Lok Sabha Election 2024 Highlights: ’Ideology promoted by Congress govt in Karnataka very dangerous,’ says PM Modi

"The kind of thoughts and ideology being promoted by Congress government in Karnataka is very dangerous. Our daughters are being attacked, bombs are exploding in markets, and people are being attacked for listening to religious songs, these incidents are not common. I urge my brothers and sisters to stay very alert of the Congress."

With Lok Sabha polls just six days away, a total of 2,09,661 complaints regarding violation of model code of conduct have been received in Kerala, of which action was taken in 2,06,152, Chief Electoral Officer Sanjay Kaul said here on Saturday. 

The complaints were received through the cVIGIL mobile app set up by the Election Commission. 

The complaints were received from March 16 to April 20 and 426 are currently being processed, Kaul said in a statement.

An FIR has been registered against Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar for violation of the Model Code of Conduct for allegedly promising water supply in exchange of votes to residents of a housing society near here, the Election Commission said on Saturday. 

The matter came to light after the BJP approached the poll body seeking action against Shivakumar after a video of him seeking votes from the residents of a housing society in Bengaluru Rural Lok Sabha segment was shared widely on social media platforms.

The Shiv Sena on Saturday announced the candidature of State Minister Sandeepan Bhumre from the Aurangabad Lok Sabha seat in Maharashtra.

Bhumre, who helms the Employment Guarantee Scheme and Horticulture ministries, will take on Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Chandrakant Khaire and AIMIM's Imitiaz Jaleel from the Aurangabad seat (now Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar). 

With Bhumre's nomination, the Shiv Sena has so far declared candidates for 11 seats, including Mumbai South Central and Kalyan.

Congress leader Sachin Pilot on Saturday claimed that the Bharatiya Janata Party will be wiped out in the south and reduced to the half of its current strength in north India in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. The saffron party had realised after the first phase of the elections that it was "on the backfoot," he said, talking to reporters at the Swami Vivekananda Airport here. "Someone has said, 'south se saaf, north se half'. It means the BJP will get half of the seats it currently has in the north while it will fail to open its account in the south and east. It will shrink," the former Rajasthan deputy chief minister said.

While the country is eyeing a change of guard at the Centre, with the first phase of polling already done to elect the 18th Lok Sabha, the optimism surrounding the incumbent government's performance has set the stage for high expectations, but a closer look at ground realities suggests that the path to achieving these expectations may not be without its challenges. 

The Bernstein Societe General Group's latest India Strategy report delves into the intricacies of the political landscape, analysing various factors that could influence market sentiments and economic policies in the coming years.

Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Hema Malini's daughters, Isha and Ahana Deol, arrived in Mathura on Saturday to meet youth and garner support for their mother in the Lok Sabha elections.

The two arrived at the Banke Bihari Temple, where they bowed before Lord Banke Bihari Ji, and sought divine blessings. 

During their visit, temple priest Abhilash Goswami presented them with the Lord's blessed cloth and 'prasad.'

A Congress ex-MLA from Madhya Pradesh’s Shivpuri district and several other local leaders of the party joined the BJP on Saturday, prompting a functionary from the grand old party to call them "betrayers". 

“We welcome you with open arms to the party. We are going to work with one accord. You are free to give suggestions and play an important role in the party (BJP),” Yadav told the new saffron party members. 

More than 100 Congress leaders joined the BJP at the function, claimed a party release.

While the residents of several remote villages in Chhattisgarh's Bastar Lok Sabha constituency defied the poll boycott call given by Maoists and exercised their franchise on Friday, people from Puvarti village, the native place of a hardcore Naxalite leader, chose to stay away from the electoral process.

Puvarti, a Maoist-stronghold in Sukma district bordering Bijapur district, is the home village of dreaded Naxalite leader Hidma, who is believed to be the mastermind of several deadly attacks on security forces in Bastar region.

Polling was held in the Bastar Lok Sabha seat on Friday and a voter turnout of 67.56 per cent was recorded there.

National Conference (NC) vice president Omar Abdullah on Saturday said it was "unfortunate" that his party was contesting elections in the Anantnag-Rajouri parliamentary constituency against a friend who turned "greedy" for a Lok Sabha seat. 

Abdullah was apparently referring to PDP president Mehbooba Mufti contesting the polls from the seat in south Kashmir. The NC has fielded its senior Gujjar leader Mian Altaf from the seat. 

"The fight on the south Kashmir seat is not with the BJP. NC's contest there is unfortunately with one of our friends who was with us till some days ago. Unfortunately, they left us for the greed of a seat. Our contest at least in south Kashmir is not with the BJP or its 'B' or 'C' teams," Abdullah said here.

