Page 59 - Lok Sabha

LS polls: HM Shah set to launch BJP's election campaign in Odisha today

Union Home Minister Amit Shah will on Thursday visit Odisha to kick off the BJP's poll campaign in the state from Sonepur. Shah will address a public meeting at Sonepur in western Odisha within the Bolangir Lok Sabha constituency, BJP state president Manmohan Samal said. He will arrive at Veer Surendra Sai Airport at Jharsuguda from Hyderabad around 3.45 pm and travel to Sonepur in a helicopter. Shah is scheduled to address the rally at Rameswaram Stadium at 4.35 pm, party sources said. BJP state vice-president Golak Mohapatra said all arrangements are in place for the home minister's public meeting. Shah will start campaigning from western Odisha, as the BJP performed well in the region in the 2019 general elections. The saffron party candidates had won the five Parliamentary constituencies Sambalpur, Bargah, Bolangir, Kalahandi and Sundergarh (all in west Odisha) in 2019. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik will also contest from the Kantabanji assembly segment within the Bolangir ..

LS polls: Rahul, Tharoor in fray; Hema Malini, Om Birla seek hat-trick

Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Shashi Tharoor, and actor-turned-politician Arun Govil are among the key candidates in the fray for the second phase of the Lok Sabha polls with BJP's Hema Malini, Om Birla and Gajendra Singh Shekhawat seeking a hat-trick of wins from their respective constituencies. Staggered over seven stages, the first phase of the elections held last Friday for 102 seats across 21 states and Union territories saw a voter turnout of around 65.5 per cent. In the second phase of Lok Sabha polls on Friday, polling is scheduled in all 20 seats of Kerala, 14 of the 28 seats in Karnataka, 13 seats in Rajasthan, eight seats each in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, seven in Madhya Pradesh, five each in Assam and Bihar, three seats each in Chhattisgarh and West Bengal, and one seat each in Manipur, Tripura and Jammu and Kashmir. Gandhi is the sitting MP from Wayanad in Kerala and is seeking re-election. He is pitted against CPI's Annie Raja and BJP's K Surendran. In the 201

LS polls: UP's 8 constituencies to witness 3-cornered fight in 2nd phase

The stage is set for a three-cornered contest in eight Lok Sabha constituencies of Uttar Pradesh going to polls in the second phase on Friday. Staggered over seven stages, the first phase of the elections held last Friday for 102 seats across 21 states and Union territories saw a voter turnout of around 65.5 per cent. The poll campaigning for the second phase ended on Wednesday evening with leaders of all the major political parties criss-crossing the constituencies, garnering support for their candidates. The eight constituencies of Uttar Pradesh where voting will be held on Friday are Amroha, Meerut, Baghpat, Ghaziabad, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Bulandshahr, Aligarh and Mathura. Prominent among the total of 91 candidates whose future will be decided in the second phase are actors-turned-politician Hema Malini, who is seeking a third term from Mathura; and Arun Govil, who played the role of Lord Rama in the famed TV serial Ramayan. He has been fielded by the saffron party from his nati

Sunita Kejriwal may join AAP's campaign, to hold roadshows this weekend

The Aam Aadmi Party's campaigning for Lok Sabha polls will get a boost with Sunita Kejriwal likely to hold roadshows in Delhi beginning this weekend, in the absence of her husband Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, party sources said on Thursday. Sunita is slowly emerging out of the shadows to assume a bigger role to give a fillip to AAP's campaigning which has been affected by Kejriwal's arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case in March. The Delhi chief minister's judicial custody has been extended till May 7. "The chief minister's wife is scheduled to attend her first roadshow in Kondli reserved assembly constituency represented by Kuldeep Kumar who is AAP's East Delhi Lok Sabha seat candidate in the coming weekend," said a source in the party. Sunita will also attend roadshows in the other three Lok Sabha seats contested by AAP in Delhi. AAP, which is contesting the Lok Sabha polls in alliance with Congress in Delhi has fielded its candidates in East ..

