Page 20 - Elections In India

Only 170 of 1,717 candidates are women in Phase-4 of Lok Sabha polls: ADR

Lok Sabha elections 2024: 38% of candidates studied between standard 5 to 12; 26 candidates declared themselves illiterate

Former Delhi Congress Chief Arvinder Singh Lovely and others join BJP

Lok Sabha elections 2024: Arvinder Singh Lovely, Naseeb Singh and Neeraj Basoya, in their resignation letters, denounced the Congress's alliance with AAP for the general elections

28% contesting Phase 4 Lok Sabha elections are crorepati candidates

Lok Sabha elections 2024: A report by ADR and National Election Watch reveals that 476 out of 1,710 candidates in Phase-4 of LS polls are crorepatis, with 12% with assets worth more than Rs 5 crore

21% candidates contesting Phase 4 LS polls have criminal cases against them

Lok Sabha elections 2024: A report by ADR and National Election Watch reveals that 360 out of 1,710 Phase 4 Lok Sabha candidates face criminal cases, with 16% facing serious criminal charges

Supreme Court tells ED it may consider giving Kejriwal bail due to polls

Supreme Court asks Enforcement Directorate's lawyer to be ready to address this issue when the case is heard on May 7

Sonia Gandhi's attempt to launch Rahul from Raebareli will fail, says Shah

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday said Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is contesting the Lok Sabha elections from Raebareli in Uttar Pradesh after running away from Amethi and predicted that he will lose the polls there against the BJP candidate by a huge margin. He also said former AICC President Sonia Gandhi's multiple attempts to "launch" Rahul Gandhi had failed and claimed that this was the twenty-first attempt. The top BJP leader addressed a public meeting here in Belagavi district for party candidate from Chikkodi Lok Sabha segment Annasaheb Jolle. "Modi ji tried and at once Chandrayaan (mission to Moon) got launched. Sonia Gandhi has launched this 'yaan' named Rahul Baba (Rahul Gandhi) twenty times, but her launching has not been successful. Today for the twenty-first time, running away from Amethi, he has filed nomination from Raebareli," Shah said. He said, "Rahul Baba, I'm telling the result of Raebareli from here. Against BJP's candidate Dinesh Pratap Singh, you will

Rahul contesting Rae Bareli seat out of fear of defeat: MP CM Yadav

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav on Friday took a swipe at Rahul Gandhi, saying the Congress leader who currently represents the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat in Kerala, has now changed the constituency and decided to contest from Uttar Pradesh's Rae Bareli seat out of fear of defeat. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Gandhi had contested from Amethi as well as Wayanad seats. While he won from Wayanad, he lost the Amethi seat to Union minister Smriti Irani. In a press statement, Yadav said, "Rahul Gandhi ran to Kerala last time after losing from Amethi, now he is running to Rae Bareli seeing the possibility of defeat in Wayanad. He will face defeat from Rae Bareli also." "Rahul was thinking of contesting from Amethi out of fear of defeat from Wayanad, but Irani did excellent work during the past five years and the Congress lost deposits on four out of five assembly seats of Amethi," he said. Earlier this week, Yadav held a roadshow in Amethi after accompanying local BJP candidate Smri

Maharashtra govt asks police to crack down on deepfake creators

The Maharashtra government on Friday directed the state police to take stern action against those creating deepfakes, saying such content is a cause for concern amid the poll season. According to an official release, the number of deepfakes and doctored photos being circulated on social media and digital media has risen during the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. Deepfake is a video of a person in which their appearance has been digitally altered so that they look like somebody else. Such manipulated content is being created using machine learning (ML) or artificial intelligence (AI), it said, adding that the use of this machinery during elections is a cause for concern. Deepfake content creates misunderstanding and is defamatory, said the government. The government has asked the Director-General of Police (DGP) to curb such practices and ensure a clean and transparent electoral process. The police have been asked to take stern action against anti-social elements making and circulatin

LS polls 2024: Priyanka, Rahul 'irrelevant' in Assam, says CM Himanta

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma claimed that Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra are "irrelevant" in this North Eastern state and they are "past expiry date". He dismissed Vadra's allegations that there is a 'mafia raj' in Assam and claimed that there was peace across the state and all welfare measures were reaching the people. He also hit back at the opposition party's 'washing machine' jibe at the BJP and alleged that the Congress has a "big, high voltage washing machine" which was used to cleanse Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal. "They (Congress) have a big washing machine. In which washing machine did they wash Arvind Kejriwal? I ask Priyanka Gandhi, four months ago she was saying Kejriwal has looted money through the liquor scam and now he is a good person, which high voltage washing machine she has?" Sarma said on Thursday, responding to the opposition leader's swipe at him. "Priyanka Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi are irrelevant in Assam. They are past expiry .

