Lok Sabha Elections 2024 | EC Bans KCR From Campaigning for 48 Hours Over ‘Derogatory’ Remarks

The BJP has submitted a petition to the Odisha Chief Electoral Officer seeking action against BJD leader Pradip Majhi for allegedly spreading lies and exhibiting a doctored video of Union Minister Amit Shah's speech on reservation issue.

A delegation of state BJP led by spokesperson Dilip Mallick submitted a petition to the CEO in this regard, alleging that BJD's Nabarangpur Lok Sabha seat candidate Pradeep Majhi at an election rally said that the "BJP will end reservation if it returns to power." "To get tribal votes, the Congress prepared the fake video and the BJD has resorted to spreading lies," he said.

Such a statement by the BJD leader is not only a violation of the model code of conduct (MCC) but also a move to provoke the tribals for violence in the state, the BJP leader claimed.

The BJP delegation demanded the arrest of Majhi and requested the EC to bring BJD leader VK Pandian, who was present at the election rally, into the purview of their investigation.

Taking a swipe at Congress MP Rahul Gandhi over his remarks that the BJP wants to change the Constitution, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav on Wednesday said it was the grand old party which has amended the statute book "more than 100 times".

"You (Rahul Gandhi) are speaking lies believing the public is fool. You yesterday said the BJP will change the Constitution. If someone has changed the Constitution, it was the first prime minister of Congress who did this in 1950. This shows the character of the Congress," said the BJP leader.

The MP Chief Minister said Nehru amended the Constitution 17 times, his successor Lal Bahadur Shastri three times, Indira Gandhi 29 times and Rajiv Gandhi ten times. "Those who amended the Constitution a hundred times are accusing others (of attempting to change the document)," he noted.

The Election Commission of India has banned former Telangana Chief Minister and BRS chief K Chandrashekar Rao from campaigning for 48 hours, starting 8 pm today, for making "derogatory and objectionable statements" against Congress in Sircilla, reports ANI.

Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya today hit back at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi saying that "no one can end reservation till (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi is here". Maurya, in an attack on the Gandhi family, alleged that they tried to abolish reservation during their regimes but failed. "Reservation could not be ended by his (Rahul Gandhi's) father (former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi), his grandmother (former prime minister Indira Gandhi) and her father (former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru)...Till Narendra Modi is here no one can end it," news agency PTI quoted the BJP leader as saying.

He emphasised that the BJP follows the teachings of Dr BR Ambedkar, one of the main architects of the Indian Constitution, and abides by the Constitution.

Maurya, who was with BJP MP Vinod Sonkar as he filed his nomination from the Kaushambi Lok Sabha seat, said he is confident that the BJP will win all 80 seats in the state in the election.

On Gujarat Foundation Day, let us take a pledge to make the state developed and help in realising goal of ‘Viksit Bharat’, says PM Modi in Gujarat.

"It is very special to be amongst the sisters and brothers of Banaskantha…the region has significantly transformed under the BJP and is strongly supporting our Party", Prime Minister Narendra Modi says while addressing a rally in Gujarat.
 

The Congress questioning the Election Commission for not releasing cumulative voter turnout figure reflects frustration and panic in the opposition as the NDA is set to win over 400 seats in the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP said on Wednesday.

While the Congress had on Tuesday taken a swipe at EC for the delay in releasing the figures, the poll watchdog later in the evening put out the overall figures for the two phases for which polls have been held so far.

BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia said the opposition's INDIA bloc is infected by a virus and the "vaccine" for it is the country's citizens, whose verdict on June 4 will silence its leaders.

They will be seen nowhere, he said, claiming that people will reaffirm their trust in Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

BJP candidate Ranjit Singh Chautala, Congress's Kumari Selja and INLD's Abhay Singh Chautala were among the candidates who filed their nomination papers today for the May 25 Lok Sabha polls.

Ranjit Chautala, who joined the BJP last month, is contesting from Hisar. Congress general secretary and former Union minister Selja is contesting from the Sirsa (reserve) seat while Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) leader Abhay Chautala has entered the fray from the Kurukshetra seat.

BJP's Banto Kataria and Congress party's Satpal Brahmachari were among other candidates who filed their nominations from Ambala (reserve) and Sonipat seats, respectively.

TMC leader Kunal Ghosh today shared the stage with BJP's Kolkata North candidate Tapas Ray, and called him a "true mass leader". "Tapas Ray is a true mass leader. His doors are always open for party workers and people. I have known him for several decades. Unfortunately, our paths are now different as Tapas-da despite our best efforts to retain him was unsuccessful," news agency PTI quoted Ghosh as saying.

"I am hopeful that the elections would be free and fair, and no unscrupulous means would be used to retain the seat. Let the people cast their votes freely," he reportedly said further.

Ray, a four-term TMC MLA, joined the BJP in March after the party re-nominated its incumbent MP Sudip Bandopadhyay in the Kolkata North seat. The BJP then fielded Ray against Bandopadhyay. Incidentally, Ghosh, who is the TMC's state general secretary, gave Bandopadhyay a miss at the blood donation programme where Ray was also present.

BJP MP and party's candidate from Sultanpur Lok Sabha constituency Maneka Gandhi filed her nomination papers on Wednesday. Sultanpur will go to polls on 25th May in the 6th phase of Lok Sabha elections. 

Responding on the resignation of 2 former Congress leaders, BJP leader Rohan Gupta said, "You cannot suppress the views of workers. When I also resigned from the party, my main issue was that after forming an alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party, the Congress Party hurt the sentiments of their workers. In Punjab, you don't form an alliance with them but you form an alliance with them in Delhi, Gujarat..."

Former Congress MLAs Neeraj Basoya and Nasseb Singh resigned from Congress earlier today. 

"This was a courtesy meeting. The kind of dictatorship going on in the country, anyone can be put in jail. I met her (Sunita Kejriwal) and said that we are together in this fight against dictatorship...We are not fighting elections on 4 seats but on 543 seats. Even in Delhi, we as INDI alliance are contesting elections on 7 seats. We are fighting for the people of Delhi and not for a party or a candidate..." said Congress' North East Delhi Lok Sabha candidate Kanhaiya Kumar after meeting wife of Arvind Kejriwal, Sunita Kejriwal on Wednesday. 

Chhattisgarh | While addressing a public meeting in Korba, Union Home Minister Amit Shah says, "In Bhupesh Baghel govt, naxalism was encouraged. When our govt under Vishnu Deo Sai was formed, in just 4 months 95 were killed, 350 arrested and many surrendered. I want to say, that PM Modi has abolished naxalism from Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh..in five years, Chhattisgarh was left, as here, it was Bhupesh Baghel's govt, but I want to say, make PM Modi the PM for the third term and we will abolish naxalism from its root in 2 years."

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra held a poll rally at Assam's Dhubri where she attacked the BJP-led NDA. 

“They are not thinking about people. The unemployment is highest in 45 years. 70 crore are unemployed. 30 lakh vacancies are there in central government. You want good future for your children but you are struggling to make ends meet. The woes are unending. Price rise is there. Flood comes, there is no timely compensation,” said Priyanka. 

Congress' North east Delhi candidate Kanhaiya Kumar on Wednesday met Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal's wife Sunita Kejriwal at the CM's residence. 

Former Bihar deputy CM and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav on Wednesday said, "PM Modi lacks information. He honoured Karpoori Thakur with Bharat Ratna, but PM Modi is opposing his views. When Karpoori Thakur became the Chief Minister for the first time, all the socially backward castes, irrespective of their religion, got reservation for the first time. Is it right to call Karpoori Thakur's decision wrong?..."

BJP candidate from East Delhi Lok Sabha seat Harsh Malhotra filed his nomination papers on Wednesday. He filed his nomination in the presence of Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami.

