Page 25 - Elections

LS elections: Kerala BJP chief Surendran to take on Rahul Gandhi in Wayanad

K Surendran was named in the BJP's fifth list of candidates and faces a tough task to challenge the Left-Congress dominance in Kerala

LS polls: BJP announces candidates for 17 Bihar seats, drops 3 sitting MPs

The BJP on Sunday announced its candidates for 17 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar, dropping three sitting MPs, including Union Minister Ashwani Kumar Choubey. According to the list released by the party in New Delhi, Choubey, who was elected from Buxar for the second consecutive term in 2019, was replaced by Mithilesh Tiwari, a senior BJP leader and a former MLA. The party also dropped its incumbent MPs Chedi Pawasan and Ajay Kumar Nishad from Sasaram and Muzaffarpur constituencies respectively. The BJP fielded former MLA Shivesh Ram for Sasaram, while Raj Bhushan Nishad, a greenhorn in the Lok Sabha polls, will contest the Muzaffarpur seat on a party ticket. Vivek Thakur, a Rajya Sabha member, was fielded from Nawada, where the BJP would be contesting this time, instead of its ally Lok Janshakti Party (LJP). All the remaining 14 candidates are sitting MPs, who will seek re-election from their respective seats.

LS polls: Mining baron Janardhana Reddy to rejoin BJP on March 25

Mining baron and lone MLA of Karnataka Rajya Pragathi Paksha (KRPP) G Janardhana Reddy on Sunday said he would rejoin BJP on March 25. The KRPP founder said he took the decision to make Narendra Modi the Prime Minister again for the third time. "After consulting my supporters, I took the decision. Tomorrow at 10 am I am rejoining BJP," he told reporters here. Reddy said he would support the BJP candidate from Ballari Lok Sabha constituency, B Sriramulu, whom he called a boy raised by him. Sriramulu, a former minister, lost the assembly election from Ballari assembly segment in 2023. Reddy was a minister in the BJP government headed by B S Yediyurappa and was jailed in the mining scam. He had distanced himself from the BJP and founded the KRPP. In the 2023 assembly election, he was instrumental in the defeat of his two brothers, G Karunakara Reddy and G Somashekara Reddy, who were BJP candidates from Harapanahalli and Ballari City respectively. Reddy fielded his wife Aruna Laksh

LS polls: Rs 1.88 cr cash, liquor worth Rs 87.19 lakh seized in Karnataka

The Election Commission on Sunday said Rs 1.88 crore cash and liquor worth Rs 87.19 lakh were seized in the last 24 hours in the run-up to Lok Sabha elections in Karnataka. The general elections in Karnataka will be held in two phases on April 26 and May 7 for 28 constituencies. The Election Commission said the Static Surveillance Team seized Rs 1.44 crore cash at Hiriyur in Chitradurga parliamentary constituency and the remaining from other places. In the same constituency at Challakere, the Excise Department seized 14,688 litres of India Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL). According to EC officials, since the MCC came into force, the flying squads, static surveillance teams and police authorities have seized Rs 17.66 crore cash, Rs 18.85 lakh worth of freebies, 7.69 lakh litres of liquor worth over Rs 24.25 crore, 87.04 kg narcotic substances worth over Rs 75 lakh, gold worth Rs 1.27 crore, silver worth Rs 21.47 lakh and diamond worth Rs nine lakh have been seized. The total seizure made

Our bank accounts frozen, BJP murdering democracy: Congress slams PM Modi

Alleging an assault on the democracy of India, Congress said that they have been unable to advertise in print or electronic media in the past month over I-T notices going back to FY1994.

Nomination process for 102 constituencies for 1st phase of LS polls begins

The nomination process for 102 parliamentary constituencies spread across 21 states and Union territories, where polling would be held in the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections on April 19, began Wednesday with the issuance of a notification. In the first phase, polling will be held in Arunachal Pradesh (2 seats), Assam (5), Bihar (4), Chhattisgarh (1), Madhya Pradesh (6), Maharashtra (5), Manipur (2), Meghalaya (2), Mizoram (1), Nagaland (1), Rajasthan (12), Sikkim (1), Tamil Nadu (39), Tripura (1), Uttar Pradesh (8), Uttarakhand (5), West Bengal (3), Andaman and Nicobar (1), Jammu and Kashmir (1), Lakshadweep (1) and Puducherry (1). The last date for filing nomination papers is March 27. However, due to a festival, March 28 is the last date for filing nominations for the Lok Sabha seats in Bihar going to polls in the first phase. Voting in four out of 40 seats in Bihar will be held in the first phase. Nomination papers will be scrutinised on March 28. For Bihar, it would be d

MP Public Service Commission postpones two exams due to LS elections

In view of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, the Madhya Pradesh Public Service Commission (MPPSC) has postponed the State Service Preliminary Examination 2024 and State Forest Service Examination 2024, a senior official of the commission said on Wednesday. These examinations will now be held on June 23 instead of April 28, the official said. Due to the Lok Sabha elections, the schedule of both the recruitment examinations has been changed and the admit cards of these examinations can be downloaded through the MPPSC website from June 12. Lok Sabha elections are scheduled to be held in four phases between April 19 and May 13 on 29 seats in Madhya Pradesh, while counting will take place on June 4.

