Lok Sabha Election 2024 Highlights: PM Modi holds roadshow in Coimbatore

On Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde's comment over Rahul Gandhi, the state Congress President Nana Patole says, "People of the country have accepted the sacrifice and hard work of Rahul Gandhi. The way he has given the 25 guarantees to the farmers, youth, workers and women, people's trust in him has increased... It's not we who say the Maharashtra govt is unconstitutional, but the Supreme Court has said so. The CM of an unconstitutional govt has no right to speak over someone like Rahul Gandhi..."

Even as the differences within the ruling alliance of three parties continued, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has reportedly given an offer to Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) to join the ruling alliance. The ruling alliance may give two to three seats including Mumbai South constituency to the Raj Thackeray led party.

Raj Thackeray along with his son Amit and other party leaders reached Delhi on Monday evening in a chartered flight for a meeting with union home minister Amit Shah. The leaders from the two parties discussed seat sharing for Lok Sabha and other modalities including the arrangements for the Assembly elections slated to be held later this year, it is learnt. BJP's bid to include MNS in the ruling alliance is significant in the backdrop of the Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP) campaign targeting BJP as an "anti-Maharashtra" party.

Chhattisgarh Deputy Chief Minister Arun Sao said after an FIR was registered against former Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel that there is no political vendetta and arrest has nothing to do with the upcoming polls.

On Sunday, Chhattisgarh Economic Offences Wing (EOW) named former chief minister Bhupesh Baghel in its first information report (FIR) lodged in connection with the alleged Mahadev Online Book-linked money laundering case.

"For a long time, the investigation was going on in the Mahadev betting app scam. Action is being taken after the facts that were found after the investigation...For almost two years it was being investigated and this FIR has nothing to do with elections and political vendetta," said Arun Sao.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Monday that there was no benefit in voting for the grand old party since whoever wins from Congress would eventually join the BJP.

After the announcement of the Lok Sabha poll dates, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma made his first visit to Barak Valley on Monday and kicked off his election campaign from the Karimganj district.

The Assam Chief Minister took part in a party workers meeting at the Karimganj district BJP office in the presence of Kripanath Mallah, who is the party's candidate for Karimganj parliamentary constituency and other senior party leaders.

In a first major action, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has ordered removal of Bihar Home Secretary S Siddharth, a 1991 batch IAS officer.

Following ECI instruction, Pranav Kumar, an IAS officer of 2008 batch has been given the charge of home secretary of Bihar till further arrangement in addition to the additional charge of IG Prisons.

The step is part of the poll panel's commitment to ensure a level playing field for all political parties in the coming Lok Sabha elections, which begin on April 19. ECI officials did not immediately mention any reason behind the big move, official familiar with the matter said the change had been made to ensure integrity of the poll process.

The ruling Janata Dal (U) in Bihar has to compromise on two seats in the seat-sharing formula announced on Monday in Ne w Delhi but managed to swap one seat with the BJP.

IN the formula announced by the NDA leaders, BJP would be contesting 17 seats, JD (U) 17, LJP (RV) five and one each by Ham-S and Rashtriya Lok Morcha of Upendra Kushwaha. The formula does not leave any room for RLJP faction of Pashupati Paras and Mukesh Sahni’s VIP, who was bargaining hard with the BJP.

Under attack for his "fight against shakti" remark made at a rally in Mumbai, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday clarified that he was not talking about any religious power but the 'shakti' of unrighteousness, corruption and falsehood.

He accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of twisting his words and said he was speaking about the power of which Modi was wearing the mask.

"Modi ji does not like my words, he always tries to change their meaning by twisting them in some way or the other because he knows that I have spoken a solemn truth.

In Coimbatore, Prime Minister Narendra Modi pays tribute to the 1998 Coimbatore serial bomb blast victims. The blast claimed the lives of 58 people.

We have worked towards achieving the goal of 400 seats set by PM Modi. And, today, after the finalisation of the seat-sharing formula (of NDA in Bihar), all the workers will work to achieve it," says Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) President Chirag Paswan as NDA announces Bihar seat-sharing pact.

Punjab's Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Sibin C, on Monday convened a meeting with representatives from major political parties in the state to discuss essential aspects of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

"During the session, he provided detailed insights into the election process, highlighting key statistics such as the total number of voters (2,12,71,246), including Male voters (1,11,92,959), Female voters (1,00,77,543), Transgender voters (744), Persons with Disabilities (PwD-1,57,257), Overseas Voters (1597) and the number of polling stations (24,433)," the Information and Public Relations said in a statement.

During the meeting, Sibin C informed attendees about recent provisions allowing PwD voters and individuals aged 85 and above to opt for voting at home.

Union Minister and BJP leader Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Monday condemned Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's 'Shakti' remark that stirred controversy ahead of the Lok Sabha polls and said that such statements are insulting to the Hindu faith and were made to divide communities.

"They are either saying things that are outright lies, or they say things that are absolutely insulting to the Hindu faith, or they do things that are dividing communities. I find Rahul Gandhi's entire conduct the most mystifying, most confusing act in Indian politics. It is not something that I waste my time analyzing," said Chandrasekhar.

LJP National President Chirag Paswan says, "'Ganga Me Se Kaafi Paani Beh Chuka Hai', situations have changed now. My father used to say that it's not the person but the time which is stronger. Today the time has shown its strength and justice has prevailed. I am ready for every challenge (on being asked, what if Pashupati Kumar Paras contest against him)..."

Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a road show here on Monday, amid non-stop chants of 'Modi, Modi' by BJP workers and the playing of traditional music to welcome him. As Modi began his roadshow in an open vehicle, people who gathered on both sides of the road showered flower petals on him and chanted slogans hailing him. Several of them danced and waved at him enthusiastically. This is the first time Modi has held a road show here. BJP Tamil Nadu President K Annamalai, Union Minister of State L Murugan, and Coimbatore South MLA and BJP Mahila Morcha National President Vanathi Srinivasan accompanied Modi

The Congress on Monday raised questions about the PM CARES Fund, saying that four years after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is still not clear why it was set up, who its donors are and why its administrative structure is so "lacking in transparency".

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh alleged that given the history of the Modi government, as shown by the "electoral bond scam", one can only speculate that the lack of transparency was deliberately engineered to give the prime minister an unsupervised pool of funds to spend as he wishes.

In a post on X, Ramesh said, "Now that the corruption, extortion and intimidation of the Modi Sarkar through the electoral bond scam is getting revealed in all its shocking detail, let us not forget another route the Government opened for companies to curry favour: the self-glorifyingly named PMCARES."

Prime Minister Narendra Modi holds a roadshow in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu.

State BJP chief K. Annamalai and Union Minister L. Murugan are also with him.

NDA seat sharing in Bihar: Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) to contest on 5 seats- Vaishali, Hajipur, Samastipur, Khagaria and Jamui. Hindustani Awam Morcha and Rashtriya Lok Morcha respectively on Gaya and Karakat seats," said BJP National General Secretary Vinod Tawde

The BJP candidates for seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi on Monday listed out their 100 days priorities, including improving health and educational facilities, after being elected as MPs from their respective constituencies.

Addressing a joint press conference here, Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva asserted all the seven BJP candidates will win with bigger margins this time.

Bansuri Swaraj contesting from the New Delhi constituency listed her priorities, including creation of a start up hub and strengthening self help groups of women. She said that desealing of sealed shops will be taken up by her in the first week if she is elected.

Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday said that simultaneously with the campaign for Lok Sabha election, the BJP is going to conduct a socioeconomic survey to identify the needs of common people. The needs will be fulfilled by 2026, according to him.

Sarma officially launched his campaign for Lok Sabha polls this year from Karimganj district and he said that the BJP has one candidate, Narendra Modi. "All the candidates are representing Narendra Modi, we are going to the campaigns as his representatives," Sarma said.

Sarma said the intention behind the socioeconomic survey is to get an actual picture of the development and needs of the commons in Assam.

"We'll distribute forms with five points. Requirement of roads, bridges, Arunodaya Cards and other facilities. We'll list the names of girl students passing class-10 this year and we'll make sure they continue their studies after this," Sarma said.

NDA seat sharing in Bihar: "5 seats have been given to Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas). We will win all 40 Lok Sabha seats of Bihar," says Raju Tiwari, Bihar State President, Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas)

Senior BJP leader K S Eshwarappa, who has raised a banner of revolt over denial of ticket to his son to contest the coming Lok Sabha elections from Haveri, on Monday skipped Prime Minister Narendra Modi's rally here, in an embarrassment to the party. The 75-year-old former Deputy Chief Minister, who has turned down the invitation to attend the event, was seen visiting maths of various communities. Eshwarappa has announced he will contest as an independent candidate from Shimoga (Shivamogga) in the coming Lok Sabha polls, blaming veteran BJP leader B S Yediyurappa and his son B Y Vijayendra, who is state BJP President, for his son K E Kantesh being denied ticket.

PM Narendra Modi says, "...Congress ko is Lok Sabha chunav mein chun chun kar ke saaf kar dene chahiye. You have to come out with this resolution on April 26 and May 7..."

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has asked Maharashtra government to remove Iqbal Singh Chahal as Mumbai municipal commissioner. EC has also instructed the state to transfer all other municipal commissioners and additional municipal commissioners who, like Chahal, have completed three years in their current positions.

State chief electoral officer S Chokalimgam confirmed the development. The state government is yet to respond.

On February 22, the EC informed the state that commissioners and additional commissioners were covered in the transfer policy leading up to the forthcoming elections. Consequently, Chahal, additional commissioners Ashwini Bhide and P Velrasu, and Pune commissioner Vikram Kumar were due for transfer.

Chief Minister Eknath Shinde had made it known that he did not wish to transfer commissioners; the state government sent a letter to the EC through the state chief electoral officer requesting an exemption for municipal commissioners because works related to the monsoon were being carried out under their supervision. However, this request was rejected. Maharashtra submitted another plea last week.

PM Narendra Modi says, "Yesterday an announcement to destroy Shakti was made from Shivaji Park (in Mumbai). How much it must have hurt the soul of Balasaheb Thackeray... Nari Shakti ka yahi aashirvad mera sabse bada kawach hai...The people of the INDI alliance want to destroy this Shakti. They hate the increasing shakti of Maa Bharti...'Vaar' on Shakti means 'vaar' on women, daughters, Maa Bharti..."

PM Narendra Modi says, "4 June ko inko pata lag jayega ki Shakti ko lalkarne ka matlab kya hota hai. Congress is a party that will go to any extent to gain power. The British have left, but the Congress has not left the British mentality of divide and rule...Congress first divided the country, divided based on caste, based on community, and divided people on the basis of religion, region and language, and to gain power, Congress also divided the country, but still, Congress with its divisive mentality is not satisfied with this. Congress has again started playing the dangerous game of dividing the country. Now they have also started speaking openly about their intentions, recently the Congress MP from Karnataka has given a statement about dividing the country once again. Instead of throwing such an MP out of the party, the Congress party is protecting him. Karnataka will never allow such politics and such conspiracies to succeed."