Lok Sabha Election Date Highlights: ECI to announce schedule tomorrow

Lok Sabha Election 2024 Live: Qwik Supply Chain Private Limited, a little-known company with a registered address at Navi Mumbai's Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge City (DAKC) and having links to Reliance Industries, was the third largest donor to political parties using electoral bonds.

It bought ₹410 crore of electoral bonds between financial years 2021-22 and 2023-24, but Reliance said the company is not a subsidiary of any Reliance entity.

Electoral bond purchases and donations by Qwik Supply were behind ₹1,368 crore of Future Gaming and Hotel Services - another little-known lottery company - and ₹966 crore of Hyderabad-based Megha Engineering & Infra, according to information uploaded by the Election Commission on its website.

Lok Sabha Election 2024 Live: On poll dates to be announced tomorrow, TMC leader Kunal Ghosh says, "We want the elections to take place in one phase only... More than one phase election is not even required..."

Lok Sabha Election 2024 Live: On Lok Sabha preparations and Congress manifesto, OPCC President Sarat Patnaik says, "The manifesto that has been declared from the side of Pradesh Congress Committee, and it has a place for everyone...Naveen Patnaik's government has been in power for the last 24 years. Even BJP-BJD together ruled for 9 years, but could not do anything...Naveen Patnaik has left Odisha as a 'poor state.'...Whoever got caught in a cheat-fund case, did they do anything against them? We have promised to refund that money in 6 months...ST/SC demands will also be fulfilled. For the Lok Sabha elections, we are fully prepared; our district and Congress block are ready...This is our soil and we are ready to fight for it..."

Lok Sabha Election 2024 Live: The CPI(M) on Friday opposed the proposal to hold simultaneous elections as recommended by a panel headed by former president Ram Nath Kovind, saying it will usher in a centralised authoritarian political system in the country.

In a statement, the politburo of the Left party also appealed to all "democratic organisations and citizens" to unitedly oppose this "undemocratic proposal".

There are 18 amendments to the Constitution and other statutes proposed in the report of the committee, and these will amount to truncating the parliamentary democratic system and make the Centre more powerful, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) claimed.

Lok Sabha Election 2024 Live: With political programmes in three states on Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi kicked off the BJP's determined southern push for the Lok Sabha election, a day before its announcement, as his party seeks to boost its seat tally from the region's five states.

Modi is scheduled to travel through all the southern states, focusing on places where the ruling party is hopeful of gains, for the next four days till March 19, BJP leaders said.

He will address a joint TDP-BJP-Jana Sena rally in Andhra Pradesh on March 17, a show of strength from the three parties that joined hands recently to take on the state's ruling YSR Congress Party.

The Supreme Court on Friday sought a response from the Election Commission on a plea by a Tamil Nadu-based unrecognised political party- Naam Tamilar Katchi- challenging the allotment of free symbols to unrecognised political parties on first come, first served (FCFS) basis.

A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra also issued a notice to another unrecognised political party that was granted the poll symbol on which Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK) had contested elections in the past.

The high court had on March 1 dismissed the NTK's petition challenging the allotment of free symbols by the poll panel to unrecognised political parties on first come, first served basis.

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over electoral bonds and asserted that the PM always said "Yeh Modi ki sarkar, yeh Modi ki party," adding that PM Modi should be held "accountable" for making money out of the bonds.

Addressing a press conference in Bengaluru, the Congress chief said that PM Modi says 'Modi ki Sarkar', he is the mind behind it all, he should be held accountable for this

"PM Modi said 'Na khaunga, na khane dunga'; now it is exposed that BJP made money out of electoral bonds. Na khaunga, na kahne dunga, sirf meri party ko khilaunga sab. Whatever PM Modi does, he does it for his own gains, and his party's gains," Kharge said.

The Assam unit of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Friday withdrew its candidate from the Guwahati Lok Sabha constituency "for the sake of opposition unity" to defeat the ruling BJP nominee.

It challenged the Congress to return the gesture and withdraw its candidates from Dibrugarh and Sonitpur seats, for which the AAP has declared its nominees.

Both the Congress and AAP are part of the 16-party United Opposition Forum, Assam (UOFA), formed to contest the general elections together, but a rift had emerged with members of the forum announcing candidates against each other in various constituencies of the state.

