Ahead of Lok Sabha elections, Jammu and Kashmir BJP general secretary Ashok Koul on Tuesday launched a special micro-donation campaign for the party here and said the BJP is set to create record by registering victory by getting 76 per cent votes.

Koul launched the special micro donation campaign for the BJP in a function held at Jammu-Reasi parliamentary constituency election office in Bakshi Nagar here.

"The BJP had won this Lok Sabha seat by securing 56 per cent votes last time and now the party is set to create record by registering victory by getting 76 per cent votes", he said Koul, while speaking about the campaign, said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is launching a micro donation campaign to accept donations from its activists, supporters and members from across Jammu and Kashmir, like other parts of the country.

"Anyone can donate rupees five, ten, twenty, fifty, hundred, five hundred, one thousand and two thousand by cashless transaction through Namo App", he said.

Koul said the BJP has lakhs of members, besides other lakhs as workers and supporters and all of them need to be encouraged to donate for the party.

He asked the party activists to gear up for the task and reach the nook and corner of the UT to encourage people for micro donations.

The Arunachal Pradesh unit of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has declared the names of eight candidates for the upcoming assembly elections.

The first list of candidates was declared by the party during a mass joining programme here on Monday include former MLA Likha Saaya, former minister Tapang Taloh, Loma Gollo, Nyasam Jongsam, Ngolin Boi, Aju Chije, Mongol Yomso and Salman Mongrey.

Saaya, who is also the state unit NCP president will contest from Yachuli assembly constituency while Tapang Taloh will fight from Pangin-Boleng.

Aju Chije will contest from Mechukha assembly seat, Loma Gollo from Pakke Kessang, Nyasam Jongsam from Changlang North, Ngolin Boi from Namsang, Mongol Yomso from Mariyang-Geku and Salman Mongrey from Changlang South. 

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will on Wednesday lead a roadshow in Siliguri against the implementation of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2019. Banerjee, who has been vocal against its implementation, on Tuesday claimed that the rules notified were "unconstitutional and discriminatory".

"TMC will hold a roadshow against CAA-NRC in Siliguri. Our chairperson Mamata Banerjee will lead the roadshow," the party said in a statement.

The Congress on Tuesday announced its second list of 43 candidates for the Lok Sabha polls, fielding Kamal Nath's son Nakul Nath once again from Madhya Pradesh's Chhindwara and Ashok Gehlot's son Vaibhav from Rajasthan's Jalore.

The party's deputy leader in the Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi has been fielded from Assam's Jorhat and Pradyut Bordoloi from Nagaon.

Rahul Kaswan, who switched over from the BJP a few days ago, has been fielded from Churu in Rajasthan.

The second list came a day after the Congress' central election committee, chaired by party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, met at the party headquarters here to finalise the candidates.

In the meeting, discussions were held for more than 60 seats in the states of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh and Assam and the Union Territory of Daman and Diu.

The seats announced on Tuesday include 13 from Assam, 10 from Madhya Pradesh, 10 from Rajasthan, seven from Gujarat and three from Uttarakhand, besides one from Daman and Diu, AICC general secretary K C Venugopal said at a press conference.

Congress leaders Ajay Maken and Pawan Khera were also at the briefing.

Bhind- Phool Singh Baraiya

Tikamgarh- Pankaj Ahirwar

Satna-Siddharth Kushwaha

Direct – Kamleshwar Patel

Mandala - Omkar Singh Markam

Chhindwara - Nakulnath

Dewas - Rajendra Malviya

Edge - Radheshyam Muvel

Khargone - Porlal Kharte

Betul - Ramu Tekam

Congress on Tuesday Released Second List of 43 Candidates for 2024 Lok Sabha Polls, Nakul Nath to Fight From Chhindwara. Speaking on it, Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal said, “Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi to contest from Jorhat, Nakul Nath to contest from Chhindwara, Rahul Kaswa to contest from Churu and Vaibhav Gehlot to contest from Jalore.”

 Political parties here on Tuesday urged the Election Commission to hold assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir simultaneously with the Lok Sabha polls as the panel started two-day consultations with stakeholders to review preparedness for the upcoming general elections.

