Lok Sabha elections 2024 highlights: Mamata says will lend support to INDIA bloc from outside to form govt at Centre

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday asserted that her party Trinamool Congress will extend outside support to the opposition INDIA alliance to form the government at the Centre.

“BJP is claiming that it will win 400 seats, but people are saying it will not happen. The entire country has understood that the BJP is a party full of thieves. We (TMC) will support the INDIA bloc from outside to form a government at the Centre,” the TMC chief said at a rally in Hooghly.

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday lodged a complaint with the Election Commission, alleging model code of conduct (MCC) violation by the Congress and disrespect to the Indian Army by Rahul Gandhi. A BJP delegation comprising External Affairs minister S Jaishankar, Union ministers G Kishan Reddy and Arjun Meghwal, party's national media head Anil Baluni and Om Pathak met with the Election Commission.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday mocked Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the latter's assertion that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is going ‘400 paar’ (400 plus seats) in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

“Modi and the BJP have been talking about ‘400-paar’. Fortunately they are not speaking about '600-paar' as there is a constitutional limit on the strength of Lok Sabha at 543 seats,” PTI quoted Kharge as saying at a rally in Raebareli, from where Rahul Gandhi is contesting the Lok Sabha elections. Read more.

Comedian Shyam Rangeela's nomination as a Lok Sabha candidate from Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi seat has been cancelled, according to the Election Commission.

“It was decided that I won't be allowed to contest from Varanasi, now it is clear. My heart is definitely broken, but my spirit is not,” Shyam Rangeela wrote on X. Read more.

Union home minister Amit Shah on Wednesday said Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal's remark during the latter's Lok Sabha election campaign was a clear case of “contempt of the Supreme Court”.

Amit Shah was referring to Arvind Kejriwal's recent comment that the AAP chief would not have to return to jail if the masses vote for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. Read more.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is holding a roadshow in Mumbai's Ghatkopar area.

Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde, Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis are also present.

During a roadshow Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal says: “They(BJP) did everything to break me inside(Tihar Jail)...Now they are saying Kejriwal has to go to jail again...It's in your hands that I will go to jail or not...On 25th May, if you press the 'kamal' button I will have to go to jail but if you vote in support of the INDIA alliance candidate then I won't have to go to jail..So, keep in mind whether you want to send Kejriwal to jail or not…” (ANI)

Lok Sabha elections 2024 LIVE: During an interview with news agency ANI, Union Home Minister Amit Shah discussed the Congress party's electoral guarantees, referring to them as 'Chinese guarantees'.

“I called it 'Chinese guarantee' based on their durability... Those guarantees hold no meaning. They make promises during elections and then forget about them,” Amit Shah said.

“I called it 'Chinese guarantee' based on their durability... I was in Telangana recently. Women there are still awaiting their ₹12,000. Farmers there are waiting for the waiving off ₹2 Lakh loan. The young girls are waiting for their scooties... This was promised by Rahul Gandhi, it was his guarantee. Look for Rahul Gandhi... That is why I say that those guarantees hold no meaning. They make promises during elections and then forget about them,” he added.

Lok Sabha elections 2024 LIVE: Addressing an election rally in Maharashtra's Dindori, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, “The fake Shiv Sena has shattered every dream of Balasaheb Thackeray. His dream was to erect a grand Ram temple in Ayodhya. Congress declined the invitation for the Pran Pratistha, and the fake Shiv Sena followed suit. Congress is spreading nonsense about the temple, and the fake Shiv Sena remains silent. Their alliance is one of sin, and their wrongdoing has been exposed to the entire world... In the four phases of elections held so far, the public has defeated them comprehensively.”

Lok Sabha elections 2024 LIVE: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge responded to PM Modi's remark on reservation, saying, “We have been steadfast in our fight for reservation and to uphold the Constitution. Your rhetoric suggests undermining the Constitution. You have no authority to discuss reservation.”

Regarding Union Home Minister Amit Shah's statement"Sonia Gandhi spent more than 70% of MP funds on minorities," Kharge said, “...MP funds amount to ₹5 crores. While you (BJP) have forgiven debts worth ₹16 lakh crore for the affluent, spending ₹1 crore on road construction shouldn't be exaggerated. Sonia Gandhi has catered to all sections of society. She doesn't engage in divisive politics.”

Lok Sabha elections 2024 LIVE: Congress Lok Sabha candidate from Jalandhar, Charanjit Singh Channi, said, “Kejriwal, who is embroiled in a liquor scam and has been out of jail for only 15 days, cannot be trusted... A significant liquor scam occurred in Delhi, and the same has transpired in Punjab as well... We demand an investigation into it... Instead of being welcomed, he should be resisted…”

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal exited Tihar Jail on interim bail on May 10 after spending 40 days in judicial custody.

Lok Sabha elections 2024 LIVE: Andhra Pradesh Election Commissioner Mukesh Kumar Meena, speaking to ANI about the polling percentage in Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, said, “We observed a good polling percentage. Previously, it stood at 79.8%, whereas this time, including 80.66% through EVM and an additional 1.2% from postal ballots, the total reaches almost 81.8%. This indicates a very positive trend, which is encouraging.”

Lok Sabha elections 2024 LIVE: 'Waris Punjab De' chief Amritpal Singh's nomination application in the Khadoor Sahib Lok Sabha constituency has been approved despite his current detention at Dibrugarh jail in Assam.

On May 11, the Punjab government informed the Punjab and Haryana High Court that arrangements were made for his nomination filing process while he was in custody.

Voting in Punjab is scheduled for June 1.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has questioned why Prime Minister Narendra Modi does not suspend people from his party who speak about changing the Constitution.

"If you speak so much about your courage, you already have a 56-inch chest, then why don't you scare them, suspend them from the party?... This is to save the Constitution, the country and democracy," Kharge said during a joint press conference with Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav in Lucknow, according to ANI.

Addressing a poll rally meeting in Mahoba's Hamirpur, UP CM Yogi Adityanath says, "...PM Modi has uplifted 25 cr people from poverty and has made their lives better in the last 10 years, more than the population of Pakistan... Those who are singing for Pakistan, ask them if they love Pakistan this much then why they are a burden on this country, go there and beg.

He adds: "INDI alliance leaders are threatening and saying Pakistan has atom bombs, if Pakitan has atom bombs, do we have atom bombs to keep in the fridge?" (ANI)

There is no 'leher' but 'zeher' (poison). There is 'zeher' in his language. He is spreading communal poison. He is spreading a pandemic of lies. So, I don't see any 'leher'. Had there been 'leher', there would not have been issues in his language. Why is he rattled?: Jairam Ramesh

We are fighting this election on these issues: cost of living, unemployment, the evil treatment that PM Modi has meted out to the farmers of the country, corruption like the electoral bond, how PM Modi has introduced a cashless corruption system, and also moral, political corruption where he brought down elected govt and broken many parties: Ashok Chavan, ex-Maharashtra CM

When THE INDI alliance (the erstwhile Congress-led UPA) was ruling, strikes used to happen in our part of Kashmir. nOW, see PM Modi's effect; strikes happen in PoK. Earlier slogans of Azadi, stone pelting kind of things used to happen on our part, now it all happens in PoK: Union home minister Amit Shah

“For the first time, a political party has told the country that if they win the polls, they will finish this Constitution. This Constitution has provided rights to poor, backward, Dalits, tribals, minorities, farmers and labourers. Today, tall leaders of the BJP say that if they win the elections, they will tear and throw away this book. I would like to tell all workers and leaders of the BJP - no force in the world can touch this book,” Congress MP Rahul Gandhi in Odisha's Balangir.

The PM himself has made the policy that after attaining the age of 75 years, one will go to the 'Margdarshak Mandali', I hope he will follow the same. If the Agniveers are retiring at the age of 22, I hope the PM will follow his own policy: Tejashwi Yadav, RJD leader and Bihar ex-deputy CM

BJP is coming down in all four phases, countdown has begun for them. BJP has no answer for paper leaks and unemployment. They have shown false dreams in the name of investment, the Defence Expo and advertised fake things in G-20 meetings: Akhilesh Yadav

I want to congratulate people from the press for the golden period that will begin on June 4; that will be a day of 'freedom of press'. BJP is tangled in its own negative narrative. INDIA alliance will win 79 seats in Uttar Pradesh: Akhilesh Yadav, SP chief

Reacting to PM Modi's call for “400 paar,” the Congress chief says that the BJP is not going to cross 200 seats.

“It is good that Modi only said ‘400 paar’ and not ‘600 paar’,” he remarks.

We all should work together to protect the future, democracy and the constitution of the country otherwise we will become slaves again. If there won't be a democracy but autocracy and dictatorship, how will you elect someone with your ideology? Wherever any big leader of the BJP is contesting, opposition party leaders are being stopped from filing nominations. I have seen in Hyderabad that one woman candidate of BJP was checking women's identities by removing the burqa. Is this how free and fair elections are conducted: Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress chief