YS Sharmila, Andhra Pradesh Congress chief and party's candidate, filed her nomination from the Kadapa seat on Saturday. 

Earlier this year, Sharmila joined Congress and merged her party, the YSR Telangana Party, into Congress. She also held a roadshow in the constituency before filing her nomination papers. 

The Kadapa Constituency will vote in the fourth phase of the Lok Sabha election on May 13.

Lok Sabha Election 2024 Live: Two Punjab Congress leaders, including its national secretary Tajinder Pal Singh Bittu and Karamjit Kaur Chaudhary, joined the BJP on Saturday.

Lok Sabha Election 2024 Live: : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday, April 20, at a rally in Maharashtra's Nanded launched a scathing attack at Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi as he predicted that the Congress stalwart will be driven away from his parliamentary constituency Wayanad.  He suggested that the party will have to find another safe seat for him. PM Modi said, “Congress' shehzade is facing danger in Wayanad. Like he was made to escape Amethi, believe me, he will have to leave Wayanad as well.”

At rally in Maharashtra's Parbhani, PM Modi said the goal of ongoing Lok Sabha polls is to make India a developed country.

Lok Sabha Election 2024 Live: Andhra Pradesh Congress President Y S Sharmila on Saturday, April 20, filed her nomination for the Kadapa Lok Sabha seat. Addressing a press conference Y S Sharmila said, “Filed the nomination as Kadapa MP candidate. Kadapa people did not forget Y S Rajasekhar Reddy and Vivekananda. We believe that they will vote this time by keeping them in their mind.” 

Lok Sabha Election 2024 Live: Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav on Saturday, April 20, launched a scathing attack at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and said, "The Mahagathbandhan is winning all four seats in the first phase. We have held block wise meetings and the feedback that has come is very good the BJP's "400 paar" film has become a super flop on the first day itself. The people of Bihar are aware and will teach them a lesson," 

He added, “There is no competition in the first phase. We have said many times before that Bihar will give shocking results this time. They have not done anything for the people of Bihar. The promises made by Modi ji in 2014 and 2019 were not fulfilled.”

The RJD leader suggested that the public is tired of BJP's statements and false promises and vowed to give special package to Bihar along with special status. 

Lok Sabha Election 2024 Live: Madhya Pradesh's Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Anupam Rajan said, “The process of filing of nomination papers on nine seats of third phase was completed on Friday.”

Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan are fielding from Madhya Pradesh's Guna and Vidisha constituencies, respectively.  

Former chief minister and its Rajya Sabha member Digvijaya Singh is in the fray from the Rajgarh seat. A total of nine seats will go to polls in the third phase from Madhya Pradesh.

BJP fielded MP Tejasvi Surya and P C Mohan from Bangalore South and Central respectively. Union Minister Shobha Karandlaje is contesting from Bangalore North. 

In Bangalore Rural Deve Gowda's son-in-law and eminent cardiologist Dr C N Manjunath is in the fray on a BJP ticket as per the arrangement with alliance partner JD(S). 

Karnataka will go to polls in two phases with elections to the second phase, for 14 Lok Sabha segments in the southern part, scheduled for April 26. Additionally, voting for the northern districts will be held on May 7.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address mega rallies in Bengaluru and neighbouring Chikkaballapura district for the Lok Sabha poll campaign on Saturday, April 20. 

PM Modi is scheduled to address the mega public meeting at Chokkahalli village in Chikkaballapura district at 2 PM that will encompass Chikkballapur and Kolar Lok Sabha constituencies.

Later in the day, at around 4:00 pm, PM Modi will address a massive rally in Bengaluru's palace ground that will cover Bangalore North, Bangalore South, Bangalore Central and Bangalore Rural segments.

Lok Sabha Election Phase 1 Voting Live: All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) General Secretary and MLA, Aminul Islam on Friday, April 19, said that his party will contest in 3 constituencies and will extend support to other candidates in three more.

He stated, “Our party candidates Badruddin Ajmal, Haji Aminul Islam will win from Dhubri and Nagaon Lok Sabha seats and the party candidate will also win in Karimganj seat, which will be held in the last two phases in Assam. The second phase of polls will be held in five parliamentary constituencies - Silchar, Karimganj, Nagaon, Darrang-Udalguri and Diphu seats. ”

He added, "Our party has decided to extend our support to the BPF candidate in the Darrang-Udalguri seat, and TMC candidate Radheshyam Biswas in the Silchar seat in the second phase of the polls. Our party will also extend support to CPI (M) candidate Manoranjan Talukdar in the Barpeta seat," said Aminul Islam.