The BJP too has expressed its readiness for simultaneous polls to the Lok Sabha and the Jammu and Kashmir assembly.

Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar and other officials of the poll panel, who arrived here on Monday for a three-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir, held interactions with delegations from the National Conference (NC), PDP, BJP, CPI(M), Congress, and the Aam Admi Party, officials said here.

National Conference leader Nasir Aslam Wani, who led his party's delegation, said they impressed upon the Election Commission the need for holding assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir together with the Lok Sabha polls.

The second late-night meeting on Monday, the Central Election Committee (CEC) of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) concluded at the party headquarters in Delhi by finalising the names of the candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

As per media reports citing sources, almost 90 names were approved across seven states.

The BJP's Central Election Committee on Monday held its second meeting to decide on the candidates for the Lok Sabha elections as its senior leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, went through the list of probables for several states to make final choices.

The states, which came up for discussion, included Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana, and Himachal Pradesh, sources said.

Ahead of the meeting, Haryana Deputy Chief Minister and Jannayak Janta Party leader Dushyant Chautala held talks with BJP president J P Nadda for distribution of seats among the two allies in the state.

Though a section of Haryana BJP leaders has been opposed to the alliance, the party seems to be weighing its options. The BJP had won all 10 Lok Sabha seats in the state in the previous elections in 2019. The JJP had allied with the party after the assembly polls.

In the meeting today, entire CEC congratulated PM Modi for the implementation of CAA.

A day after getting tickets for contesting the Lok Sabha polls, several TMC candidates on Monday expressed their happiness and gratitude for the faith and confidence shown in them by party chairperson Mamata Banerjee.

TMC MP aspirant from Jadavpur Lok Sabha seat in Kolkata, Saayoni Ghosh, joined party activists in writing graffitis in the Baghajatin area here and offered prayers at a local temple.

Starting her day with interactions with locals, she attended an election preparation meeting at Baruipur, an assembly segment under Jadavpur parliamentary seat.

Expressing her gratitude to Mamata Banerjee and the party's national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, Ghosh pledged to live up to the expectations of the party leadership and the people.

The BJP's Central Election Committee on Monday held its second meeting to decide on the party's candidates for the Lok Sabha elections as its senior leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, went through the list of probables for several states to make final choices.

The states, which were tipped to come up for discission, included Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Haryana.

Ahead of the meeting, Haryana Deputy Chief Minister and Jannayak Janta Party leader Dushyant Chautala held talks with BJP president J P Nadda for distribution of seats among the two allies in the state.

Though a section of Haryana BJP leaders has been opposed to the alliance, the party seems to be weighing its options. The BJP had won all 10 Lok Sabha seats in the state in the previous elections in 2019. The JJP had allied with the party after the assembly polls.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah arrives for the BJP CEC meeting at the party headquarters, in Delhi.

The rules for implementation of the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) 2019 were notified on Monday, paving the way for granting citizenship to undocumented non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, according to officials.

With the CAA rules being issued, the Modi government will now start granting Indian nationality to persecuted non-Muslim migrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan who came to India till December 31, 2014. These include Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis and Christians.

The CAA was passed in December 2019 and subsequently got the president's assent but there were protests in several parts of the country against it. Over a hundred people lost their lives during the anti-CAA protests or police action.

BJP CEC meet is likely to held on Monday. The meeting is to focus on NDA in Maharashtra, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Haryana and Bihar 

Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections 2024, the new election commissioner are likely to be appointed on March 14, said sourrces. 

Meeting of TDP, BJP and JanaSena Party to discuss seat sharing for the upcoming Andhra Pradesh Assembly Elections and Lok Sabha 2024 elections is underway. The rally of PM Narendra Modi, scheduled to be held in Andhra Pradesh on 17th March, to also be discussed.

 Churu MP Rahul Kaswan on Monday resigned from the BJP and joined the Congress. He also resigned as a member of the Lok Sabha. He was denied ticket by the BJP for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. He joined Congress today in presence of Mallikarjun Kharge. 

