Lok Sabha election 2024 Highlights: UP CM Yogi Adityanath holds roadshow in Saharanpur

The ruling BJP has extended the invitation to over 25 political parties from foreign countries to observe India's Lok Sabha elections, party leader and in-charge of BJP’s Foreign Affairs Department Dr Vijay Chauthaiwale told news agency ANI. 

 "As you know India is the mother of democracy and BJP is the largest party in the world and therefore there is enormous curiosity among the global players allover the world on how BJP campaigns," said Chauthaiwale. 

He added, "Maybe for the first time in the history of electoral politics in India, we have invited several parties across the globe and invited them to watch how BJP campaigns; the breadth and the depth of BJP campaigns..."

Indian Supreme Court on Tuesday (Apr 16) heard a plea seeking a 100 per cent count of Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips in polls as opposed to the current practice of verification of only five randomly selected Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) through VVPAT paper slips. 

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AIMIM Chief Asaduddin Owaisi addressed the people of Tamil Nadu. He said, "I want to inform the people of Tamil Nadu that AIMIM and AIADMK have come into an alliance. AIMIM President of Tamil Nadu TS Vakeel Ahmed has met AIADMK General Secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami."

"AIDMK has categorically given an assurance to us that they will never come into an alliance with the BJP and will oppose CAA-NRC... I urge the people of Tamil Nadu to vote for AIADMK candidates... Our alliance with AIADMK will continue till the next Tamil Nadu assembly elections... Please come and vote for AIADMK so that we can stop communalism and fascism," he added. 

Congress party has revealed three more candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in Jharkhand, according to news agency ANI. Deepika Pandey Singh will contest from Godda, Krishna Nand Tripathi from Chatra, and Anupama Singh from Dhanbad.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee held a roadshow in Siliguri to endorse Gopal Lama, the candidate for the Darjeeling constituency.

DMK released 'Kovai Rising' manifesto in Coimbatore ahead of Lok Sabha elections. Promises include new flight routes to Dubai and Singapore, MEMU trains from Kovai, a dedicated freight corridor from Chennai to Thoothukudi via Kovai, completion of a broad-gauge railway project, and acceleration of Coimbatore Metro Rail Project Phase-1.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of helping a few rich businessmen in the country. 

Attacking Modi over the electoral bond issue, he called it a form of extortion where the intimidatory tactics are "much more sophisticated" as central agencies like the CBI, ED and Income Tax Department are deployed against the targeted businessmen. 

"There are some people in every small town or village who extort money on the streets by threatening physical harm. In Malayalam you call this extortion 'kolla adikkal' (loot), but Modi calls it electoral bonds. What a common thief is doing on the streets, the PM is doing at an international level," he alleged.

He also accused the BJP-led central government of using "sophisticated" tactics to threaten targeted businessmen. 

"At the electoral bond level, the threats are much more sophisticated. The ED, CBI and Income Tax people will come, they will interrogate and at the end of it, they will say why don't you give this (their business) to Adani," said the sitting Congress MP from Wayanad LS constituency.

Gujarat Congress leader Paresh Dhanani has announced his decision to contest the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections from Rajkot, and this equation has made the constituency an important seat.

This announcement comes in response to the continued candidacy of Union Minister, Parshottam Rupala, amid growing discontent over his controversial remarks about Kshatriyas.

Slamming Indian PM Narendra Modi over his corruption allegations against TMC, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has remarked that "He should look in the mirror first."

Demanding a white paper on the investigations conducted by teams of central government in the state, Mamata said: "BJP had sent 300 central teams to Bengal to investigate the allegations of corruption but they didn't find anything. Now, PM Modi needs to answer the people of Bengal, what happened to the MGNREGA funds? Poor people worked under the scheme but were not paid."

"The PM says TMC is a corrupt party. He should look in the mirror first. His party is filled with dacoits," she alleged.

While addressing an election rally at Moinaguri in Jalpaiguri district, Banerjee also said it was the TMC which is fighting the BJP in the state, while the CPI(M) and Congress were working with it.

In West Bengal, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has complained to the Election Commission of India (ECI) about the inclusion of contractual government employees in poll-related training.

As per an IANS report, a four-member delegation of CPI(M) met the Chief Election Officer (CEO), West Bengal Aariz Aftab. They complained that several contractual state government employees had been participating at a training workshop on polls.

CPI(M) Central Committee member Robin Deb pointed out that the ECI has made it clear that contractual employees cannot be used in poll-related duties at any cost.

Speaking at a campaign rally in Assam, INC leader Priyanka Gandhi promised tea garden workers that if Congress comes to power, the party will raise their wages.

 

Speaking at the rally in Wayanad, Kerala, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi alleged that BJP is trying to destroy India's Constitution. 

"The RSS and the BJP are trying to destroy India's Constitution and change India's Constitution. The Congress party and the INDIA alliance are trying to save the Constitution. Narendra Modi is the instrument of 5-6 of India's biggest richest business people. His goal is to distract India's people from the real issues. That is why sometimes you will see him doing puja underneath the sea...sometimes he tells the people of India we will bring the Olympics to India," Gandhi said.

"Another time he will say we are going to send one man to the Moon. He never talks about unemployment or price rise. He protects the richest people in the country and forgives their bank loans. I don't know if you saw his interview with ANI yesterday. I don't know if you saw his face, his eyes, he was trying to defend the biggest corruption scandal on the planet through which BJP has got thousands of crores of rupees by extorting them from India's businessmen..," he added.
 

BJP released its list of 21 candidates for the Odisha Assembly elections.

BJP released its list of candidates for Telangana and Uttar Pradesh Assembly bypolls.

Before the polls, polling teams have been flown to Naxal-hit areas in Bijapur by helicopter. In Chhattisgarh, only the Bastar constituency will go to polls in the first phase on April 19.

RJD is the second name of corruption in Bihar, says PM Modi in Bihar.

PM Modi slams RJD's ‘jungle raj’ in Bihar's Gaya while addressing a public rally.

The BSP has fielded Athar Jamal Lari against PM Modi to contest polls from the Varanasi parliamentary constituency.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is set to address a public rally in Tamil Nadu on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Bihar on Tuesday to take part in various public meetings and rallies.