Page 79 - Lok Sabha

Lok Sabha elections 2024: Rajasthan declares holiday on voting days

A paid holiday has been declared for all workers in private, industrial institutions and government undertakings on the voting day for the Lok Sabha polls in Rajasthan. Chief Electoral Officer Praveen Gupta said that the Rajasthan government has issued a notification in this regard. According to the notification, there will be a holiday in the offices and work places in the 12 Lok Sabha constituencies on Friday, April 19, for the first phase of voting and the 13 constituencies in the second phase on Friday, April 26, so that the voters can exercise their franchise on the said dates. According to Section 135 'B' of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, there is a provision for granting paid leave to employees on the day of voting. This includes people employed in any business, profession, industrial undertaking or any other establishment. Those entitled to vote will be given leave on the day of polling, an official statement said. These provisions shall not apply to voters wh

Jan Adhikar Party leader Pappu Yadav joins Congress, merges his outfit

Jan Adhikar Party leader Pappu Yadav joined the Congress on Wednesday and announced the merger of his outfit. A former five-time MP from Bihar, Yadav is the husband of Congress Rajya Sabha MP Ranjeet Ranjan and is known for having influence in Seemanchal area of the eastern state. He was accompanied by his son Sarthak Ranjan and other party leaders as he announced his decision at the AICC headquarters. Yadav said the Congress leadership gave him respect and he was joining the party's fight against "dictatorship" in the country to help save democracy and the Constitution. "The honour that the entire Congress family has given is enough for us. Both Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra have given us a lot of love. "If anyone has won the hearts of people in India, it is Rahul Gandhi and people love him. He has also raised the concerns of OBCs by raising the issue of holding a caste census," he said. "To save this country and its democracy and protect the Constitution, there was no

Former diplomat Sandhu joins BJP, latest to take the political plunge

The BJP won two of Punjab's 13 seats in 2019, including Sunny Deol from Gurdaspur, who defeated Jakhar, and former Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Som Prakash from Hoshiarpur

Lok Sabha polls: Thackeray vs Thackeray likely as MNS chief meets Amit Shah

The Mahayuti alliance currently has three constituents, the BJP, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, and Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)

Lok Sabha polls highlights: Congress finalises names of candidates for WB

Lok Sabha elections 2024 latest news: Catch all the latest updates on the announcements related to General Elections here

Nominations for first phase of Lok Sabha polls in UP to begin on March 20

Nominations for the first phase of the seven-phase parliamentary elections in Uttar Pradesh will begin on Wednesday, an election official said. Eight parliamentary constituencies in Uttar Pradesh -- Saharanpur, Kairana, Muzaffarnagar, Bijnor, Nagina (SC), Moradabad, Rampur and Pilibhit -- will vote in the first phase of the Lok Sabha polls on April 19. According to the Election Commission, the notification for the polls will be issued on March 20, while March 27 is the last date for filing of nominations. The scrutiny of nominations will be done on March 28 and the last date for withdrawal of candidature is March 30. The counting of votes will take place on June 4, the Election Commission said. This time the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has announced to contest the elections alone while the Samajwadi Party has formed an alliance with the Congress and both parties are part of the opposition INDIA bloc. The Rashtriya Lok Dal has joined hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National

PM Modi's 400 plus claim 'hollow', INDIA bloc will win majority: Baghel

Terming Prime Minister Narendra Modi's '400 paar' claim as "hollow", senior Congress leader Bhupesh Baghel on Tuesday said the BJP's Ram temple pitch "would not make much of a difference" in the Lok Sabha polls and exuded confidence that the INDIA bloc will get a clear majority to form the next government. In an interview with PTI, the former Chhattisgarh chief minister also claimed that the Lok Sabha polls will be Narendra Modi versus the "whole of India". He expressed confidence that the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) will get a majority to form the government at the Centre, while the Congress would be victorious in more than half of the 11 Lok Sabha seats in Chhattisgarh. Asked about whether the INDIA bloc was still strong enough to take on the BJP despite JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar switching over to the NDA and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee deciding to go solo, Baghel said, "Our natural alliance partners are with us, in fact our alliance has expanded with t

Lok Sabha polls latest: Modi's Kerala visit, Congress CWC meet. 10 points

Lok Sabha polls: PM Narendra Modi visited Kerala on Tuesday, second time in a week as the BJP hopes to enter the south Indian state this Lok Sabha polls