PDP workers staged protest against the Election Commission of India in Srinagar over the decision to postpone the polling in Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha seat to May 25. 

Anupamaa fame TV actress Rupali Ganguly joined the BJP in Delhi on Wednesday. After joining the BJP, she said, “When I see this 'Mahayagya' of development, I feel that I should also take part in this...I need your blessings and support so that whatever I do, I do it right and good.” 

"It was an attempt to insult the tradition of India by insulting the civilization and culture of India and this was the Congress's policy of appeasement. The Congress leadership has become a puppet of such elements and by insulting the Sanatana and culture of India, they became a puppet in the hands of those people who were responsible for the partition of the country and who have always cursed India and Indianness," said Uttar Pradesh chief minister and BJP leader Yogi Adityanath. 

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held a roadshow in support of BJP Lok Sabha candidate from North East Delhi Manoj Tiwari, in Delhi, on Wednesday. He said, "I can say this with guarantee that Manoj Tiwari has always advocated for the issues of the people of Delhi...At the time of independence, Mahatma Gandhi said that Congress should be dissolved but the Congress did not listen to him, so I think that now the public has thought and decided that whatever Mahatma Gandhi had said should be fulfilled... Now we will have to dissolve this Congress, I think the people will also agree to dissolve the Congress." 

"I will file the nomination today then we will hold a meeting. After that we will continue with campaigning," said BJP candidate from Uttar Pradesh's Sultanpur Lok Sabha seat Maneka Gandhi. 

Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami participated in the nomination rally organised in favour of BJP candidate from East Delhi Harsh Malhotra on Wednesday. 

As Delhi schools face bomb threats, AAP leader and Delhi minister said, "It is coincidental that yesterday, a spokesperson of BJP tweeted that 'do not touch unattended articles. It can be a bomb. Vote for Congress to see such advertisements on TV.' Today, several Delhi schools have received a mail warning of bombs. Although these are obviously hoax emails, this is a weird coincidence and investigation should be done." 

Maharashtra CM and Shiv Sena Chief Eknath Shinde announced candidates for Thane and Kalyan Lok-Sabha Constituency- Shrikant Shinde From Kalyan and Naresh Mhaske From Thane.

"BJP will win all 7 seats of Delhi and AAP-Congress will be wiped off..." said Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva as he campaigned for the party in the national capital. 

Congress' North East Delhi candidate Kanhaiya Kumar is likely to meet Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal's wife Sunita Kejriwal at the CM's residence today, reported newsagency PTI. 

Union Minister Anurag Thakur offered prayers at the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Temple in Ayodhya on Wednesday. 

Former Congress MLAs Neeraj Basoya and Nasseb Singh resigned from the primary membership of the party. 

On being released from Bareilly Central Jail, former MP Dhananjay Singh expressed hope that his wife wins this Lok Sabha elections. "I thank you all for the co-operation. I have been granted bail. A fake case was filed against me. My wife is contesting the election as Bahujan Samaj Party, I will proceed to my constituency from here. I wish she wins the election," said Dhananjay Singh.

The Allahabad High Court had granted him bail in a 2020 kidnapping and extortion case. 

YSRCP North Assembly Constituency candidate, KK Raju, slammed Chandrababu Naidu over the poll manifesto. “N Chandrababu Naidu never stands by his words or the manifesto. He promised TIDCO houses and collected money from the people, later he cheated. People won’t believe his manifesto. He is a liar. After getting power, he won’t take care of the people,” said Raju. 

Representatives of 18 political parties from 10 countries, including Australia, Israel, Russia, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Tanzania, arriving in India on the BJP's invitation to get a first-hand experience and insights into the ruling party's election campaign. Their representatives will meet BJP president J P Nadda today.

Mandsaur's district administration organised a 'sky lantern' programme to create awareness among voters. Madhya Pradesh's Mandsaur will go to polls on May 13.

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will be holding a public meeting in Assam's Dhubri, which is currently held by All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) chief Badruddin Ajmal on Wednesday.