'Daro mat, bhago mat': PM Modi on Rahul Gandhi's nomination from Raebareli

Prime Minister Narendra Modi slammed the Congress for nominating Rahul Gandhi from the Raebareli constituency instead of Amethi

Bengal BJP to create legal cell to help teachers who lost jobs: PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said he has asked the West Bengal BJP unit to create a separate legal cell to provide help to "genuine teachers and candidates" who have lost jobs due to the School Service Commission (SSC) scam. While addressing an election rally at Bardhaman-Durgapur, Modi said "Although he wants those involved in corruption by the TMC to be punished but doesn't want the innocent to suffer." "The corruption that the TMC has done in Bengal in school recruitment is shameful. Due to this scam, several genuine candidates have suffered. I have asked the Bengal BJP unit on behalf of the party to create a separate legal cell and social media platform to provide help to the genuine candidates and teachers," he said. "BJP will support such honest candidates and will provide them legal help and will fight for them. This is Modi's guarantee," he said. Modi's remarks came a week after the Calcutta High Court declared the recruitment process of the State Level Selection

WB's industrial wealth threatened by Modi govt's capitalist policies: Cong

The Congress on Friday alleged that West Bengal's industrial wealth is threatened by the Modi government's "crony capitalist policies" and asked whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi will give a written guarantee that he will not sell public sector steel plants such as Durgapur to his "friends". Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh posed questions to the prime minister ahead of his Lok Sabha poll rallies in West Bengal. "Can the PM commit that he won't sell Durgapur Steel Plant to his friends? Why has the BJP failed to increase the MSP for paddy? Does the PM prioritise his PR over vaccines for India's children?" Ramesh said in his post on X. Elaborating on what he said were "jumla" details, Ramesh alleged that West Bengal's industrial wealth is threatened by the Modi government's crony capitalist policies. "Amidst SAIL's privatisation drive and the PM's attempt to sell steel plants in Salem, Vishakhapatnam, Bhadravathi, and Bastar, there is a fear that Durgapur Steel Plant will

BJD being run by bureaucrats, outsiders trying to capture Odisha: Pradhan

Naveen Patnaik-led Biju Janata Dal is facing public revolt for the first time and a caucus of "outsiders" in the chief minister's office wants to capture the state, BJP leader and Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has claimed. The Education Minister, who is contesting the Lok Sabha polls from Sambalpur, also dismissed the speculation that there were any attempts from BJP to enter into an alliance with the BJD. In an interview with PTI, Pradhan, who is returning to the electoral fray after 15 years, said, "the Odia identity is under threat and this election is all about that identity." "BJD is being run by a group of bureaucrats...the caucus in the chief minister's office which has few non-Oriya officers, they all came together and thought let's exploit the inability of the chief minister, let's create a vacuum from back door and their intention is to capture the state. "This is a very dangerous trend and this is what public is angry about besides their inaction on the ground," Prad

LS polls 2024: Priyanka hails Kishori Lal Sharma's candidature from Amethi

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Friday hailed the candidature of Kishori Lal Sharma from the Amethi Lok Sabha seat, saying the Gandhi family has had a longstanding association with him. Sharma, a close aide of the Gandhi family, has been fielded from the seat to take on the BJP's Smriti Irani. Sharma was the key person who looked after the two prestigious constituencies on behalf of the Gandhis. "Our family has a long-standing relationship with Kishori Lal Sharma ji. He has always been engaged wholeheartedly in serving the people of Amethi and Rae Bareli. His passion for public service is an example in itself," Priyanka Gandhi said in a post on X in Hindi. "Today, it is a matter of happiness that Shri Kishori Lal ji has been made the candidate from Amethi by the Congress Party. Kishori Lal ji's loyalty and dedication towards his duty will definitely bring him success in this election," the Congress general secretary said. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who has been an MP f

