Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Congress to release manifesto on April 5, hold mega rallies in Hyderabad, Jaipur

Former diplomat and BJP candidate from Amritsar Lok Sabha seat Taranjit Singh Sandhu on Monday said his campaign will focus on raising exports of goods like shawls, 'phulkari', and vegetables from Amritsar to increase income of people. Sandhu, who recently joined the saffron party, also stressed on enhancing skills of the youth, asserting that education should be skill oriented rather than being degree oriented. 

Congress announces its candidates from Akola in Maharashtra and Warangal in Telangana.

National Conference announced the name of its first candidate for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Senior party leader Mian Altaf Ahmad will be the party's candidate from Anantnag. This constituency will go to polls on May 7. “Senior party leader Mian Altaf Ahmed Larvi has been nominated as the National Conference candidate for the South Kashmir Pir Panjal parliamentary seat. Omar Abdullah, in the presence of Mian Altaf Ahmed, announced his candidature on behalf of party president Farooq Abdullah,” NC spokesperson Tanvir Sadiq said in Srinagar.

The BJP urged the Election Commission to order lodging of an FIR against TMC leader Piyush Panda and ban him from campaigning, alleging that he hurled a casteist slur against Prime Minister Narendra Modi during an election rally in West Bengal. A BJP delegation comprising Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri and party’s national general secretary Arun Kumar visited the EC here and also lodged a complaint against TMC’s social media in-charge Debganshu Bhattacharya accusing him of posting on ‘X’ personal details of Rekha Patra, the BJP candidate from Basirhat Lok Sabha seat in West Bengal.

Former Himachal Pradesh and BJP leader Jairam Thakur said that the state unit has decided to campaign for Kangana Ranaut with full power. "After becoming a candidate from Mandi constituency, Kangana Ranaut had a conversation with our workers and other members for the first time today. We have all decided to campaign with full power for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections and will ensure victory. We will make sure that Narendra Modi becomes the Prime Minister of the country for the third time..." Thakur added. 

JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy said he along with his party colleagues will apprise Union Home Minister Amit Shah and share feedback on poll situation in various constituencies across Karnataka ahead of Lok Sabha polls, at Tuesday's breakfast meeting with him and state BJP state leaders. The joint breakfast meeting is being seen as a move by the BJP to plug any trust gaps with its alliance partner -- the JD(S). As per the seat-sharing deal for the Lok Sabha polls, the BJP will contest in 25 constituencies and the JD(S) in the remaining three in the State.

The Election Commission of India has censured Congress leader Supriya Shrinate for derogatory remarks against women. Reacting to it, BJP candidate from Mandi, Kangana Ranaut said, "I have already said a lot about this matter. Our former CM (Jairam Thakur) has also spoken about this. We are hurt. Voters of Mandi will give a reply to the same, we don't need to answer this again and again."

BJP candidate from Mandi, Kangana Ranaut has reacted to Rahul Gandhi's 'murder of democracy' statements.  "If democracy is being murdered, what are we preparing for? Impressing people, requesting them for support, their trust & support for you, and their alignment with you - are all of these the murder of democracy? This is not the murder of democracy but democracy itself. Maybe he doesn't know the definition of democracy," she stated. 

Odisha's Kendrapara MP Anubhav Mohanty, who resigned from BJD recently, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today. Cine star and sitting Kendrapara MP Mohanty tendered his resignation from the BJD on March 30. Mohanty said he was 'feeling suffocated' in the party for over four years.

Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee President Y S Sharmila on Monday said five Lok Sabha and 114 Assembly candidates have been confirmed for the ensuing polls in the state. Sharmila, who is attending the Congress central election committee meeting at AICC office in New Delhi said these candidates were finalised in the meeting today. "The names of remaining candidates will be confirmed soon. The first list of candidates could be released tomorrow," said Sharmila in a press release.

The first meeting of BJP manifesto committee chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh was held at BJP headquarters on Monday. The meeting lasted for about two and a half hours.

An iftar party - a meal held every day during Ramadan after sunset - on a busy road in Karnataka's Mangalore on Friday drew action from the Election Commission. According to the media reports, the poll body served a notice to the organisers for holding the iftar party on a busy road.

BJP leader Nalin Kohli slammed Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal over his judicial custody in the excise policy case, saying he is not coming out with the truth.

"He is the CM of Delhi. His two ministers function under his instructions. Those ministers are in jail. He doesn’t know what has happened with regard to the liquor scam. Either this means that his ministers were running a riot without any direction from him or he is scared to tell the truth,” the BJP leader added.