The AAP, in a statement, expressed its grievance towards the Congress for naming its candidates for the three seats in which the former had also announced its nominees.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) should play its role in restoring democracy in Jammu and Kashmir and announce dates for both Parliament as well as assembly polls in the Union Territory, National Conference vice president Omar Abdullah said here on Friday.

"We have no expectations from the Election Commission. The EC should play its role as part of its mission of maintaining democracy. It has been 10 years that J-K has not seen an assembly election," Abdullah told reporters here.

Referring to the submission of a report by former President Ram Nath Kovind-led committee on 'one nation one election, the former J-K chief minister said it was a golden opportunity to start the policy from J-K.

The BSP will contest the Hyderabad and Nagarkurnool (SC) Lok Sabha seats, out of the total 17 constituencies in Telangana, as part of its alliance with the K Chandrasekhar Rao-led BRS.

A BRS release on Friday said Rao, also known as KCR, has allocated the two seats to the Bahujan Samaj Party.

BSP's Telangana unit president R S Praveen Kumar, formerly an IPS officer, would contest from Nagarkurnool constituency, a BSP release said.

On ECI to announce the general poll schedule tomorrow, Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit says, "Our preparations are really good. Our campaign to raise relevant issues among the public started with Rahul ji's Bharat Jodo Yatra...We also elected a new party chief reaffirming internal democracy in the party. Like-minded parties which come together to form an alliance to raise current issues will give good leadership...More candidates of our party will be announced soon."

On poll dates to be announced tomorrow, Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde says, "People have taken the guarantee to ensure that Modi ji gets over 400 seats. The people of Maharashtra have determined to make Modi ji win."

The Trinamool Congress (TMC) has filed a complaint with the Election Commission, objecting to the BJP-led Centre's advertisements boasting about funding allocation to the West Bengal government for different central schemes, which have been a focal point of the BJP's campaign efforts.

In a letter to the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of West Bengal on Thursday, the TMC pointed out that the central government had inserted advertisements in some papers at the cost of public exchequer saying how much money had been given to the state and also cited certain points pertaining to central schemes like PMAY, MGNREGA and some others.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the NDA election meeting at Chilakaluripeta in Palnadu district on Sunday, BJP national general secretary Vinod Tawde said on Friday.

Speaking to reporters at the party office here, he said TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu and JSP chief Pawan Kalyan would participate in the meeting.

The BJP leader lashed out at the ruling party, YSRCP, in the state for allegedly rebranding Central Government-funded schemes with Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy's name and extending them to the masses. He termed it as cheating.

Lok Sabha Election 2024 Date Live: Ahead of the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party released its second list, which consisting 72 candidates, on Wednesday. Notable figures featured on the BJP's list include Manohar Lal Khattar, Nitin Gadkari, Anurag Thakur, and Piyush Goyal. Click here to get the full list

Lok Sabha Election 2024 Date Live: The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) allies in Andhra Pradesh have recently agreed on their seat-sharing arrangement for the upcoming Lok Sabha and Assembly elections. According to the arrangement, the BJP will compete for six Lok Sabha seats and 10 Assembly seats, while the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), led by Chandrababu Naidu, will contest 17 parliamentary seats and 144 Assembly seats.

Under the deal, Pawan Kalyan's Jana Sena will contest two Lok Sabha and 21 assembly seats.

Naidu, regarding the upcoming elections, said on Friday, “The TDP and its alliance partners (BJP and Jana Sena Party) are fully prepared for the upcoming elections. We have already shared our seats and the respective political parties are announcing their candidate names. We are appealing to all the leaders and cadres of the three parties in the interest of the protection of the future of the state. I am confident that this alliance is unstoppable.”

Lok Sabha Election 2024 Date Live: A day after appointing two new Election Commissioners, the poll panel announced that the schedule for the upcoming general election this year will be released tomorrow.

The Election Commission of India took to X to announce that in a press conference tomorrow, the schedule for the Lok Sabha Elections 2024, as well as the state assemblies set to go for election this year, will be announced.

The picture shared by the poll panel alongside the post featured the new Election Commissioners, Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, along with Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar.