Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Delhi HC dismisses plea seeking disqualification of PM Modi

"Congress has no issues, no leader, no candidate for PM, no plans for development and Viksit Bharat... You compare their leadership of 10 years and PM Modi's leadership," said Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla in Mumbai. 

He added, "They (Congress) want to distract people...They only have lies and want to contest elections on lies only."

Meanwhile, Union Minister of Commerce and Industry and BJP candidate from Mumbai North Lok Sabha seat, Piyush Goyal said "...I believe there are a lot of opportunities to work. We will solve all the issues under the leadership of PM Modi."

He also went on to call Congress a "depressed party" saying that it "does not know anything other than appeasement and divisive politics."

A case was filed by Mumbai BJP leader Pratik Karpe with the city's police against the social media handle of Maharashtra Congress (Youth) after they allegedly shared a ‘deepfake’ video of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, reported news agency ANI. 

Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) releases its second list of candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee dances with artists during a public meeting in Murshidabad.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate for Birbhum Lok Sabha, Debasish Dhar has moved the Supreme Court with his plea against the cancellation of his nomination papers.

Senior advocate Nidhesh Gupta, appearing for Dhar, mentioned the plea before a bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and urged for an urgent hearing.

“From March 1 to April 28, a concerted effort by various enforcement agencies, led to the confiscation of items valued at a total of ₹32,977.30 lakh. This seizure included ₹3,211.02 lakh in cash, liquor worth ₹4,583.70 lakh, and significant quantities of drugs worth ₹21,850.88 lakh, alongside valuable metals worth ₹2,175.30 lakh and other miscellaneous items totalling ₹1,156.39 lakh,” said Navdeep Rinwa, Uttar Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer (CEO).

“The Pradesh Congress Committee's (PCC) dignity needs to be maintained. Before officially declaring candidates, at least informally PCC must have been informed, but they didn't do it. I can't work like that as PCC president but I am ready to work as Congress worker if they allow me to. If they don't want me then it is a different case,” said Lovely.

Delhi HC dismisses a plea seeking direction to ECI to disqualify Prime Minister Narendra Modi for allegedly seeking votes for BJP in the name of religious deities and places of worship for ongoing Lok Sabha elections.

While dismissing the plea, the court said the petition is thoroughly misconceived and court can't direct ECI to take a particular view on any complaint. 

Rajasthan CM Bhajanlal Sharma holds a roadshow in support of BJP candidate from Srerampur Constituency Kabir Shankar Bose, in Hooghly, West Bengal. 

He said, "The enthusiasm among the youths and the people in Bengal, shows that BJP is going to win in the state with a full majority. People are fed up with the appeasement politics of the present government. The public is ready to give an answer to the TMC."

Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi on 'obscene videos' case involving JD(S) MP Prajwal Revanna.

She asked, "I would want to know that PM Modi is in Karnataka today, is he going to speak about this? PM Modi spoke about Mangalsutra, daughters and mothers, but will he talk about them today?"

"It is a shame that the NCW chairperson who should be practicing equal justice for all, continues to maintain her silence. It's a shame that we have a Women and Child Welfare minister who has only chosen selective silences to attack those who are in the opposition rather than speak up truly for the cause of women. It is shameful. I would want everybody who helped the person escape to France should be punished and he should be brought back from France...I'm hoping that justice will be done to the women who were exploited," she added. 

Home Minister Amit Shah in Begusarai, Bihar. He said, "Kashmir is ours... Congress president (Mallikarjun) Kharge says that what Rajasthan and Bihar have to do with Kashmir."

"Congress and Lalu Yadav were taking care of Article 370 like their illegitimate child for 70 years. When PM Modi became the Prime Minister for the second time, he abrogated this Article... Rahul Gandhi said that if Article 370 is removed, rivers of blood will flow in Kashmir. But, not even a single stone has been thrown in five years," he added. 

Sambit Patra said, "This time BJP will form government in Odisha and will get '400 paar'..."

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Sambit Patra, who is the BJP's candidate from Puri Lok Sabha seat, filed his nomination papers. 

Congress has fielded Sucharita Mohanty from this seat. Puri will vote on 25th May.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses a public gathering in Solapur, Maharashtra. He said, "Congress and INDI alliance are spreading false news that we will change the Constitution and finish Reservation. I have said before that even if Babasaheb Ambedkar wanted to end Reservation, he could not do it today, so the question of Modi ending Reservation does not even arise."

"If the intentions of our government were flawed, look at our record of 5 years, from 2019 to 2024, even today Modi has as many votes as he needs, but this way is not acceptable to us," he added. 

Union Minister and BJP Lok Sabha candidate from Sambalpur, Dharmendra Pradhan held a roadshow at Athamallik block in Angul district, under Sambalpur parliamentary constituency during campaign trail. 