LS polls 2024: Schools, factories in Noida to stay closed on Friday

Schools and colleges in Gautam Buddh Nagar will stay closed on account of Lok Sabha election in the constituency on Friday but will remain open on Saturday, officials said. Factories and industries have also been directed to give paid holiday to workers on Friday to enable them to cast their votes, the officials said. Gautam Buddh Nagar, comprising the twin cities of Noida and Greater Noida, goes to polls on April 26 with 26.75 lakh registered voters. "All schools and colleges in Gautam Buddh Nagar will stay closed on Friday but will remain open on Saturday and function normally," District Magistrate Manish Kumar Verma said. "Factories and industries have also been directed to give paid holiday to workers on Friday so that they may go to cast their votes. There had been feedback that some workers are not able to go to vote because they would be stuck at work, hence this decision has been taken," Verma told PTI. Additionally, Verma, who is also the district election officer, said t

Cong hates India's Constitution, has no idea of country's values: PM Modi

He said that Congress was working against the Constitution by giving religion-based reservation

Are BJP, Congress serious about the fiscal autonomy of gram panchayats?

Transferring items from Concurrent list to State list is not enough to give more powers to the latter

Can't control polls or pass directions on basis of suspicion, SC on EVM

The Supreme Court said on Wednesday it cannot "control the elections" or issue directions simply because doubts have been raised about the efficacy of Electronic Voting Machines (EVM), as it reserved its judgement on a clutch of petitions claiming the polling devices can be tinkered with to manipulate the results. The court said it cannot change the thought process of those doubting the advantages of polling machines and advocating going back to ballot papers. A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta reserved its verdict on a batch of pleas seeking complete cross-verification of votes cast using EVMs with Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT), after taking note of the answers to queries it had posed to the Election Commission. It sought answers from an official of the poll panel to five questions related to the functioning of EVMs including whether the microcontrollers fitted in them are reprogrammable. Senior Deputy Election Commissioner Nitesh Kumar Vyas, who had

SP chief Akhilesh Yadav will now contest Lok Sabha polls from Kannauj

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav will contest the Lok Sabha elections from Kannauj, the party announced on Wednesday, two days after it had declared another candidate for the Uttar Pradesh seat. The party said Akhilesh Yadav will now file his papers on Thursday, when nominations begin. "National president Akhilesh Yadav will file his nomination papers from the Kannauj Lok Sabha seat at 12 pm tomorrow as Samajwadi Party candidate," the party posted in Hindi on X in the evening. On Monday, the SP had declared his nephew Tej Pratap Yadav as its candidate from the Kannauj parliamentary seat. Earlier in the day, when reporters asked Akhilesh about his plans, he said, "It will be clear before the nominations." "Maybe you will get to know before nominations," he said, answering further questions. When asked whether party workers in Kannauj wanted him to contest from the seat, Yadav said, "The question here is of historic victory from the seat. The BJP will become history in this

Campaigning ends for phase two of Lok Sabha elections in 89 seats

Campaigning ended on Wednesday for five Lok Sabha seats in Bihar where electors will decide the fate of 50 candidate in the second phase of polling on April 26. Leading the NDA charge, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a rally in Purnea, a seat which is being contested by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's JD(U). Congress leader Rahul Gandhi addressed his first election meeting in Bihar at Bhagalpur, a seat the party is contesting after more than two decades. The party has fielded MLA Ajeet Sharma against JD(U) MP Ajay Mandal from the seat. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge addressed rallies in Kishanganj, the lone seat the party secured in Bihar in 2019, and at Katihar, where former Union minister Tariq Anwar is trying to wrest back his pocket borough from JD(U) MP Dulal Chandra Goswami. The Congress is contesting nine of the state's 40 Lok Sabha seats, and three of these are going to polls in the second phase. The JD(U) holds all but one of the five seats going to polls in

Himachal BJP leader Ranjit Singh, close aide of ex CM Dhumal joins Congress

Himachal Pradesh BJP leader Ranjit Singh, a close aide of former chief minister and senior party leader Prem Kumar Dhumal, joined the Congress on Wednesday, leaders of the ruling party in the state said here. Singh joined the Congress in New Delhi in the presence of the party's in-charge for Himachal Pradesh Rajeev Shukla, they said. Ranjit Singh had contested the 2022 Himachal Assembly polls from Sujanpur on a BJP ticket but lost to Rajinder Rana, the then Congress candidate from the seat. Rana is one of the six Congress rebels who had voted in favour of the BJP nominee Harsh Mahajan in the Rajya Sabha elections held on February 27 and was later disqualified from the Assembly. All six then joined the BJP and were fielded from their respective constituencies for bypolls to the seats. After Rana joined the BJP, Dhumal announced open support for him and started campaigning in his favour. Earlier, Singh had strongly protested Rana's inclusion in the BJP and announced that he would ..

No force can stop caste census, it's my mission to secure justice: Rahul

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said those who call themselves "deshbhakt" are scared of the 'X-ray' of caste census but no force can stop it and his life mission is to secure justice for 90 per cent of population, as he hit back at the BJP amid the row on the issue of wealth redistribution. Addressing the 'Samajik Nyay Sammelan' here, Gandhi said he was targeted by the BJP and the prime minister for just talking about finding how much injustice had been done to 90 per cent of the population. "I am not interested in caste but in 'nyay' (justice). I am saying that gross injustice is being done to 90 per cent of the population. I have not even said till date that we will take any action on that. "I just said let us find out how much injustice is being done. There should be no objection to that. If you get injured and I say that get an X-ray done, no one should object to that," the Congress leader said. The former Congress asserted that it is his life mission to ensure justi

LS polls will mark rise of BJP in Punjab: State general secy Subhash Sharma

The Lok Sabha polls will mark the rise of the BJP in Punjab where the ruling AAP's "downfall" has begun, a senior BJP leader claimed on Wednesday. Punjab BJP general secretary Subhash Sharma said his party is getting immense support from people in the state for the elections polling for which will be held in the last phase on June 1. The BJP is contesting the Lok Sabha polls on its own for the first time since 1996. The Shiromani Akali Dal had walked out of the NDA in 2020 over the now-repealed farm laws. Addressing the media here, Punjab BJP leader Sharma said the party leadership will announce the candidates for remaining seats -- Ferozepur, Sangrur, Anandpur Sahib and Fatehgarh Sahib -- ?this week. The BJP has already announced its candidates for nine Lok Sabha constituencies in Punjab. Sharma said despite propaganda and mudslinging by the rival parties, people of Punjab were supporting the BJP whole-heartedly. The BJP has emerged as a "big strength" in state politics, he said

Lok Sabha polls: Nitin Gadkari's faints at Maharashtra rally, blames heat

The Met Department has issued a heat wave alert in parts of Maharashtra for second half of the week

LS elections: INDIA bloc govt will uplift OBCs, SCs, STs, says MK Stalin

DMK President and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Wednesday expressed confidence of the INDIA bloc winning the Lok Sabha polls and said the new dispensation will fulfill the pledge to uplift Other Backward Classes, the Scheduled Castes and Tribes. Tamil Nadu has played a pivotal role in championing social justice, Stalin said in his address at the social justice conference (Samajik Nyay Sammelan) held by Samruddha Bharat Foundation in the national capital on Wednesday. The Chief Minister's address was read out at the conference by DMK Rajya Sabha MP, P Wilson. The DMK chief recalled the era of the Justice Party government, dating back to 1921 and said it stands as a beacon of social justice with the introduction of reservations for the underprivileged through the communal G.O (Government Order). Post-independence, "amidst threats to the reservation system," the resolute protests by the Dravidian movement, famously known as "the happenings in Madras," catalysed the first ...

Noida restaurants, hospitals offer 'Democracy Discount' to voters on Apr 26

Restaurants and hospitals here are offering discounts on their services to citizens who go out to vote in the Lok Sabha elections on April 26. The initiative called Democracy Discount allows the citizens to avail 20 per cent discount in restaurants in Noida and Greater Noida by showing their finger with voter ink on April 26 and April 27. National Restaurants Association of India (NRAI) has exhorted member companies for the initiative, which has seen about two dozen restaurants in the constituency coming on board till Wednesday. Among restaurants offering the discount are Desi Vibes, Kaffiiaa, I Sacked Newton, De Valentino Caf, Noida Social, Getafix, Osteria, Chica Loca, F Bar Noida, Xero Courtyard Gardens Galleria, Dirty Rabbit, Baby Dragon, Trippy Tequila, Cafe Delhi heights, Ching Singh, Paso Noida, Moire Cafe & Lounge, The Beer Caf, Sky by Swagath, 'Imperfecto and The Patiala Kkitchen, according to NRAI. "The idea is to encourage citizens for more voter turnout," Varun Khera,

Group of suspected Maoists in Wayanad call for boycott of LS polls

A four-member group of suspected armed Maoists reached an area under Thalappuzha police station in this hill district on Wednesday morning, urging the people there to boycott the April 26 Lok Sabha polls. A police officer said a group of police personnel has gone to Kambamala after learning about the Maoist presence in the area. However, he did not elaborate. Meanwhile, locals said the Maoists reached the area around 6.15 am and raised slogans. The ultras also urged the people to boycott voting, they said. The Maoists were in their uniforms and were carrying guns. They spent around 20 minutes in the area, the locals added. A purported video of the Maoists interacting with the locals surfaced later. It also showed that there were people, mainly workers, at the junction at the time of their arrival.

Do not make inflammatory remarks during campaign: Poll officials in Latur

Poll authorities have asked candidates in Maharashtra's Latur Lok Sabha constituency to refrain from making inflammatory speeches and personal criticism against opponents during their campaign. Latur's general election observer Niranjan Kumar on Tuesday held a meeting with the candidates at the district collectorate and also appealed to them to follow the model code of conduct and cooperate with the authorities for the conduct of elections in a transparent and peaceful manner. Twenty eight candidates are in the fray for the Latur Lok Sabha seat election, to be held on May 7. Among the major political parties, the BJP has fielded sitting MP Sudhakar Shrangare, the Congress has given a ticket to Shivaji Kalge, and the Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) has fielded Narsingrao Nivritti Udgirkar. During the meeting, Kumar said, "Candidates should not make inflammatory, provocative speeches during the campaign and refrain from personal criticism." It is mandatory for the

LS polls: NCP (SP) moves EC over poll symbol allocation in Baramati

The Nationalist Congress Party (SP) has filed a complaint with the Election Commission of India (ECI) over the symbol of a trumpet-like instrument allotted to an independent candidate contesting from its stronghold, Baramati, in Maharashtra's Pune district. The NCP (SP) has claimed the ECI has allotted a trumpet-like symbol to independent candidate Shaikh Soyalshah Yunusshah and has identified it as "tutari". The ECI has allotted "a man blowing turha" (a traditional trumpet) as the poll symbol for the NCP (SP). The complaint filed by Laxmikant Khabiya, the poll representative of the party's candidate, Supriya Sule, stated that there is a similarity in both names, which can cause confusion among voters. Khabiya submitted the complaint to the returning officer on April 20. "The symbol given to the independent candidate is a trumpet. In Marathi, it cannot be called 'tutari'. We have requested the ECI to call the symbol 'trumpet' instead of 'tutari'," he stated in the complaint. The

LS polls: War of words between Cong, BJP leaders intensifies in Kolhapur

Congress leader Satej Patil and BJP Rajya Sabha MP Dhananjay Mahadik engaged in a war of words in Kolhapur in western Maharashtra on Tuesday after Patil warned the opposition not to obstruct his party's workers while they campaigned. If opponents created obstructions, he will confront them with a stick, Patil reportedly said. Mahadik responded by asking whether Patil wanted start riots by using such language. "I want to tell the opponents not to mess with us while we campaign. You do your campaign but do not try to mess with us," the Congress leader said. Mahadik told reporters that nobody was obstructing people from other parties. "Using the language of stick, does he want to start riots here," the BJP MP asked, claiming that Patil was already sensing defeat of his party. In Kolhapur, Shahu Chhatrapati Maharaj of Congress is pitted against Shiv Sena's current MP Sanjay Mandlik.