Lok Sabha News

Congress in Telangana, Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) Mayor Vijaya Laxmi R Gadwal joined the party here on Saturday. Vijaya Laxmi joined Congress in the presence of Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, AICC incharge of party affairs in Telangana Deepa Dasmunsi and other leaders. Vijaya Laxmi joining Congress is expected to help the party in the GHMC limits in the Lok Sabha polls. The Congress did not win any of the 24 seats that fall under the limits of GHMC in the recent Assembly polls, though it won a majority. Vijaya Laxmi's father and BRS Rajya Sabha member K Keshav Rao, who had served as PCC president earlier, said on Friday that he would return to the Congress fold. Keshav Rao met the CM and state Congress chief Revanth Reddy on Friday. Noting that he worked in the grand old party for 55 years, the 85-year-old leader said he would do 'ghar vapsi' (returning to home). Asked if he is quitting BRS due to any differences with the regional party or his love for the Congress, he said it was affinity for the national party. Former BRS MLC Puranam Satish also joined the Congress today, Congress sources said. The BRS has witnessed an exodus of senior leaders in recent times.

Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday asserted that investigative agencies are free to chase those who contravene law irrespective of their political affiliation, rejecting any perception that the NDA government is seeking to coerce opposition parties into submission by setting the enforcement agencies after them. Speaking at the Times Now Summit, themed 'India Unstoppable', Sitharaman also said that she was given the option by BJP president JP Nadda to contest in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. However, she expressed inability on the grounds that «I don't have the kind of money» required to fight polls, among others. The minister is a Rajya Sabha member from Karnataka. «After thinking over a week or ten days, I just went back to say… maybe not. I do not have that kind of money to contest. I also have a problem whether it is Andhra Pradesh or Tamil Nadu. It's also going to be a question of various other winnability criteria that they use… Are you from this community or are you from that religion? Are you from this? I said no, I do not think I am going to be able to do it,» she said.

Bengal is suddenly under the state's election spotlight as an «embodiment of the BJP's fight against atrocities on women under Mamata Banerjee's TMC dispensation». Thirty-something Rekha Patra, a housewife from the troubled region of Sandeshkhali and an alleged torture victim in the hands of arrested TMC leader Shajahan Sheikh and his cohorts, walked protest rallies against her oppressors carrying her girl child on her waist alongside scores of other women agitators from the region when local agitation against TMC leaders recently blew up. Patra is now the BJP's Lok Sabha nominee from Basirhat, a TMC stronghold on the southern-most fringes of North 24 Parganas district, and is the sole candidate of her party so far to have received a personal telephone call from Prime Minister Narendra Modi who talked to her about her campaign preparations and was lauded by the leader as «Shakti Swarupa» (an embodiment of the essence of Shakti). She is also the party's surprise candidate through whom the BJP is trying to make its strongest political statement in Bengal: that it plans to steal the issue of women's safety from under the sails of Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress for the upcoming polls.

Patra campaign preparations, support among people for BJP and more. Meanwhile, Patra detailed the ordeals faced by women in Sandeshkhali, the report added. Rekha Patra will contest the Lok Sabha Elections 2024 on a BJP candidate from Basirhat in West Bengal.

Lok Sabha polls, dropping all its sitting MPs, including union minister Rajkumar Ranjan Singh, from these seats won by it in 2019. It has fielded Thounaojam Basanta Kumar Singh, a minister in Manipur government, from the Inner Manipur constituency in place of the Union minister.

Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Tuesday claimed that Varun Gandhi was denied a Lok Sabha ticket by the BJP because of his connection with the Gandhi family and extended an invitation to him to join the grand old party. Chowdhury described Varun as a «dabang neta (strong leader)» and said he is a learned man with a clean image. «He is a dabang neta and a very educated man. He has a clean image. Varun Gandhi has a connection with the Gandhi family. This is why the BJP denied him a ticket (for Lok Sabha polls). I think he should come (join the Congress), we will be very happy,» Chowdhury, the leader of the Congress party in the outgoing Lok Sabha, said. Varun and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi are cousins.

Kangana Ranaut and Arun Govil. Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan will vie for the Sambalpur seat, while the party's spokesperson, Sambit Patra, will make another attempt from Puri after narrowly missing out in 2019.

Mizoram, there is likely to be a multi cornered contest. Opposition Mizo National Front (MNF) has fielded Rajya Sabha member, K.

NDA government, K. Vanlalvena, Mizoram's lone Rajya Sabha member, on Saturday leveled a serious allegation against BJP leaders, claiming they are striving to transform India into a Hindu kingdom. Vanlalvena, who was named by the opposition Mizo National Front (MNF) as their nominee for the upcoming elections to the state's lone Lok Sabha seat, told reporters that the NDA is an alliance formed by various parties, not all of which share the ideologies of the BJP. «Some BJP leaders with vested interests are trying to turn the country into a Hindu kingdom. The NDA is likely to retain power at the Centre in the upcoming polls. If the NDA government takes steps, which are against the interest of the religious minorities, including Mizo Christians, I shall oppose it vociferously both within and outside Parliament,» the 54-year-old MNF leader said. However, Vanlalvena commended the NDA government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, for its contributions to economic development in the country.

BJP over its support to the Ajit Pawar-led party for the Lok Sabha elections in Lakshadweep. «This is BJP making a mockery and joke out of the Ajit Pawar group and shamelessly trying to show that they are magnanimous in their support. »They got only 125 votes in the last Lok Sabha elections in Lakshadweep and were a failure. BJP is showing what the Ajit Pawar group means to them," Clyde Crasto, national spokesperson NCP (SP), wrote on X. He was responding to BJP general secretary Vinod Tawde's statement that the saffron party would support the candidate of NCP (Ajit Pawar) in Lakshadweep. «Together NDA can and NDA will achieve victory,» Tawde had said on social media.

