Lok Sabha Elections: Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Sandhu appointed Election Commissioners

Trinamool Congress leader and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee suffered a major head injury following which she was hospitalised. 

Mumbai BJP chief Ashish Shelar said, "We will win all the 6 seats in Mumbai. The people of Mumbai will support us and will make us win...Mumbai and Piyush Goyal have an unbreakable bond and they will make him win." 

Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Sandhu were appointed as two new election commissioners, a government notification said late on March 14 evening. 

Odisha BJP president Manmohan Samal said, "The election strategy was discussed...Tomorrow, our Election Committee will make recommendations and send them to the Parliamentary Party. To make the Prime Minister a PM for the third time and form our Government in Odisha, we will contest these elections with the honour of Odisha..."

On alliance with BJD, he said, "I have no comments to make in this matter...No discussions have been held on this...All seats will be discussed tomorrow at the Election Committee and recommendations will be made."

Prime Minister Narendra Modi distributed loans under the PM SVANidhi scheme to 1 lakh street vendors (SVs), including 5,000 SVs from Delhi, at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Delhi.

On Delhi CM and AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal's statement on CAA, Shiromani Akali Dal President Sukhbir Singh Badal said, "Kejriwal has an anti-Sikh and anti-minority mindset. Shiromani Akali Dal had been saying from the beginning that Sikhs from Pakistan and Afghanistan have faced a lot of problems there...Several of them have come here over the past several years. We have been saying that they should be granted (Indian) citizenship. We supported CAA at the Parliament too...I knew of Kejrwal's anti-Punjab and anti-Sikh mindset from the beginning. These things are coming to light gradually."

“The interest shown by the ruling party today is that they only want members in the Election Commission of India who don’t question them. That increases our doubts about the veracity of voting through EVM machines," Singh said. 

Madhya Pradesh CM Mohan Yadav said, "PM Modi has been saying that elections should be conducted simultaneously in the country as this creates many opportunities for development. Development gets interrupted if elections happen in different states (separately) throughout the year." 

Hindu and Sikh refugees living in various parts of Delhi staged a protest near Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's Civil Lines residence here on Thursday, demanding an apology from him over his statements against the implementation of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), reports said. 
 

All 11 candidates for the Bihar Legislative Council election including Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar declared elected unopposed to the state Legislative Council, as per Bihar Chief Minister's Office. 

"In Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, India has become the fifth largest economy in the world. If you give office to PM Modi for the third time, India will be the third largest economy and a global leader in the world," UP CM Yogi Adityanath said while addressing the inauguration programme of several development projects in Gonda.

The panel headed by former Indian President Ram Nath Kovind submitted a report on the concept of 'one nation, one poll' to President Droupadi Murmu on Thursday (Mar 14). This high-level committee proposed significant amendments to at least five articles of the Constitution to facilitate synchronised elections across the country, encompassing 18,626 pages of analysis and recommendations.

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Lok Sabha Elections 2024 LIVE: Rajasthan Deputy CM and BJP leader Diya Kumari said, "We will win all 25 seats (in the state), with a margin greater than what we had earlier."

Telangana CM and Congress leader Revanth Reddy held talks with BJP leader AP and former MP Jithender Reddy at his residence in Hyderabad. 

Speaking about the meeting, Jithender Reddy said, "Revanth Reddy is not new to my house, he keeps coming here whenever he wants. He felt bad that I didn't get an election ticket from Mahbubnagar, so he personally came to meet me. We didn’t discuss seat sharing. They (Congress) already declared their seats. I am with the party (BJP), the future course of action will be decided by the party high command."

Wife of former Punjab CM and suspended Congress MP Amarinder Singh Preneet Kaur joined BJP in Delhi. 

"I will work for my constituency, my state and the country under the leadership of PM Modi. I had a good innings with the Congress party and I hope I'll have a better innings with the BJP. That depends on the BJP (whether she will contest the 2024 Lok Sabha elections or not)," she said.

A panel led by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday (Mar 14) selected two new election commissioners just months ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. The two new commissioners are Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Sandhu, Congress Lok Sabha MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said. 

Haryana's new Chief Minister Nayab Saini that his government is committed to win all the 10 Lok Sabha seats from the state, to help Prime Minister Narendra Modi form the government at the Centre for the third time.

"I met PM Modi to seek his blessings and held discussions on various issues. PM Modi instructed us to carry forward the development works that were done under the leadership of former CM Manohar Lal Khattar," Chief Minister Saini told reporters. 

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Thursday released a list of eight candidates for the general elections in Punjab. 

Author and philanthropist Sudha Murty, nominated to the Rajya Sabha by President Droupadi Murmu, took oath as a member of the Upper House of Parliament, in Delhi, on Thursday (March 14).

Supreme Court questions Ajit Pawar faction of NCP why it is using Sharad Pawar's photo for campaigning.

Supreme Court told Ajit Pawar faction, “You are a different political party now. You have chosen not to be with him. So why to use his (Sharad Pawar) picture… Go with your own identity now…”

Supreme Court asked Ajit Pawar faction to file its response by Saturday (March 16) on an application of Sharad Pawar group alleging misuse of his name, pictures to appeal voters.

A meeting will be held at 7, LKM for the appointment of the Election Commissioner on Thursday (March 14), according to ANI.

The High-Level Committee on simultaneous elections, chaired by Ram Nath Kovind, Former President of India, met President Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan and submitted its report. Union Home Minister Amit Shah was also present.

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday claimed that the CAA is completely insignificant in Assam, from where there will be the "least number of applications" for Indian citizenship.

"CAA is completely insignificant in Assam; the state will have the least number of applications on the portal," Sarma told a press conference here.

Days after the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) was notified by the Indian government, the country's Home Minister Amit Shah, said that the law will never be taken back and no compromise with it will be made by the BJP-led government. 

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Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) president Chirag Paswan said on Wednesday that his party has finalised a seat-sharing formula with the BJP for the Lok Sabha polls and all his "concerns" were addressed.

Citing sources PTI reports that Paswan's party may contest on five of the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar.

BJP's latest list of candidates includes political big wigs like Union ministers Nitin Gadkari, Piyush Goyal, and Anurag Singh Thakur, as well as three former chief ministers including Manohar Lal Khattar, the Chief Minister of Haryana.

Khattar as per PTI, will be contesting from Karnal, while Piyush Goyal will be making his Lok Sabha poll debut from Mumbai North.

India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has announced its second list of 72 candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

The list includes candidates for various states, with Maharashtra and Karnataka having the highest number of seats - 20 each. Gujarat, Haryana, and Telangana follow with seven, six, and six seats, respectively. Other states with candidates announced include Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Tripura, and the union territories of Dadar & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu.

The announcement comes after the BJP released its first list of candidates for 195 Lok Sabha seats on March 2, confirming Prime Minister Narendra Modi's candidacy from Varanasi for the third consecutive time.