From apps to influencers, EC working to increase participation in K'taka

Encouraging the public to use various apps to putting QR codes on voter slips to locate polling booths, the Election Commission is coming out with several initiatives to increase turnout in the coming Lok Sabha elections in Karnataka leveraging technology, EC officials said on Tuesday. Voter Helpline, 'Know Your Candidate' and updating details about number of voters in queue and kind of parking facilities available at polling booths and an elaborate booth election management plan are among the other measures being taken. The EC is also collaborating with social media influencers to encourage people to cast their ballot. Celebrities like head coach of Indian cricket team Rahul Dravid, Jnanpith awardee Dr Chandrashekhara Kambar and Paralympian Girish Gowda are the State election icons. The general elections in Karnataka will be held in two phases on April 26 and May 7 for its 28 constituencies. Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Kumar Meena told PTI that out of the 58,834 polling booths,

Congress Working Committee meets to finalise party's LS poll manifesto

Sources said the party's Central Election Committee (CEC), chaired by Kharge, would discuss and finalise its candidates for remaining seats in the evening

We want Supreme Court-monitored Lok Sabha polls 2024: TMC's Derek O'Brien

The TMC party leader in Rajya Sabha wondered whether the BJP is so nervous of facing the people that it is turning the EC into "its party office"

Jharkhand Guv gets charge of Telangana, Puducherry as Soundararajan quits

Governor of Jharkhand C P Radhakrishnan has been appointed Governor of Telangana and Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry by President Murmu, until regular arrangements are made

Ahmedabad East LS seat Cong candidate Rohan Gupta withdraws from poll fray

Congress candidate from Gujarat's Ahmedabad East Lok Sabha seat Rohan Gupta has said he has withdrawn from the contest due to his father's serious medical condition. Gupta is the Congress' national spokesperson and his name was in the list of candidates declared by the party on March 12. "Due to serious medical condition, my father is admitted in hospital and I am withdrawing my candidature for Ahmedabad east parliament seat as Congress Candidate. I will extend complete support to the new candidate nominated by party," Gupta said in a post on X on Monday. He also posted an image of his handwritten letter to Gujarat Congress president Shaktisinh Gohil, informing about his decision to withdraw from the poll fray. All 26 Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat will witness polling in a single phase on May 7 and vote counting will be held on June 4. The Congress is yet to declare candidates for 19 seats. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has declared 22 candidates in the state so far.

India's key Opposition alliance flounders as general elections near

India's finance minister last week defended the electoral bonds, saying cash received under the system was "legitimate"

India's key Opposition alliance flounders as general elections near

India's finance minister last week defended the electoral bonds, saying cash received under the system was "legitimate"

LS polls: BJP holds meetings to discuss candidates in various states

The states of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Haryana, Odisha, Sikkim, Maharashtra and Gujarat were discussed in the meeting

LS polls: 4,914 weapon holders in Jammu directed to deposit firearms

In view of the Lok Sabha polls being announced, the Jammu administration on Monday directed 4,914 licensed weapon holders to deposit their firearms with police to ensure peaceful conduct of elections. Polling for the Jammu Lok Sabha seat will be held on April 26. "A screening committee led by District Magistrate Sachin Kumar Vaishya has scrutinised 4,914 arms licences and instructed their holders to submit their weapons to ensure the peaceful conduct of the general elections for the Lok Sabha," an official spokesperson said. Vaishya has asked the senior superintendent of police to ensure the implementation of an order in this regard. "The arms and weapons are to be deposited within a period of seven days, and the station house officers (SHOs) concerned shall intimate the licence holders for compliance," the order stated. These licensed weapon holders fall in the catagories of persons released on bail, arms licence holders with criminal offences and arms licence holder who have bee

Lok Sabha polls highlights: PM Modi holds road show in Coimbatore

Lok Sabha elections 2024 latest news: Catch all the latest updates on the announcements related to General Elections here

NDA seals Bihar deal: BJP to contest more seats than JDU in a first

As part of the seat sharing formula, the BJP will contest 17 seats, JDU 16, Chirag Paswan-led Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) 5, Hindustan Awam Morcha (HAM) and Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM) one each

PM Modi launches scathing attack on Rahul for 'destroying Shakti' jibe

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday launched a scathing attack on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over his "Shakti" remark, saying the opposition INDIA bloc was trying to destroy it. At a public rally in this district headquarters town, Modi said, Yesterday in Mumbai Shivaji Ground (park), INDI Alliance made an announcement that they want to destroy Shakti'. If they want to destroy Shakti', then worshipping Shakti' is our resolve. Gandhi had said at Shivaji park in Mumbai after the conclusion of his 'Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra': Our fight against Modi is not on a personal level. Modi is a mask' who works for a shakti' (power). He is a shallow man who doesn't have a 56-inch chest." In his nearly half-an-hour-long speech, Modi said when he heard the announcement to eliminate Shakti from Shivaji Park, he thought how it would have hurt Shiv Sena supremo late Bal Thackeray's soul. The Prime Minister noted that the announcement of eradicating Shakti was made at Shivaji Park where every child