Speculations rife after Raj Thackeray arrives in Delhi; may join NDA

Hours after a meeting between Maharashtra Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis and BJP's top leadership over seat sharing for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, Thackeray arrived in Delhi to meet Amit Shah

Poll positions

Enforcing the model code of conduct could be a challenge

Ballot boxes for Malvides' polls to be placed in India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia

The ballot boxes for Maldives' upcoming parliamentary elections will be placed in India, Sri Lanka and Malaysia, after around 11,000 Maldivians submitted re-registration requests to relocate their polling stations, the country's election commission announced on Sunday. The six-day window for people to relocate their voting stations for the April 21 parliamentary elections expired on Saturday, media reports said, citing an Elections Commission notification. The top electoral body said that ballot boxes for the island nation's elections will also be placed in Trivandrum (Thiruvananthapuram), the capital of Kerala, Sri Lanka's Colombo and Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur after at least 150 people re-register to vote in each of the three countries. "As previously, enough people registered in Sri Lanka and Malaysia. And since 150 people had registered in Trivandrum, India, we have decided to set up a ballot box there," web portal adadhu.com quoted EC's secretary-general Hassan Zakariyya as ...

PM Modi to address 2nd public meeting in Karnataka on Mon ahead of LS polls

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address a public meeting for the Lok Sabha elections in Shivamogga on Monday, the BJP state unit said on Sunday. This comes two days after his first election meeting in Karnataka was held in Kalaburagi, the home turf of Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge. The party is expecting a turnout of 2.5 lakh people at the Allama Prabhu ground (Freedom Park). The second public meeting in Karnataka for the 2024 Lok Sabha election is happening in the home district of BJP stalwart Yediyurappa. His elder son B Y Raghavendra is BJP's candidate for the Shimoga Lok Sabha constituency, where party rebel and former deputy chief minister K S Eshwarappa says he will constest as an independent candidate. BJP state chief B Y Vijayendra, who is former chief minister B S Yediyurappa's second son, visited Allama Prabhu ground along with senior party functionaries to oversee the preparations and gave necessary directions to ensure that the meeting goes well. The saffron

EC advances counting date of Arunachal, Sikkim assembly polls to June 2

The decision was taken because the term of the two Assemblies is till June 2, which means elections have to be wrapped up on or before that date

Putin poised to rule Russia following election with no other real choices

Russian President Vladimir Putin is poised to extend nearly a quarter century of rule for six more years on Sunday after wrapping up an election that gave voters no real alternatives to an autocrat who has ruthlessly cracked down on dissent. The three-day election that began Friday has taken place in a tightly controlled environment where no public criticism of Putin or his war in Ukraine is allowed. Putin's fiercest political foe, Alexei Navalny, died in an Arctic prison last month, and other critics are either in jail or in exile. The 71-year-old Russian leader faces three token rivals from Kremlin-friendly parties who have refrained from any criticism of his 24-year rule or his full-scale invasion of Ukraine two years ago. Putin has boasted of Russian battlefield successes in the run-up to the vote, but a massive Ukrainian drone attack across Russia early Sunday sent a reminder of challenges faced by Moscow. The Russian Defense Ministry reported downing 35 Ukrainian drones ...

Voting in Delhi's seven Lok Sabha seats will take place on May 25

Voting in Delhi's seven Lok Sabha seats will take place on May 25, the sixth phase of the general elections, with 1.47 crore people eligible for exercising their franchise, according to the poll schedule announced by the Election Commission on Saturday. The notification will be issued on April 29 and the last date for filing nominations is May 6. The last date for withdrawal of candidature is May 9. The city has 1.47 crore voters, including 79.98 lakh males and 67.42 lakh females. The Lok Sabha polls will be held across the country in seven phases beginning April 19 and the counting of votes will take place on June 4 for the world's biggest election exercise in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi will bid for a third consecutive term. With the AAP and the Congress having entered a seat-sharing agreement for Delhi this time, the city is set to witness a direct contest between the alliance and the BJP which holds all the seven Lok Sabha seats of the national capital since 2014. The A

Singer Anuradha Paudwal joins BJP ahead of LS polls at party's headquarters

After joining the party, the singer expressed happiness saying, it was her fortune that she was becoming a part of the BJP

Simultaneous elections

The idea needs a political consensus

Lok Sabha elections 2024: Check what Congress is promising to women

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi announced 5 'Nari Nyay' guarantees before Lok Sabha elections 2024 during a women's rally in Maharashtra's Dhule district as part of his 'Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra'

Lok Sabha polls: Modi's first NDA rally on Mar 17; Gandhi in Nasik. Updates

Lok Sabha polls: The BJP and the Congress have announced two initial lists of candidates on various seats as they gear up in election mode days ahead of the poll schedule announcement

Lok Sabha polls: BJP names 72 candidates; Thakur, Khattar among nominees

BJP chief spokesperson and Rajya Sabha member Anil Baluni has been fielded from Garhwal in Uttarakhand

Google restricts Gemini's scope of response as India sets for election

It is also collaborating with ECI for seamless access to vital voting information