From Feroze Gandhi to Rahul Gandhi: Rae Bareli's tryst with Congress

The surprise nomination of Rahul Gandhi from Uttar Pradesh's Rae Bareli brings the focus back on the VVIP segment which was first represented in the Lok Sabha by the former Congress president's grandfather Feroze Gandhi, who held the seat in the first two elections after Independence. The strong foundations that Feroze Gandhi laid in the constituency were later nurtured and strengthened by his wife and former prime minister Indira Gandhi, who won from the seat in 1967, 1971 and 1980, followed by friends and family members of the Gandhi family. Indira Gandhi contested from two seats in 1980 -- Rae Bareli and Medak in Telangana -- and chose to retain the Medak seat. Arun Nehru won the 1980 bypoll and subsequently in 1984. From Arun Nehru, who was late prime minister Rajiv Gandhi's right-hand man, to Sheila Kaul, another Gandhi kin, Rae Bareli returned several of the Gandhi family members and aides to the Lok Sabha. The seat was held by Congress' R P Singh in the 1960 bypoll after the

CPI(M)'s Talukdar 'blames' Cong for lack of Oppn unity in Barpeta

Blaming Congress for "failing" to put up a united candidate in Barpeta Lok Sabha constituency, where another opposition party TMC too is contesting, CPI(M) nominee Manoranjan Talukdar feared that anti-BJP vote will be divided and it may create "some difficulties" for him. Talukdar, however, expressed optimism that he will give a "tough fight" against all opponents and will win the election from Barpeta, which has become a Hindu-majority seat after the delimitation exercise last year. "This is unfortunate and Congress is only responsible for what happened in the constituency. We had talked about contesting from Barpeta a long time ago... A wrong message has gone because of the opposition parties fighting separately," he told PTI in an interview here. From the ruling front, AGP has nominated senior leader, former minister and sitting Bongaigaon MLA Phani Bhusan Choudhury to contest from Barpeta. Congress nominated its state Seva Dal chief Deep Bayan, while TMC has named Abul Kalam Aza

LS polls: TMC's win against BJP in Arambagh likely to be close call

Development, or the alleged lack of it, and recurrent floods in every monsoon are the key issues of the erstwhile red bastion Arambagh Lok Sabha constituency in West Bengal's Hooghly district, an SC-reserved political hotspot of the state in terms of law and order volatility. The TMC may have won the 2014 and 2019 editions of parliamentary polls in Arambagh, but the party's steady decline in vote share over the last two editions coupled with BJP trumping Trinamool in four of Arambagh's six assembly seats in Hooghly in the 2021 state polls are signs of an upcoming battle which Mamata Banerjee's party may find tougher to tide past than what appears on paper. That's perhaps why Prime Minister Narendra Modi chose Arambagh to kick start his poll campaigns in Bengal and addressed one of the poll season's first public meetings on March 1 from where he slammed the Mamata Banerjee government for "betraying the people of the state". The state's ruling dispensation has replaced its two-time MP

Congress founded on Hinduism and its tenet of truth, says Priyanka

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Thursday said her party was founded on the tenets of Hinduism, the cornerstone of which was truth. Addressing a Lok Sabha poll rally in Morena in Madhya Pradesh, she said the ruling dispensation was using religion to garner votes. "Our tradition is of mahatmas (saints). Our (Congress') political foundation was laid by Mahatma Gandhi, who fought the British. Congress is based on what the Hindu religion teaches. Mahatma Gandhi taught us to walk on the path of truth," she said. India attained Independence due to this truth and the religion of the party that is in power must be service to the nation and its people, she asserted. "This is our tradition. But in the last 10 years you have garnered votes in the name of religion to stay in power," she said in a swipe at the BJP. Asserting that every citizen was religious, the Congress leader said her grandmother Indira Gandhi taught her how to do puja, adding that she went to the temple .

Lok Sabha polls: EC is 'extremely biased', says BRS leader K T Rama Rao

Against the backdrop of the Election Commission barring former Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao from campaigning for 48 hours, his son and BRS working president K T Rama Rao on Thursday alleged that the poll body has been "extremely biased". He said the poll panel has been "looking the other way" when it comes to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, but that is not the case with other leaders in the country. Talking about the EC ban on KCR, Rama Rao said that there was possibly a small emotional outburst when the former chief minister was speaking about the farmers and weavers (for which the action was taken by the EC). All that the EC could have done was probably censure KCR and ask him to not repeat, but it went on to ban him for 48 hours, he said. On the other hand, when Prime Minister Modi "goes about to the extent of disturbing the social harmony by saying very, very strange things against the Muslims having more children" and

'PM Modi snatching away reservation and govt jobs', says Rahul Gandhi

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said the BJP government is snatching reservations from Dalits, tribals, and backward classes by implementing 'blind privatisation'