AIUDF will be contesting two seats in the second and third phase polls. Assam registered 75.95 per cent voter turnout in the first phase, in the five parliamentary constituencies of Assam, namely Sonitpur, Lakhimpur, Kaziranga, Dibrugarh and Jorhat.

Lok Sabha Election Phase 1 Voting Live: Jammu and Kashmir's Udhampur constituency recorded a voter turnout of 68.27 per cent as the polling for the first phase of Lok Sabha elections concluded on Friday, April 19.

Chief Electoral Officer of Jammu and Kashmir, Pandurang K Pole said, "It is especially highlighted that due to weather latest updated reports are awaited from some of the Polling Stations, especially located in remote hilly areas of Kishtwar, Gandoh, Ramban, Dudu-Basantgarh etc, the polling percentage is likely to increase slightly."

The BJP fielded Union Minister Jitendra Singh from Udhampur while the Congress fielded Choudhary Lal Singh. In Jammu and Kashmir, the elections to the five seats will be held in five phases.

Lok Sabha Election Phase 1 Voting Live: Manipur Police on Friday, April 19, arrested three people involved in a firing incident near a polling station in Imphal East district. The police seized a pistol (0.32) with ammunition and ₹15 lakh from the accused.

An officer said, “The three arrested persons were involved in the firing incident at Moirangkampu Sajeb in Imphal East district in which a man was injured on Friday.” 

Manipur recorded a voter turnout of over 68 per cent in two Lok Sabha constituencies - Inner Manipur and Outer Manipur on Friday.

Lok Sabha Election Phase 1 Voting Live: Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma said that the state is the fortress of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and hence is going to win all the 25 seats. He said, “I want to thank people of Rajasthan for making the first phase of election peaceful. Voter turnout was little but I have faith that we will win these 12 seats. ”

he added, “In Rajasthan, BJP will win the whole 25 seats. We got feedback from everywhere and people have said that we will win these 12 seats and the other 13 seats as well. I appeal that all voters should vote in the next phase.” Rajasthan state saw a voter turnout of 56.58 percent in phase 1 while the remaining 13 seats in Rajasthan will be contested in the second phase.

Lok Sabha Election Phase 1 Voting Live: Two polling officials, who were stationed in West Tripura's Ramanagar constituency were suspended for allegedly permitting election-related malpractices in the polling booths.

Returning Officer West Tripura, Dr. Vishal Kumar said, “We have received some complaints from the political parties but in most of the cases, we couldn't verify the allegations true after response teams reached the spot. Some reports of intimidation, threats and poll malpractices were also received.”

He added, "In most of the cases, the complaints turned out to be false. Some arrests were made in Mohanpur constituency and some people were put under preventive arrests in Ramanagar assembly constituency."

Lok Sabha Election Phase 1 Voting Live: An official informed that as many as 21 police and Home Guard personnel were injured when the bus carrying them overturned in Madhya Pradesh's Betul district on Saturday, April 20.

 After conclusion of election duty, the jawans were returning to their home district Rajgarh when the accident happened near Baretha Ghat on the Bhopal-Betul highway at 4:00 am. 

Sub Divisional Officer of Police (SDOP) Shalini Paraste said. "It happened when the bus carrying a total of 40 jawans, including five policemen and remaining home guard, was on its way to Rajgarh after their election duty in Chhindwara." 

Lok Sabha Election Phase 1 Voting Live:In the phase 2 of the Lok Sabha elections, as many as 1,210 candidates across 13 states and Union Territories (UTs) will be contesting. The Election Commission of India (ECI) received 2,633 nominations forms filed for 88 Parliamentary constituencies across 12 states and UTs for phase 2 of these general elections.

Lok Sabha Election Phase 1 Voting Live: The voting for second phase will be held on April 26. In the Lok Sabha elections this year, voting will take place in seven phases similar to last general elections of 2019. The dates on which voting of the remaining phases will take place will be May 7, May 13, May 20, May 25, and June 1 accordingly. 

Saharanpur registered 65.95 percent voter turnout, Rampur registered 54.77 percent, Muzaffarnagar registered 59.29 percent, and Pilibhit registered 61.91 percent, according to data shared by the Election Commission of India. The voter turnout in Bijnor stood at 58.21 percent, in Kairana at 61.17 percent, in Moradabad at 60.60 percent, and in Nagina at 59.54 percent.