As per news agency IANS, investigators will be sending a notice to the Congress' Telangana unit in connection with a doctored video of Union Home Minister Amit Shah. In the doctored video, his statement expressing a commitment to abolishing reservation quotas for Muslims in Telangana was changed to make it seem that he was advocating scrapping of all reservations.

A team from the Delhi Police will be reaching Telangana to serve the notice to individuals who tweeted this fake video. "Since INC Telangana posted it on X (formerly Twitter), notice will be served to them also," reported the news agency citing sources.

Union minister and BJP leader Smriti Irani has filed nomination papers for Amethi Lok Sabha constituency.

The Supreme Court on Monday (Apr 29) refused to entertain a plea seeking postponement of certain papers of the Chartered Accountancy (CA) exams scheduled for May on account of the Lok Sabha polls.

A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra said the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has not fixed the examination on election dates.

It noted that the general elections to the Lok Sabha are to be held on May 7 and 13 and no exam has been scheduled for May 6 and May 12. 

Altering the examination date would disrupt the extensive arrangements already in place for the conduct of the examination and it could result in "grave injustice for some students," it said.

"Weighing the importance of the right to vote, we have examined the position of candidates who shall be appearing for exams and would also need to vote. 591 centres are there and no exams on polling dates. At this stage when 4 lakh plus students have enrolled, any relief at this stage would result in grave prejudice," said the CJI.

The Chartered Accountancy (CA) exams are scheduled to start on May 2 and continue until May 17.

The plea sought that the exams scheduled for May 8 and May 14 be postponed to other dates as elections were going to be held in some states on May 7 and May 13.
 

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has doubled down on the push for redistribution of wealth through measures such as inheritance tax, calling them as "dangerous problems disguised as solutions."

In an interview with The Times of India, PM Modi asked, "Would you work day and night if the government takes away your money at the end in the name of redistribution?."

PM Modi stated that inheritance tax is a "sinister plan" of the Congress party and should not be considered as "very real" threat that "stands to hurt our nation irreversibly."

Akshay Kanti Bam, Congress' nominee for Madhya Pradesh's Indore Lok Sabha seat, has withdrawn his candidature.

As the third phase of the Lok Sabha polls draws closer campaigning has hit a fever pitch, Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia's wife Priyadarshini Raje Scindia and his son Mahanaaryaman Scindia campaigned in Shivpuri's Kolaras market in support of her husband.

The Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) has fielded Jyotiraditya Scindia from the Guna seat.

India's Defence Minister and BJP's candidate from Lucknow Rajnath Singh filed his nomination papers. He was accompanied by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami. Lucknow will go to polls in the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha elections on May 20.  

A police case was filed by a woman against Karnataka MP Prajwal Revanna over allegations of sexual assault on Sunday (April 28) amid controversy over purported obscene videos. 

Holenarasipur police station filed the First Information Report (FIR) in Hassan district.

Janata Dal (Secular) MP and grandson of former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda Prajwal Revanna denied the allegations and also filed a police complaint while claiming that obscene videos which have been circulating were morphed and are being shared on the social media to “tarnish his image and poison the minds of voters" during the Lok Sabha elections 2024. Read More...

AIMIM chief and party candidate from Hyderabad Asaduddin Owaisi went from door-to-door as part of his election campaign in Hyderabad. In Hyderabad, BJP has fielded Madhavi Latha.

 YSRCP chief and Andhra Pradesh CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy addressed a public meeting in Anakapalle. 

BJP's candidate from Amethi Smriti Irani held a roadshow ahead of filing her nomination papers on April 29.

Earlier, her video of driving a scooty in Amethi and interacting with the locals also went viral. Voting will be held in Amethi in the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha elections on May 20.

"Arvinder Singh Lovely has played an important role in making an alliance with Aam Aadmi Party. He has played a big role in forming the INDIA alliance in Delhi. When the CM (Arvind Kejriwal) was being arrested, Arvinder Singh Lovely was the first from Congress to reach out. Why is he saying this, let them know," AAP leader Sanjay Singh said on Monday. 

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday hit out at the Congress over the Modi government's implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

Speaking to the news agency ANI, Chief Minister Yogi said that the CAA is not against any person, caste, or religion.

Defence Minster and BJP's candidate from Lucknow Rajnath Singh would be filing his nomination on Monday. Lucknow will vote in the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha elections on May 20.

Rajnath will be facing Samajwadi Party's (SP) Ravidas Mehrotra from this seat. 

The BJP on Monday staged a protest in West Bengal's Siliguri, calling for a bandh (shutdown), over an alleged attack on party workers by workers of the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC). 

Union Minister Smriti Irani will be filing her nomination papers today. Irani is the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) candidate from Amethi. Before filing the nomination papers, she was seen performing a puja at her residence.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be addressing public programmes in Karnataka and Maharashtra on Monday.