Page 91 - Lok Sabha

'Abki baar 400 paar' slogan for LS polls given by people, not BJP: PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said the BJP is preparing for the ensuing Lok Sabha polls keeping in mind its aim to make India the world's third-largest economy and asserted people have coined the slogan about the saffron party-led bloc NDA crossing the 400-seat mark this time. He lashed out at the Congress and accused the grand old party, which has ruled at the Centre for decades, of destroying the traditional manufacturing prowess of the country. The PM noted India's credibility on the international stage has gone up several notches in the last 10 years of his tenure, helping attract more investment in the country, and added nations all over the world are keen to have good ties with New Delhi. Modi made the comments while virtually addressing the 'Viksit Bharat, Viksit Madhya Pradesh' programme after launching or inaugurating development projects worth more than Rs 17,551 crore in the BJP-ruled state. On the occasion, he laid foundation stones or dedicated to the ...

Gujarat hikes DA of govt employees by 4%, also raises its NPS share

Just ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, the Gujarat government on Thursday announced a 4 per cent hike in dearness allowance (DA) for its employees and pensioners. With this hike, the DA of Gujarat government employees, which was 42 per cent earlier, will now be 46 per cent, a state government resolution (GR) said. The DA has been hiked with effect from July 1, 2023, and employees will be given arrears for the last eight months, it said. Around 4.45 lakh state government employees and 4.63 lakh pensioners will benefit from the decision to hike DA, an official release said. The government has also decided to increase its own contribution in the National Pension System (NPS) from 10 per cent to 14 per cent, while state employees will have to pay 10 per cent, the release said. The Gujarat government employees have been demanding restoration of the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) instead of NPS. Under the OPS, retired government employees received 50 per cent of their last drawn salary plus DA as

LS elections: First phase of CAPF companies to be mobilised from March 1

The first phase of deployment of more than 3.4 lakh central armed police forces (CAPFs) for the upcoming general elections in the country and assembly polls in few states will begin from Friday, official sources said Thursday. According to the plan, about 2,000 companies will be mobilised as part of the pre-poll deployment in sensitive and hyper-sensitive constituencies beginning March 1. About 1.5 lakh personnel will move through roads and rail as part of this mobilisation, the sources told PTI. The first CAPF units will start reaching the states affected by Left Wing Extremism (LWE), apart from West Bengal and Jammu and Kashmir, later this week, they said. The second phase of inducting the poll companies will be initiated from March 7, followed by some last units moving in their designated locations in the second and third week of March, they said. The commanding officers of these units have been issued the movement orders and directed to familiarise their troops about the areas

Lok Sabha polls: Left Front urges Rahul Gandhi to contest from Hindi belt

CPI (M) state secretary M V Govindan said if the slogan is to defeat the BJP, Gandhi should contest from the Hindi belt

Campaign launched to encourage 1st-time voters to exercise their franchise

Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, the Centre on Tuesday launched a national campaign to encourage first-time voters to exercise their franchise and make the poll process more participative. The Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and the Union Ministry of Education launched a jingle -- "Banega Desh Mahan, Jab Vote Karenge Hum" -- aimed at about 1.85 crore first-time voters in the country who are eligible to vote in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. "Let us make our electoral process even more participative. I call upon people from all walks of life to spread the message, in their own style, among first time voters," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a post on X, using the #MeraPehlaVoteDeshKeLiye hashtag. "As the nation gears up for its biggest festival of democracy, I urge all of you to join the #MeraPehlaVoteDeshKeLiye campaign and encourage young voters to exercise their democratic right," Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur said. Union Educat

Lok Sabha elections: SP, Congress to focus on Muslim votes in Uttar Pradesh

Looking to consolidate Muslim votes, SP and Congress have joined hands for the parliamentary polls. Radhika Ramaseshan explains what it means for their LS prospects

CPI announces LS poll candidates in Kerala, Annie to contest from Wayanad

The Communist Party of India (CPI), the second-largest coalition partner in Kerala's ruling Left Democratic Front, has announced the names of its candidates for four crucial seats in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. Notably, senior party leader Annie Raja has been nominated to contest from the pivotal Wayanad constituency, a seat presently held by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. Party veteran and former MP Pannian Raveendran will contest from Thiruvananthapuram, another crucial seat represented by senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor. The announcement was made by Party State Secretary Binoy Viswam at a press conference. Former agriculture minister V S Sunil Kumar and the party's youth wing AIYF's leader C A Arunkumar will be fielded from Thrissur and Mavelikkara seats respectively, he added.