Tripura recorded the highest voter turnout that stood at 80.17 per cent while West Bengal trailed behind with 77.57 per cent voter turnout, as per estimated data. Sikkim registered 69.47 percent voter turnout. 

The Election Commission said the polling for the first phase of the 2024 general elections registered a high voter turnout despite the heat wave. The ECI said that the first phase of polling was "largely peaceful across 21 States and Union Territories." 

The Election Commission noted the incidence of violence and firing in a few areas of West Bengal and Manipur.

On Friday, April 19, the first phase of voting for 102 parliamentary constituencies spread over 17 states and 4 Union Territories was held. The voter turnout during the first phase of Lok Sabha election 2024 was estimated to be 63.89 percent till 9:00 pm yesterday. However, official release stated, "Final figures will be known on Saturday after the scrutiny of Form 17A." 

Tamil Nadu recorded a voter turnout of 68%, as per the EC's data at 11 pm on Friday. "Highest voting of 75.67 per cent has been recorded in Kallakurichi, next 75.44 per cent in Dharmapuri, and minimum is 67.35 per cent in Chennai Central, 67. 82 per cent in Chennai South. By tomorrow, we will be able to get an overall figure of the voter turnout in the state," Tamil Nadu Chief Election Officer Satyabrata Sahu told PTI.

Samajwadi Party candidate from UP's Muzaffarnagar Harendra Singh MaliK wrote to Election Commission, alleging booth capturing by BJP agents in Kutba village (the home place of BJP leader Sanjeev Balyan) and requesting deployment of paramilitary in the village.

PM Modi posted in X on Friday evening: "First phase, great response! Thank you to all those who have voted today. Getting EXCELLENT feedback from today’s voting. It’s clear that people across India are voting for NDA in record numbers."

Tentative figure of voter turnout across 21 States/UTs reported is over 60% at 7 PM, the Election Commission of India said on Friday. Read full report here

AIMIM president and candidate from Hyderabad constituency, Asaduddin Owaisi files nomination for Lok Sabha elections.

A 28-year-old security personnel on election duty in Mizoram died due to cardiac arrest on Friday, officials said. Lalrinpuia, who was in the second Indian Reserve Battalion (IRBn), was found dead on Friday morning at Vangchhia polling station in Champhai district when other security personnel tried to wake him up, they said. He died due to cardiac arrest around 4.45 am, the officials said.  (PTI inputs)

“I am curious to know what the result is, but let’s hope it is for the best. Let’s hope it is for the people, for the benefit of the people,” said music composer AR Rahman after casting his vote in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.

MINT hit the streets of Haryana and asked youngsters questions on jobs, economy and their belief in India's growth story. Watch ground report here:

 Check out voter turnout in your state here: 

A firing incident and clash was reported at a polling booth in Moirangkampu Sajeb Awang Leikai of Imphal during voting in Lok Sabha elections today. One civilian was injured in the incident, news agency ANI reported. Block Level Officer, for Moirangkampu Sajeb Surbala Devi said, 

"Suddenly two men here came and asked for polling agents of Congress and BJP. They took the Congress agent outside by holding his hand. Then the two men fired shots from inside the car. One person got injured."

West Bengal ministers Shashi Panja and Chandrima Bhattacharya were seen dancing as the latter claimed that TMC candidates will be winning in all three Lok Sabha constituencies (Alipurduar, Cooch Behar, and Jalpaiguri) in the state.

The voter turnout recorded till 5 pm was around 60 percent. West Bengal's voter turnout was the highest at 77 percent.

Polling officer K Nimola Devi said, "Our polling has concluded, as soon as it was 4 pm we closed the gates...We called the agents and then in front of them we sealed all the data and machines...After all this is completed we will submit it to the DC office..."

A CRPF jawan on poll duty was killed in accidental explosion of grenade launcher shell in Chhattisgarh on Friday.

RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary says, "I appeal to the people to vote. Your problems will increase in the next 5 years if you don't vote. Choose your representative on the basis of the government you want... The opposition is saying that the EVM is hacked, democracy is over, and the constitution will be finished, these are the fears they are showing to the people and making pessimistic comments because they don't have any agenda... On the other hand, NDA is working with a long-term vision..."

Telangana BJP chief and party's candidate from Secunderabad Lok Sabha seat, G Kishan Reddy files nomination for Lok Sabha elections.

BJP leader and candidate from Haryana’s Kurukshetra, Naveen Jindal held a roadshow in the constituency earlier on Friday.

Tripura recorded 68.35% voter turnout till 3pm, the highest amongst the State/UTs voting in the first phase of Lok Sabha polls on Friday.