Trinamool Congress leader Derek O'Brien on Friday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of behaving like a «tin-pot dictator,» and said the BJP-led Centre was arresting opposition leaders in its desperation to secure win in the upcoming elections. «The Prime Minister is behaving like a tin-pot dictator, arresting opponents, election agents, transferring state government officials… Changing rules in desperation to win seats… Why?» said O'Brien, who is in Delhi for a meeting of opposition INDIA bloc leaders with the Chief Election Commissioner, a day after Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate. INDIA bloc parties are rallying behind Kejriwal, with the TMC making its first appearance with the opposition alliance partners since seat-sharing talks with Congress in West Bengal failed, and it announced going solo in the Lok Sabha polls. «The Director General of Police (DGP) West Bengal was changed thrice in 24 hours… Why wasn't the ED director changed?» the TMC Parliamentary Party leader in Rajya Sabha said.

Jitendra Chaudhury on Wednesday recognised as Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Tripura Assembly. The post of LoP has been lying vacant after incumbent, Tipra Motha Party (TMP) MLA Animesh Debbarma quit before becoming minister in Chief Minister Manik Saha-led BJP government on March 7. Speaker Biswabandhu Sen invited Chaudhury on Wednesday and discussed the LoP-related issues and then recognised him for the post.

Lok Sabha elections in Maharashtra, an increase of 34 lakh from 2019, according to a senior state Election Commission official. The Lok Sabha polls for the 48 seats in Maharashtra will be held on April 19, April 26, May 7, May 13 and May 20 and votes will be counted on June 4. According to Maharashtra Chief Electoral Officer S Chockalingam, there are 4,78,50,789 male and 4,41,74,722 female voters in the state as of March 15. The state has 5,559 transgender voters.

In the preceding parliamentary elections in 2019, voting spanned seven phases from April 11th to May 19th, culminating in the declaration of results for the 17th Lok Sabha members on May 23rd, 2019. Similarly, in 2014, the electoral process unfolded across multiple phases. Check all the updates about Lok Sabha election dates and result here

Lok Sabha Election 2024 Phase 1 date: The Election Commission of India (ECI) today announced the voting and result schedule for the Lok Sabha elections 2024. The EC announced that the voting for the 18th Lok Sabha will commence on April 19th. As per the EC announcement, the result of the Lok Sabha elections will be announced on the result will be announced on June 4. As many as 21 states will be covered in the first phase. In the 2019 parliamentary elections, voting occurred over seven phases spanning from April 11 to May 19, concluding with the announcement of results for the 17th Lok Sabha members on May 23, 2019. While in 2014, Check all the updates about Lok Sabha election dates and result here

Kavitha, daughter of former chief minister and BRS supremo K Chandrasekhar Rao, a day before the Election Commission is set to announce the schedule for the Lok Sabha elections, may have some psychological impact on party workers. Former minister T Harish Rao said at a press conference that the party will hold protests in the headquarters of all the assembly constituencies tomorrow. The Enforcement Directorate arrested BRS leader K Kavitha today in Hyderabad in connection with a money laundering probe linked to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam.

Narendra Modi. However, there has been no official confirmation of the same. The Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, who attended the meeting to pick new election commissioners alleged that the process was “rigged".

Narendra Modi and 34 Union Ministers featured in the first list. However, at least 33 members of parliament (MPs) were dropped. Prominent names in the second list include nine Union Ministers, including Nitin Gadkari, Piyush Goyal, Anurag Thakur and Prahlad Joshi.

Kriti Singh Debbarma as the party candidate for Tripura East (ST) Lok Sabha seat. The BJP earlier nominated former Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb, who is currently the Rajya Sabha member, for the West Tripura Lok Sabha seat. The Central Election Committee (CEC) of BJP on Wednesday declared its second list of 72 candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections and Debbarma, a former royal scion of Tripura and a social activist, is also one of the nominees. Debbarma is the elder sister of Tipra Motha Party (TMP) supremo and former royal scion Pradyot Bikram Manikya Deb Barman.

Piyush Goyal is all set to take the plunge in the rough and tumble of electoral politics as the BJP's candidate from Mumbai North in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. A three-term Rajya Sabha member, Goyal (59) has been in the thick of politics since his teenage years when he campaigned for his mother, late Chandrakanta Goyal, for the Maharashtra Assembly election. Ved Prakash Goyal, Piyush Goyal's father, was an old-time RSS worker who worked closely with Sangh stalwarts Balasaheb Deoras, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L K Advani. The Goyal home at Sion in central Mumbai was a beehive of political activity, with veteran leaders opting for it as a residence of choice when visiting the metropolis. Piyush Goyal, known largely by his pet name «Happy», had the task of escorting leaders around Mumbai. The formal alliance of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Shiv Sena was also struck at the Goyal residence after a meeting between Sena supremo Balasaheb Thackeray and Vajpayee in 1984.

simultaneous polls headed by former president Ram Nath Kovind is likely to submit its report on 'one nation, one election' on Thursday, it is learnt. Though there was no official word yet, sources said the report could be submitted to President Droupadi Murmu. The panel may recommend amending at last five articles of the Constitution to enable holding of simultaneous polls in the country. The proposed report would also focus on having a singular electoral roll for holding Lok Sabha, state assembly and local body polls.