Lok Sabha Election 2024 highlights: BJP releases 8th list of candidates from Odisha, Punjab and Bengal

Lok Sabha Election 2024 Live Updates: Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Sekhawat officially submitted his nomination from the Jodhpur Lok Sabha constituency on Saturday.

Having served as an MP from Jodhpur twice before, Sekhawat is now vying for another term in the Lower House in the upcoming general elections. Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma, who accompanied Sekhawat during the nomination filing, expressed confidence in his victory.

Sharma emphasised Sekhawat's track record of significant wins in 2014 and 2019, predicting an even more considerable margin of victory in the upcoming elections.

The Jodhpur constituency is slated to vote for the Lok Sabha on April 26.

Lok Sabha Election 2024 Live Updates: In Tamil Nadu's 39 parliamentary constituencies, a total of 950 candidates are gearing up to contest the Lok Sabha polls scheduled for April 19, announced Chief Electoral Officer Satyabrata Sahoo on Saturday. Following the deadline for withdrawal of candidature, Sahoo stated that out of the 950 candidates, 874 are men and 76 are women.

On the last day to withdraw candidatures, March 30, 135 aspirants withdrew their nomination papers. During the scrutiny of nominations on March 28, a total of 1,085 nominations were found to be valid.

Lok Sabha Election 2024 Live Updates: The BJP has released its 8th list of Lok Sabha candidates on Saturday, featuring nominees from Odisha, Punjab, and West Bengal.

Dinesh Singh 'Babbu' will contest from Gurdaspur, Taranjit Singh Sandhu from Amritsar, Shushil Kumar Rinku from Jalandhar, Hans Raj Hans from Faridkot, and Preneet Kaur from Patiala in Punjab.

Lok Sabha Election 2024 Live Updates: Union Minister Faggan Singh Kulaste and incumbent Congress MP Nakul Nath are among the 88 nominees announced for Madhya Pradesh's six Lok Sabha seats, slated for the first phase of polls on April 19.

The Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Madhya Pradesh, Anupam Rajan, stated that Saturday marked the deadline for withdrawal of nominations, with 19 candidates opting to withdraw from the electoral race.

Lok Sabha Election 2024 Live Updates: Prime Minister Narendra Modi engaged with the BJP's grassroots workers in Kerala through the Namo App on Saturday, commending their dedication towards the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Modi lauded the efforts of BJP workers in Kerala, emphasizing their unparalleled commitment and enthusiasm. He expressed that interacting with such disciplined, devoted, and hardworking workers inspired and energised him.

Lok Sabha Election 2024 Live Updates: Senior Congress leader Mukul Wasnik expressed confidence on Saturday that his party would secure more than 10 seats in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in Gujarat

Wasnik, who serves as Congress's general secretary overseeing the state, stated that the names of all candidates would be revealed shortly.

The Congress is contesting 24 Lok Sabha seats and has disclosed the names of 17 candidates thus far. As part of an alliance, it has allocated two seats, Bhavnagar and Bharuch, to the Aam Aadmi Party.

In both the 2014 and 2019 general elections, the BJP claimed all 26 seats in the state.

Lok Sabha Election 2024 Live Updates: The National Congress Party (NCP), led by Ajit Pawar on Saturday, announced Sunetra Pawar as their candidate for the Baramati Lok Sabha constituency. This declaration followed shortly after NCP (Sharad Pawar) declared Supriya Sule's candidacy.

Lok Sabha Election 2024 Live Updates: The Lok Janshakti Party (Ramvilas) has unveiled its candidate roster for the forthcoming Lok Sabha Elections, with Party Chief Chirag Paswan set to run from Hajipur constituency.

Lok Sabha Election 2024 Live Updates: Telangana Transport Minister and Congress leader Ponnam Prabhakar on BRS leaders joining Congress says, “TRS story has now ended. What they have done in the last 10 years of governance in Telangana is not good for the public. The respect that its leaders should have received there, they know they will get that here. Therefore, they are coming (in Congress).”

Lok Sabha Election 2024 Live Updates: National Congress Party (NCP)'s Sharad Pawar faction complained to the Election Commission, alleging that the ruling BJP and Shiv Sena violated the Representation of the People Act and electoral code by featuring individuals from other parties as their star campaigners.

The NCP, led by Sharad Pawar, is a constituent of the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) in Maharashtra, alongside the Shiv Sena and Congress.

Lok Sabha Election 2024 Live Updates: BJP president JP Nadda on Saturday announced the Election Manifesto Committee for the Lok Sabha Elections 2024. The committee will be headed by defence minister Rajnath Singh.

Lok Sabha Election 2024 Live Updates: GHMC Mayor Vijaya Laxmi R Gadwal officially joined the Congress on Saturday, as reported by PTI. She joined the party in the presence of Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, AICC's Telangana affairs in-charge Deepa Dasmunsi, and other leaders.

During the Lok Sabha polls, Vijaya Laxmi's entry into the Congress is anticipated to bolster the party's prospects in the GHMC limits.

Lok Sabha Election 2024 Live Updates: In Thiruvananthapuram, Union Minister Rajeev Chandrashekhar says, “It's not just an election for me but a mission where I can put Thiruvananthapuram at a path that it can move forward and starts gaining benefits of schemes of PM Modi's governance... This election is about the performance of the sitting MP and about which govt has delivered. Opposition parties don't want to discuss performance, the economy but everything else.”

In the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha election, both the BJP and the Left have nominated formidable candidates to challenge Tharoor in the Thiruvananthapuram constituency, where he has secured victory three times in a row.

The BJP has selected Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar to contest against Tharoor. At the same time, the Left has put forward senior CPI leader Pannyan Raveendran, who previously represented the constituency in the 14th Lok Sabha. With these seasoned leaders in contention, the constituency is poised to witness a robust triangular competition this time.

Lok Sabha Election 2024 Live Updates: On the matter of contesting elections this time, National Conference leader Omar Abdullah stated on Saturday that it is the party's decision and not his own. Meanwhile, he mentioned that he will participate in the 'maha rally' organized by the INDI alliance at Ramlila Maidan.

“The INDIA alliance is going to organise a program at the Ram Lila Maidan in Delhi tomorrow. From the National Conference, leader Farooq Abdullah will participate in it... There are a lot of rumours during the election time. Whether or not will I fight the elections or from where I will fight the elections, it would be the party's decision, not mine... I cannot say anything about it,” he said.

Lok Sabha Election 2024 Live Updates: On joining Congress, former BJP leader Tejaswini Gowda in Karnataka says, “I believe in political values and political struggles. In India, we fought for freedom and democracy to give opportunities to the common people in politics. Today, there is no such opportunity in the BJP. We want to save the constitutional democracy... Congress is going to emerge once again. It will bounce back.”

Gowda tendered her resignation as a Member of the Karnataka Legislative Council on Wednesday, submitting it to Legislative Council Chairman Basavaraj Horatti.

Party insiders revealed that Gowda, a former journalist, was disappointed about not being nominated as a candidate in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

(With ANI, PTI inputs)

Lok Sabha Election 2024 Live Updates: Speaking to the news agency ANI, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said that the upcoming ‘maha rally’ at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi by the Opposition bloc INDI Alliance is nothing but a "Bhrashtachar Bachao Andolan."

“What is this rally? It is nothing but 'Bhrashtachar bachao andolan' whose slogan can be 'karenge hum bhrashtachar, kahenge isko shishtachar, when karvai (probe) takes place, hum chilayenge atyachar, atyachar.'...Arvind Kejriwal used to say that he would put Lalu Yadav, Sonia Gandhi, and Rahul Gandhi in jail because they have done 'bhrashtachar' and today when Kejriwal is in jail, courts are not giving him relief then he taking the support of the same Lalu Prasad Yadav, Akhilesh Yadava, Rahul Gandhi and saying why have you put me in jail. So, this is the political conversion of Arvind Kejriwal- from swaraj to sharab, from India against corruption to justification of corruption,” he said.

Earlier, AAP leader Gopal Rai announced that the opposition INDIA bloc will convene a "mega rally" at Delhi's Ramlila Maidan on March 31st to protect the nation's interests and democratic principles.

Lok Sabha Election 2024 Live Updates: UP Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya has hit out at the Congress Party over its protests against IT notices to it. He said that the Congress Party is searching for an election agenda but people are not accepting it.

"The Congress has already lost the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. And they are making statements because of the disappointment due to failure. It is laughable that the law should work according to the Congress. The law should take its course. Lawful action should be taken and no one should be questioning it. They are searching for an election agenda but the people are not accepting it... The issues which Congress turns into political agendas, cause more damage than benefit...," said Maurya, reported news agency ANI.

Lok Sabha Election 2024 Live Updates: "The way government atrocities on the opposition parties are increasing, the way ED, CBI, Income Tax are being used against them...Congress' bank accounts are being seized, Income Tax recovery notices are being sent...people have understood that what the opposition is saying about democracy being under threat is true," said former Uttarakhand CM and Congress leader Harish Rawat, reported news agency PTI.

Lok Sabha Election 2024 Live Updates: Congress leader Priyank Kharge has taken a jibe at the ruling BJP government over his party getting ₹1,800 crore income tax notice, calling it 'a premeditated decision'.

"This is a premeditated decision by the government. The BJP is activating its frontal organisation of I-T and ED...They are trying to cripple the process of democracy and Congress from ensuring a clean sweep (In Lok Sabha elections)," said Kharge as quoted by news agency ANI.

On the upcoming general elections, he further added, "BJP cannot get 400 seats...They are on a shaky wicket.."

Lok Sabha Election 2024 Live Updates: Archana Patil Chakurkar, daughter-in-law of senior Congress leader and former Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in Mumbai on Saturday.

Lok Sabha Election 2024 Live Updates: Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat will file nomination from Jodhpur Lok Sabha seat in Rajasthan on Saturday.

Lok Sabha Election 2024 Live Updates: Congress nominates KV Gowtham to contest from 28-Kolar(SC) Lok Sabha constituency in Karnataka

Lok Sabha Election 2024 Live Updates: Tamil Nadu CM M K Stalin has taken a dig at BJP's Nirmala Sitharaman for withdrawing her name as a candidate for the upcoming Lok Sabha election 2024.

Slamming Union finance and corporate affairs minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Stalin on Friday said that if her claim of not having enough money to contest the Lok Sabha polls was true, the question is what happened to the fund the BJP received through electoral bonds. "Madam, if you want to contest the polls, you should meet the people and should toil hard for people's welfare. Since you know the result that the people will not vote for you, you have decided not to contest," he said, reported news agency PTI.

Lok Sabha Election 2024 Live Updates: The Communist Party of India (CPI) received a notice from the Income Tax Department sometime back regarding some discrepancies due to the use of old PAN cards by some state units of the Communist Party of India, said General Secretary of CPI, D Raja.

"We have received the income tax notice for the use of the old PAN card," CPI leader D Raja said to news agency ANI.

On being asked if the party received any notice from IT in regard to a particular amount, Raja, clarified, saying, "They did not receive any notice from IT in regard to money."

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