 Election Commission (EC) on Monday organised here a meeting for the observers it will be deploying for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. The day-long briefing for the over 1,800 observers is being addressed by EC officials on different subjects.

 PM Modi is scheduled to visit Kerala's Palakkad on March 15 to campaign for the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) candidates for the Lok Sabha polls, party sources said here on Monday.

Following this, on March 17, Modi will undertake another visit to Pathanamthitta to rally support for Anil K Antony, the BJP candidate and son of Congress stalwart A K Antony, sources said.

Former Congress legislators Arunoday Choubey and Shivdayal Bagri joined the BJP in the presence of Chief Minister Mohan Yadav and MP party president VD Sharma at the state BJP headquarters in Bhopal.

Choubey was elected as MLA from Khurai seat in Sagar district in 2008, while Bagri represented Gunnaur assembly seat in Panna district in 2018.

For th upcoming Lok Sabha elections, Congress State Election Committee of UP has sent a proposal to the central leadership recommending that members of the Gandhi family should contest the elections from Amethi and Rae Bareli. 

On speculations of former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath contesting from Jabalpur, Kamal Nath said, "I have no such plan to contest from Jabalpur. I won't leave Chhindwara in any condition."

After the 10 NDA candidates filed nomination for the upcoming MLC polls, Uttar Pradesh Minister Om Prakash Rajbhar said, “All the people who are allies of NDA got one seat each. In that, we also got a seat. The district president of our party has been made a candidate by the party. He has been considered worthy, he has worked hard, strengthened the organization in the state, and the party has made him the candidate.” 

Former Bihar CM and RJD leader Rabri Devi filed her nomination for the MLC elections on Monday. Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) president and her husband Lalu Prasad Yadav accompanied her. They showed victory sign.

Slamming the Congress party on Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that whenever he spoke for the women of the country, parties like Congress made fun of me. PM Modi was speaking at the Sashakt Nari-Viksit Bharat Event in Delhi on Monday. 

“Whenever I have spoken about the empowerment of women, parties like Congress made fun of me and insulted me. Modi's schemes are the result of on-ground experiences,” said the Prime Minister. 

10 NDA MLC candidates filed nominations for the Uttar Pradesh MLC polls in the presence of Uttar Pradesh Cheif Minister Yogi Adityanath, state Deputy CM Brijesh Pathak, Uttar Pradesh BJP President Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary, Uttar Pradesh Minister Om Prakash Rajbhar and several other leaders. Among the 10 candidates who filed nominations, seven are from the BJP and three others are from the alliance.

As the Lok Sabha elections are approaching , the Communist Party of India (Marxist)  held a meeting to discuss the strategy for the elections. CPI(M) politburo met at party office in Delhi on Monday. 

Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan, Prakash Karat, Brinda Karat and Sitaram Yechury arrived at the party headquarters in Delhi for the meeting on Lok Sabha elections

As the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress released the list of candidates for the 42 Lok Sabha seats of West Bengal, another member of the Opposition's INDI alliance, CPI (M) leader Sitaram Yechury said, “Trinamool Congress has clearly said that it will fight the elections alone. INDIA parties have to decide how they will contest now.” 

Union Minister Nityanand Rai spoke on the ongoing tussle within the INDI alliance, saying that it is an alliance of corrupt leaders. “INDI alliance is an alliance of corrupt people, scammers and those who usurp the rights of the poor. It believes in nepotism and appeasement policy. There is so much struggle for power, which has no policy. They do not care about people and their development. Where there is selfishness, there will be conflict,” said Rai. 

The Congress party will hold the meeting of Central Election Committee (CEC) at the All India Congress Committee (AICC) headquarters in Delhi today evening. The Congress party is likely to release the second list after the meeting. 

Ahead of the crucial Lok Sabha Elections, the BJP Central Election Committee (CEC) will hold their second meeting on Monday, March 11, to discuss anmes of Lok Sabha candidates. According to sources, names of 17 candidates out of the 28 Karnataka seats are likely to be declared in BJP's next list. 

Lok Sabha Elections 2024: “We never had a common manifesto. We have 'Panch Nyay' agenda and this is not only Congress' agenda but the agenda of whole INDIA alliance,” said Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh.