Mahagathbandhan in Bihar announced its seat-sharing pact on Friday. The big surprise was the omission of Kanhaiya Kumar. Kanhaiya, a former JNU student union leader, was in the race for a ticket from the Begusarai Lok Sabha seat. But the grand-alliance list released today gave him a miss. While, Sharad Yadav will contest from Rashtriya Janata Dal ticket. Congress Party will contest only on 9 seats while Tejashwi Yadav-led RJD will contest on 9 seats. Jitan Ram Manjhi's HAM has got five seats. Manjhi himself will contest from Gaya Lok Sabha seat. Upendra Kushwaha's RLSP will contest from five seats. 

Bharatiya Janata Party's Tamil Nadu OBC Morcha chief S.K. Kharventhan is supremely confident that Union Minister Pon Radhakrishnan will be re-elected from Kanniyakumari. "Pon Radhakrishnan has earned a good name in the constituency. He has also brought various projects for Kanniyakumari constituency," he said.

Congress MP Vincent H. Pala files his nomination papers for the Shillong parliamentary constituency, seeking a third straight term in the Lok Sabha. Pala, who was a Union Minister in the Congress-led UPA government, asserted that his party would return to the power.

Lok Sabha Election 2019: Check complete schedule and state wise details here

Will the Congress party now do its politics on false, lies and misrepresentation? : Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad

Union Minister Piyush Goyal: Sam Pitroda's comments show the thinking of Congress. They are playing into the hands of 'Tukde-Tukde' gang. It is high time Congress does some introspection considering their bogey of Hindu Terror has also been busted.

Sam Pitroda is "Shame" Pitroda, says Mahesh Sharma in an Exclusive Interview with India TV's Sushant Sinha.

Mahagathbandhan releases candidates list in Bihar. RJD to contest on 20 seats, congress on 9 seats and Vikasshil Insan Party on 3 seats. Hindustani Awam Morcha to contest Lok Sabha Election on 3 seats and  Rashtriya Lok Samta Party on 5 seats.

Gaya- Jitan Ram Manjhi

Aurangabad- Upendra Prasad

Sharad Yadav to contest on RJD symbol and merge his Loktantrik Janata Dal with the party after the Lok Sabha polls : RJD national spokesman Manoj Jha.

CPI(ML) Liberation to be given one seat from the RJD quota, says Manoj Jha.

Shiv Sena releases first list of 21 candidates for Lok Sabha Elections 2019. Here is the full list

A nephew of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati, Aakash Anand, figures in the list of 20 star campaigners released by the party today. Aakash Anand, who has been seen with Mayawati at some public engagements, was given the task to connect youngsters with the party dominated by Dalits.

Deve Gowda's grandson files nomination from Hassan

Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) President H.D. Deve Gowda's grandson Prajwal Revanna has filed his nomination to contest the Lok Sabha election from Hassan in Karnataka. Accompanied by his father H.D. Revanna, the state's Public Works Department Minister and uncle Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, Prajwal filed his nomination at the Deputy Commissioner's office in Hassan, about 180 km west of Bengaluru.

SP replaces Ghaziabad candidate

Samajwadi Party has replaced its Ghaziabad candidate Surendra Kumar Munni with Suresh Bansal, for the upcoming Lok Sabha Elections 2019.

Randeep Surjewala starts the press conference saying "we have caught a theft and the thief". Interestingly, Rahul Gandhi who was scheduled to do this press conference was absent. Surjewala refers a diary that has the details of alleged payments made by then Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa to top BJP leaders. The payoffs to the tune of Rs 1800 crore was made by Yeddyurappa to top BJP leaders, Congress party alleged. "It for the country to see whether chowkidar is chor or not", Randeep Surjewala said. "The ball is now in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's court," Surjewala said. 

"This is not just a Karnataka matter. This is the entire edifice of the BJP," Surjewala alleged. He also asked the BJP government to probe the matter and hand over the case to the newly appointed Lokpal. "More than dozen BJP ministers have been named in the diary," Surjewala said. "This is not to throw mud at anyone but to bring the truth. Even judges were bribed. We want to know who were these judges and why they were bribed," Surjewala said.

BSP releases list of 11 candidates for Lok Sabha elections 

Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party has released a list of 11 candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Kunwar Danish Ali to contest from Amroha, Malook Nagar from Bijnor, Girish Chandra from Nagina, Mohd Yakoob from Meerut, Satbir Nagar from Gautam Buddhnagar. Check full list below:

K Palaniswami pitches for second term to Modi, says he alone is capable

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami has made a strong pitch for a second term for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, lauding him for the air strikes on terror camps in Pakistan and saying he was the "only qualified" leader to ensure the nation's security. Modi was an "efficient and strong leader", he said launching his campaign for the April 18 Lok Sabha elections in the state from Salem, his native district in west Tamil Nadu.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi to address press conference shortly

Congress President Rahul Gandhi will address a press conference shortly. The presser was earlier scheduled to take place in the morning, but was later deferred.

Dhinakaran releases final list of 14 AMMK candidates for LS polls in Tamil Nadu

The Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) headed by TTV Dhinakaran has announced its second and final list of 14 candidates for the April 18 Lok Sabha elections in Tamil Nadu. The list included three disqualified AIADMK MLAs owing allegiance to Dhinakaran, who floated the AMMK after being sidelined in the ruling party. The AMMK is contesting 38 of the 39 seats in the state and Dhinakaran had earlier announced candidates for 24 seats. It has alloted Chennai Central constituency to its ally Social Democratic Party of India.

Farooq Abdullah leads campaigning of alliance candidates in Jammu

National Conference president Farooq Abdullah led the campaigning of joint Congress-NC candidates and said the alliance was aimed to keep India secular and "save" it from divisive politics. 

Here is what Union Minister Nitin Gadkari has to say on contesting from Nagpur in upcoming Lok Sabha polls:

Last time, I had won by 3 lakh votes. In the last five years, I have done a lot of work, which is why people's faith has increased on me. This time around, I will win by 5 lakh votes. 

Andhra Pradesh Assembly Elections:  NaraLokesh, Andhra Pradesh IT Minister and son of CM N Chandrababu Naidu to file nomination shortly. He will contest from Mangalagiri constituency in Amaravati. 

Gautam Gambhir meets BJP President Amit Shah in Delhi, after joining the saffron party ahead of Lok Sabha elections. 

Watch an analysis of BJP's first list of candidates for Lok Sabha elections

Gautam Gambhir joins BJP 

Gautam Gambhir has joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in the presence of Union Ministers Arun Jaitley and Ravi Shankar Prasad. Gambhir said he was joining the party after getting influenced by PM Narendra Modi's vision. He said he was honoured to get the opportunity to join this platform. 

Adityanath to begin poll campaign from Saharanpur

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has announced that he will kick off his poll campaign for the coming Lok Sabha elections from Saharanpur on Sunday.  In a tweet, Adityanath said that with the "blessings of Ma Shakummbhari, I will be launching the campaign from Saharanpur, the land known for its wood work, to wipe out dynastic politics and take the victory chariot of the BJP further". In Saharanpur, he will also address a public rally after which he will fly to Mathura, where he will seek votes for actress-turned-politician Hema Malini, who has been fielded for a second term from the seat. 

Social media majors to bar election campaign in last 48 hrs before polling ends

No political campaign will be allowed to run on major social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp, in the last 48 hours before polling ends, according to a voluntary code of ethics prepared by such platforms. The platforms have submitted the code to the Election Commission.

Gautam Gambhir likely to join BJP today

Former Cricketer Gautam Gambhir is expected to join the Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) on Friday, ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. He is expected to contest on a seat from Delhi.

BJP comes out with first list of 184 candidates for upcoming Lok Sabha elections

On Thursday, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came out with its first list of 184 Lok Sabha candidates. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will contest the Lok Sabha election from Varanasi, the seat he represents in Parliament, and BJP president Amit Shah will fight from Gandhinagar in place of veteran leader L K Advani.  Voting for the Lok Sabha elections will begin on April 11 and continue for over a month till May 19 across seven phases. The results will be declared on on May 23.