Himachal Pradesh has seen a rise of over 7 per cent in the number of voters from 2019, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Maneesh Garg said on Saturday while publishing the final electoral roll for the Lok Sabha elections. The number of voters for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls stands at 57,11,969, a 7.16 per cent increase from 53,30,154 registered during the 2019 elections.

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In a demonstration of collective leadership in Odisha, the opposition BJP on Saturday held roadshows in coastal Balasore and Kendrapara Lok Sabha seats, attended by the state’s top five leaders. The BJP's Odisha president Manmohan Samal, party’s national vice-president Baijayant Panda, Bhubaneswar MP Aparajita Sarangi and Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan flew to Balasore from Bhubaneswar and joined Balasore MP and party candidate Pratap Sarangi.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said the opposition INDIA bloc can go to any extent in pursuing its "vote bank" politics, claiming that the then Congress government during the 2014 elections had handed over 123 properties spread across prime locations in Delhi to the Waqf Board for votes.

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The Mumbai police will press into service nearly 30,000 cops to ensure smooth voting during the Lok Sabha elections in the city, officials said on Saturday. The six constituencies in Mumbai and seven others in Maharashtra will go to polls in the fifth phase of general elections on May 20. According to a police official, 2,752 officers and 27,460 cops, including personnel from three units of the riot control police, will be on bandobast duty on election day in the metropolis, where polling will be held between 7 am and 6 pm. The official said that five officers in the rank of Additional Commissioner of Police, 25 Deputy Commissioners of Police (DCP) and 77 Assistant Commissioners of Police (ACP) will be leading various teams during the bandobast. About 5,000 policemen, 6,200 home guards and 36 units of Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) will also brought from outside for the voting day, he said. Mumbai Police Commissioner Vivek Phansalkar has appealed to citizens to cast their vote, he added.

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“PoK (Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir) will be a part of India in the next six months,” said Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in Mumbai today. 

“The time is right, Tamil Nadu is changing. We will get 60 per cent vote share in Coimbatore,” said BJP Tamil Nadu chief K Annamalai to Republic in an exclusive chat.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi sharpened his attack on the Congress on Saturday and said it was his "dhakad" (strong) government that brought down the wall of Article 370 and as a result, Kashmir is now moving ahead on the path of development. Modi said the history of the Congress has been of betraying India's forces and soldiers as he referred to the "Jeep scandal", the "first scam" during the grand old party's rule.

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West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee claimed that the INDIA bloc will come to power in the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections 2024 and BJP will "not cross the 200 mark" in the polls.

Union Minister Piyush Goyal speaks to Republic Media Network Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami in an Exclusive interview on Nation Wants to Know. Catch the excerpts from the interview.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today addressed his last rally for the Lok Sabha Elections 2024 in Ambala, Haryana.

A member of the erstwhile royal family, a tribal and a filmstar are contesting from the Bolangir Lok Sabha constituency in western Odisha where migration and irrigation are major issues. The major issue in the Bolangir Lok Sabha constituency is migration and irrigation, said Narasingha Mishra sitting Congress MLA of the Bolangir Assembly segment.

Former vice president Mohammad Hamid Ansari, former prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh, former deputy prime minister LK Advani and former Union minister Dr Murli Manohar Joshi have cast their votes using the home voting facility, the Delhi poll body said.  The office of the chief electoral officer (CEO) of Delhi on Thursday kicked off the home voting facility for elderly voters and persons with disabilities (PWDs) and it will go on till May 24.

Former Bihar CM & RJD chief Lalu Yadav said, "I appeal to the people of Saran to vote in large numbers in favour of INDI alliance and Rohini Acharya and save the Constitution, democracy..."

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday hit out at the Congress over its alleged proposal to introduce inheritance, and said Mughal emperor Aurangzeb's soul has crept into the grand old party. He said the inheritance tax is like the 'jizya' tax imposed by Aurangzeb. Addressing a rally in Malegaon town in Maharashtra's Nashik district, he said the BJP is contesting elections not merely for power but to build a developed India.

UP CM Yogi Adityanath on Saturday addressed a rally in Maharashtra.

BJP National President JP Nadda said, " As per Niti Aayog, 25 crore people of India, came out of poverty, this is the changing India and its changing image...did you ever think that highway will come here? Now isn't the highway work going on?...multiple projects are underway, when this infrastructure is built, the villages will develop..."

Amethi, UP: Former Rajasthan CM Ashik Gehlot says, "Ram Mandir has been constructed on the orders of Supreme Court...Even if the government was of UPA instead of NDA then also the temple would have been constructed...They(BJP) are spreading confusion...The public has understood that PM Modi can go to any extent to win elections"

Clash of the two richest titans, a celebrity and a 'royal', is on the cards in Himachal Pradesh's Mandi Lok Sabha constituency, known for electing erstwhile "royals" maximum number of times. The BJP has for the first time fielded a woman and a Bollywood celebrity in Kangana Ranaut who will take on Vikramaditya Singh, scion of the erstwhile Rampur "royal family" and son of six-time chief minister Virbhadra Singh. Both the rivals have launched a high-pitched campaign, even with offensive outbursts.

Samajwadi Party leader Shivpal Singh Yadav said, "The public is completely in favour of Samajwadi Party and INDIA alliance. INDIA alliance will form the government in the country. BJP has not done any work for the country. They only lied and misled the people of the country, now the public has completely understood that the people of BJP only lie, they have not done any work for the public...I think the SP-INDIA alliance will win 60-70 seats in UP..."

“The CM of here is facing difficulty in accepting the reality. His non-performance in the last 24 years is overpowering him. There is no water in the village to drink or for irrigation, schools are getting closed, and there aren’t enough teachers in schools and doctors in hospitals. We will criticise him for this but instead of giving a political reply to this, he is saying that we are abusing him. The truth always hurts,” said Union Minister and BJP leader Dharmendra Pradhan on Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik’s ‘political tourists using abusive language’ remark.

West Bengal's Hooghly is set to witness a clash between two popular stars of the Bengali film industry in the fifth phase of Lok Sabha elections on Monday as Bharatiya Janata Party's Locket Chatterjee will be locking horns with Trinamool's Rachana Banerjee. The Trinamool which has not shied away from using star power in its election campaigns, introduced Rachana Banerjee as its party member as the "other Didi" at a Brigade rally in March. The actor is popularly known for hosting the popular Bengali television reality show, "Didi No. 1".

Union Minister and BJP candidate from Mumbai North Lok Sabha seat, Piyush Goyal, took a morning walk at Sanjay Gandhi National Park in Mumbai and greeted people as part of his election campaign. Mumbai North goes to polls on May 20. Piyush Goyal said, "No matter what the opposition says, it is people's voice that decides what is going to happen. People have made up their minds to support PM Modi and his development..."
 

Security has been beefed up in the national capital as Rahul Gandhi will address his first election campaign in Delhi today.

Amit Shah will hold a roadshow in Uttar Pradesh today.

BJP National President JP Nadda will address multiple rallies in Himachal Pradesh Today.

Leading BJP's election campaign, PM Narendra Modi will address three public meetings in Haryana and Delhi on Saturday.