AAP-Congress alliance: Faisal Patel firm on contesting Bharuch Seat

Patel stated that he has no intention of exploring parties outside the Congress and hopes the party will reconsider the seat, which has been allocated to the AAP

Highlights: INLD Haryana Prez Nafe Singh, associate shot dead in Jhajjar

Catch all the latest updates from across the globe here

Talks going on with INDIA bloc partners on seat-sharing in J&K, says Cong

Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) president Vikar Rasool Wani on Sunday said that talks are going on with INDIA bloc partners National Conference and PDP on seat-sharing in the Union Territory for the Lok Sabha elections. People will hear good news soon as talks with the NC and the PDP (on seat-sharing agreement) are going on and we will fight the parliamentary elections together, Wani told reporters on the sidelines of a function here. Several political and social activists from the twin districts of Rajouri and Poonch joined the Congress in presence of Wani and other senior leaders. My appeal to the people is to strengthen the Congress and our alliance partners so that all of their issues are resolved and J&K is pulled out of the prevailing crisis, he said. Accusing the BJP of destroying Jammu and Kashmir, he said, Only the Congress can mitigate the problems of the people, restore statehood, ensure protection of their rights over land and jobs, hold ...

SP chief Akhilesh joins Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in Agra

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav joined Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's 'Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra' in Agra on Sunday, days after the two parties reached a seat-sharing arrangement in Uttar Pradesh for the Lok Sabha polls. Party workers of the SP and the Congress raised slogans in their support as the two leaders, accompanied by Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, waved at the crowd gathered here for the yatra. Attacking the government in his address on the occasion, Yadav said, "Today, farmers are standing against the government. The government is scared of the power of farmers. In the coming time, the BJP will be removed and the INDIA coalition government will give respect to farmers." He added that the BJP has not given the backward classes, Dalits and minority communities the respect they deserve. Senior Congress leader in Uttar Pradesh Pradeep Mathur was also present on the occasion. Earlier, the leaders paid floral tributes at a statue of B R Ambedkar in Agra.

Vote for INDIA bloc so your voices are heard in Parliament: CM Kejriwal

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Sunday asked people in Delhi to vote for INDIA bloc candidates in the Lok Sabha polls so that their voices can be heard in Parliament and inflated water bills are waived. Speaking at a protest organised by his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) against inflated water bills here, Kejriwal said on a lighter note that he should be given the Nobel Prize for running the government despite adverse conditions. "In the Lok Sabha elections, you should vote for INDIA bloc candidates from Delhi and send them to Parliament. This will create a protective shield around Delhi and no lieutenant governor will be able to do anything," the AAP national convenor said. "I assure you that within 15 days of the Lok Sabha elections and the win of INDIA bloc candidates, your water bills will come down to zero," he added. The AAP and Congress, allies in the INDIA bloc, have finalised a 4-3 arrangement for Delhi, under which the ruling party will contest four out of the seven parliamentary

Shah to visit MP on Sunday to review BJP's Lok Sabha poll preparations

Union Home Minister Amit Shah will visit Madhya Pradesh on Sunday to review the BJP's preparations for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, the party's state unit chief VD Sharma said. Shah will visit Gwalior, Khajuraho and Bhopal and hold meetings with party functionaries and also address a public meeting, Sharma said. "He will give party workers the mantra for victory in the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls," Sharma told reporters on Saturday. Terming Shah as the architect of the BJP's resounding victory in the 2023 Assembly polls in MP, Sharma said he will reach Gwalior at noon and address a meeting of the management committees of all four Lok Sabha seats under the Gwalior-Chambal cluster. "At 2:40pm, Shah will reach Khajuraho and address committees of 2,293 booths of the Lok Sabha seat there. He will reach Bhopal at 5pm and address a Prabuddhjan (eminent persons and intellectuals) meet at Kushabhau Thakre convention centre. Shah will also unveil a statue of Kushabhau Thakre at the conventi

BJP holds meeting to discuss strategy for Lok Sabha polls of Uttar Pradesh

The meeting was chaired by BJP national president JP Nadda and was attended by Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath among others

Public discourse was on corruption before 2014, Modi changed it: Minister

The public discourse before 2014 was regarding corruption whereas a major transformation has happened under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership with the country emerging as the fifth largest economy in the world now, Union Minister Parshottam Rupala said on Saturday. Rupala, the Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, said PM Modi's promise is to make the country the third largest economy in the world during his third term. "If you recall the atmosphere 10 years ago, before 2014, you will come to know that corruption was the only focal point in election time. There was nothing else," he told reporters. Rupala was here to attend the Telangana BJP's ongoing 'Vijay Sankalp Yatra' for the coming Lok Sabha polls. "Everyday (before 2014), news of a scam surfaced... 2G, 3G, coal, or something else. There was nothing else for discussion. People were fed up," he claimed. Under Modi, there has been a major transformation and the country has now emerged as the fift

Lok Sabha polls: Amit Shah to visit MP on Sun to review party preparations

Union Home Minister and senior BJP leader Amit Shah will visit Madhya Pradesh on Sunday to review the party's preparations for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, a functionary said. He will visit Gwalior and interact with more than 400 leaders and workers from Morena, Bhind, Guna and Gwalior Lok Sabha seats, MP BJP media cell chief Ashish Agrawal told PTI on Friday. At 3pm, he will address a public meeting in Khajuraho, where the Samajwadi Party will field its candidate as part of the agreement in the Congress-led opposition bloc INDIA. In the evening, Shah will interact in Bhopal with prominent citizens and experts as well as families that have benefited from schemes of the state and Union governments. Party functionaries said Shah's visit will concentrate on ensuring the BJP wins all 29 seats from MP, and also work on the plan to get at least 370 votes more per booth in the 2024 polls when compared to the last general elections. In the 2019 polls, the BJP won 28 seats, while the Cong

Aam Aadmi Party, Congress set to clinch seat-sharing in three states

It would also mean that the Congress is set to contest the least number of seats since 1952

9 of 23 re-elected MPs between 2004-2019 had serious criminal cases: ADR

Of the 23 MPs re-elected between 2004 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls, 12 of them have declared criminal cases against them, poll rights body ADR has said in its new analysis. Top re-elected MPs with the highest increase in assets include Jigajinagi Ramesh Chandappa, Maneka Sanjay Gandhi, and Rao Inderjit Singh, whose assets witnessed substantial growth over the years. The analysis by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and the National Election Watch showed that nine of these MPs have serious criminal cases, including charges related to murder, attempt to murder, and dacoity. The analysis, based on the self-sworn affidavits of 23 re-elected MPs, highlights significant disparities in various aspects, raising questions about transparency and accountability in the political sphere. Out of the 23 re-elected MPs analysed, 52 per cent have declared criminal cases against thems and 39 per cent of these MPs have serious criminal cases, it said. The report also delves into party-wise ..

76.4 million eligible to cast votes in Bihar in Lok Sabha polls: Chief EC

Rajiv Kumar informed at a press conference in Patna on Wednesday that there are 9.26 lakh first time voters in the age group of 18-19 in the state. There are 21, 680 voters above the age of 100 years

SP, Congress announce tie-up for Lok Sabha polls in UP, Cong gets 17 seats

INDIA bloc partners Samajwadi Party and Congress on Wednesday announced a tie-up for the Lok Sabha polls in Uttar Pradesh, with the state's main opposition party leaving 17 out of the 80 seats for the Congress. The announcement was made at a joint press conference by SP state chief Naresh Uttam Patel, SP national general secretary Rajendra Chaudhary, Congress state president Ajay Rai and AICC in-charge for UP Avinash Pande. Pande said the Congress will contest on 17 seats, while on the rest of the 63 seats in the state SP and other alliance partners will contest.