campaign for the Goa Assembly elections". "The accused (Kejriwal) is hereby remanded to the custody of the ED till March 28 for his detailed and

Jolt for AAP in Punjab: MP Sushil Rinku, MLA Sheetal Angural switch to BJP

Sushil Kumar Rinku was AAP's sole Lok Sabha member and was already announced as the party's candidate from Jalandhar

EC issues show-cause notices to Ghosh, Shrinate for remarks targeting women

The Election Commission on Wednesday issued show-cause notices to BJP leader Dilip Ghosh and Congress leader Supriya Shrinate for their offensive remarks against West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Kangana Ranaut respectively. Ranaut has been fielded by the BJP from Himachal Pradesh's Mandi Lok Sabha seat for the parliamentary elections. Their remarks were "undignified and in bad taste", the Election Commission (EC) said. The poll panel said that prima facie, the two remarks were violative of the Model Code of Conduct and its advisory to political parties to maintain dignity during electioneering. The two have been asked to respond to the show-cause notices by March 29 evening.

Will ensure money looted from poor in Bengal is returned, says PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday that he is working to ensure that the money "looted" from poor people in West Bengal and attached by the Enforcement Directorate is returned to them. Modi made this assertion in a telephonic conversation with Amrita Roy, a member of erstwhile royalty and BJP candidate against TMC's Mahua Moitra in Krishnanagar Lok Sabha constituency, BJP leaders said. "PM Modi told 'Rajmata' Amrita Roy that he is exploring legal options to ensure that the money looted from the poor goes back to them through whatever assets and money the ED has attached from the corrupt," a BJP leader said. Modi said on the one hand the BJP is committed to uprooting corruption in the country and on the other all the corrupt have come together to save each other, BJP leaders said. He expressed confidence that West Bengal will vote for "Parivartan" (change) in the state. The alleged corruption of the state's ruling Trinamool Congress leaders is one of the main planks of

Lok Sabha polls: PM Modi, Amit Shah among star campaigners of BJP in Bihar

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and UP CM Yogi Adityanath are among the 40 star campaigners who would canvass for the BJP in Bihar during the Lok Sabha elections. In the list, the party also named its chief JP Nadda, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, and Union ministers Nitin Gadkari, Smriti Irani, Giriraj Singh and Nityanand Rai, besides Madhya Pradesh CM Mohan Yadav. Among the state leaders who found a place on the list are Deputy CMs Samrat Chaudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha, Renu Devi, Mangal Pandey, Prem Kumar, Neeraj Kumar Singh, Syed Shahnawaz Hussain and Sushil Kumar Modi. The BJP on Sunday announced candidates for 17 Lok Sabha seats in the state. It dropped three incumbent MPs, including Union Minister Ashwani Kumar Choubey. Choubey, who was elected from Buxar for the second consecutive term in 2019, has been replaced by Mithilesh Tiwari, a former MLA. All the remaining 14 candidates are sitting MPs, who will seek re-election from their respective seats.

Arvind Kejriwal's arrest: HC warns lawyers of severe consequences

Delhi High Court Acting Chief Justice Manmohan on Wednesday cautioned lawyers against staging protests on court premises against the arrest of Chief Minister and AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal, saying the consequences would be "severe". The Aam Aadmi Party's legal cell has called for a protest in district courts here on Wednesday following Kejriwal's arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a Delhi excise policy-linked money laundering case. "Consequences would be severe for organising protest in court. Courts cannot be withheld. Courts cannot be stopped. We cannot take away someone's right to approach the court," Justice Manmohan said. "If someone does it, they would do it at their own peril," he asserted. The issue was mentioned before a bench of the acting chief justice and Justice Manmeet P S Arora by advocate Vaibhav Singh who said that court premises cannot be used for political purposes. Justice Manmohan said he would take up the issue tomorrow, hoping that "sen