Samajwadi Party leader and former UP cabinet minister Ujjwal Raman Singh will join Congress tomorrow. Ujjwal Raman Singh will leave Samajwadi Party and join Congress. Ujjwal Raman is the son of senior Samajwadi Party leader Kunwar Revati Raman Singh. He will contest Lok Sabha elections from Allahabad seat on Congress ticket. Congress party has decided the name of Ujjwal Raman Singh for Allahabad seat. Congress party will also formally announce the candidature of Ujjwal Raman after taking membership tomorrow.

South Chennai BJP candidate Tamilisai Soundararajan held a roadshow in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.

BJP's manifesto committee meeting under the chairmanship of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is underway at the BJP headquarters in Delhi.

 Rashtriya Lok Dal leader Shahid Siddiqui resigned from the primary membership of the party. The development comes a day after RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary shared the stage with PM Modi in the Meerut rally.

The Jharkhand unit of the Communist Party of India (CPI) announced the names of candidates for four Lok Sabha constituencies in the state. CPI Jharkhand secretary said Abhay Bhuiyan was nominated from Palamu Lok Sabha seat, Mahendra Oraon from Lohardaga, Arjun Kumar from Chatra and Rajesh Kumar Kisku from Dumka Lok Sabha seat. Pathak said, "The names of the candidates were announced during a meeting on Sunday. " He said that the party would contest eight Lok Sabha seats out of 14 Lok Sabha constituencies in Jharkhand. Pathak said that the party would soon announce candidates for four more seats - Hazaribag, Koderma, Ranchi, Godda or Jamshedpur.

The Congress on Monday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his remarks on the electoral bonds issue, claiming that while the corruption of his government had been known for a while, the setback is that there are now "hard numbers to prove it". Prime Minister Modi on Sunday rejected the suggestion that the electoral bond issue caused a setback to his government, saying no system is perfect and any shortcoming could be improved upon.

"The government of India headed by Indira Gandhi signed an agreement called the Indira Gandhi-Sirimavo Bandaranaike agreement in that time to save 6 lakh Tamils and to save them this island was given to the Srilankan govt," Congress leader Manickam Tagore said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi once again raked up the Katchatheevu issue on Monday.

"Rhetoric aside, DMK has done NOTHING to safeguard Tamil Nadu’s interests. New details emerging on #Katchatheevu have UNMASKED the DMK’s double standards totally. Congress and DMK are family units. They only care that their own sons and daughters rise. They don’t care for anyone else. Their callousness on Katchatheevu has harmed the interests of our poor fishermen and fisherwomen in particular," he posted on X.

Union Minister and Udhampur constituency BJP candidate Dr Jitendra Singh held a poll rally in Kathua on Sunday. "We are not competing with anyone. There is no one in our opposition. But it is people's enthusiasm that such a crowd gathers for PM Narendra Modi and the development... Every developmental work is done after 2014," he added.

Members of the BJP core committee in Maharashtra on Sunday held a meeting with in-charges of clusters to take stock of all 48 constituencies in the run-up to Lok Sabha elections. During the two-hour meeting, instructions were given to focus on all the 48 constituencies and win them. The cluster chiefs were asked to prepare for elections thinking as if PM Modi is the candidate, a party leader said. Notably, the BJP-led NDA has set the target of winning more than 45 seats in the state.

Popular Odia filmstar and former BJD MLA Akash Das Nayak joined BJP in the presence of Odisha BJP state president Manmohan Samal, at the party headquarters in Bhubaneswar.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday exuded confidence that the BJP will win all the 25 Lok Sabha seats in Rajasthan and the margin of victory will be much more than the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections. He also said Prime Minister Narendra Modi is taking the country towards all-inclusive development. While speaking at a meeting with the representatives of various social organisations at a hotel here, Shah said the entire opposition is uniting to remove Prime Minister Modi, while on the other hand, PM Modi has only one slogan -- "development of the nation".

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav has sought an apology from sitting MP and Congress nominee from Chhindwara Nakul Nath for his comment on Amarwara MLA Kamlesh Shah, who recently joined the BJP. Addressing a rally in the Chhindwara constituency on Saturday, Nath had termed Shah a “gaddar” (traitor). Reacting to Nath's statement, CM Yadav said that unfortunately, the Congress leaders are pushing their sons to become leaders.

The Congress has announced that it will release its manifesto on April 5 and took a swipe at the BJP over it setting up a manifesto committee at the "last moment". The BJP on Saturday announced a 27-member committee, which included several Union ministers and chief ministers, headed by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to prepare its manifesto for the Lok Sabha polls.