Elections 2024: BJP Releases Second List For LS Polls; Reports Say Rift In K'taka BJP Unit Over Candidates

The Lok Sabha Elections 2024 or General Elections to elect members of the 18th Lok Sabha in India are expected to take place in April and May, however, the schedule for the same is yet to be announced by the Election Commission of India (ECI). The ruling BJP-led NDA alliance is pitched against the newly formed opposition bloc of 'INDIA'.

As curiosity increases over the dates for the Lok Sabha elections due this year, sources have indicated that the ECI is likely to announce the poll schedule in mid-March.

In the 2019 General Elections, the BJP-led NDA emerged victorious, securing 353 out of 543 seats. The Indian National Congress (INC) saw a marginal increase in seats but fell short of claiming the leader of the opposition status.

The BJP earlier this month released its first list of 195 candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha election in 2024. The list includes 34 ministers who will be contesting for seats in the parliamentary polls.

While Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to run from Varanasi, Smriti Irani will also be contesting again from Amethi. Additionally, Bansuri, the daughter of the late Sushma Swaraj, will be making her debut in electoral politics.

Click HERE for full list of BJP candidates for Lok Sabha Elections 2024

The implementation of the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) on Monday by the BJP-led central government has been dominating headlines, with the ruling party hailing the move which was one of its key poll promises in 2019 and the Opposition slamming the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Centre for 'targeting Muslims' through the CAA.

Mamata Banerjee-led TMC in Bengal, CPI(M)-led LDF and the Congress-led UDF in Kerala, ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu have denounced the CAA.

Meanwhile, the Union Home Ministry on Tuesday asserted that Indian Muslims need not worry as the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) will not impact their citizenship and has nothing to do with the community which enjoys equal rights as their Hindu counterparts.

As per information in multiple reports, the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) is expected announce the schedule for the Lok Sabha elections 2024 in mid-March.

In 2019, the Lok Sabha election schedule was announced on March 10. Polling was done in seven phases between April 11 and May 19 while the counting of votes took place on May 23.

Even though Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday rejected speculation that senior party leaders are not willing to contesting the Lok Sabha polls, he, however, indicated that he may not enter the poll fray this time with age being a factor.

Kharge was the MP from Karnataka's Gulbarga from 2009-2014 and had lost from the same seat in 2019.

Asked about reports that senior leaders were opting out of contesting the Lok Sabha polls, Kharge said, "It is wrong that we are backing out. I am 83-years-old, you [journalists] retire at 65...So I am 83."

"If given a chance, everyone goes and tells our party workers [that I should fight]...if they say then I will definitely fight. Look, sometimes we are at the back, sometimes we are ar the forefront, we also have a list of ten people asking for the same seat," news agency PTI quoted Kharge as saying.

The Congress on Tuesday released its second list of 43 candidates for the Lok Sabha elections 2024, fielding Kamal Nath's son Nakul Nath once again from Madhya Pradesh's Chhindwara and Ashok Gehlot's son Vaibhav Gehlot from Rajasthan's Jalore.

The party's deputy leader in the Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi has been fielded from Assam's Jorhat and sitting MP Pradyut Bordoloi from Nagaon. Gaurav Gogoi, the son of former Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi, is the sitting MP of Kaliabor.

Vaibhav Gehlot, who unsuccessfully contested the last Lok Sabha election from Jodhpur, has been fielded from Jalore this time.

The list has several young faces who have replaced the old guard. Of the party's 43 candidates on this list, 76.7 per cent are below the age of 60 years.

Home Minister and BJP leader Amit Shah on Tuesday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has "honoured Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh and Jain refugees by giving them citizenship through CAA", maintaining the new law has no provision to strip anyone of their citizenship.

Hitting out at the Congress and AIMIM, Amit Shah, addressing party meetings in Hyderabad, said AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge and Hyderabad Lok Sabha member Asaduddin Owaisi are lying that minorities of the country will lose their citizenship with the implementation of CAA.

Addressing a BJP social media volunteers meeting, Shah alleged that the Congress party opposed the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) due to appeasement and vote-bank politics.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Wednesday participate in ‘India’s Techade: Chips for Viksit Bharat’ and lay the foundation stone of three semiconductor projects worth about Rs 1.25 lakh crore at 10:30 AM via video conferencing.

PM Modi will also address the youth across the country on the occasion, a press release said.

Foundation stone is being laid for the Semiconductor fabrication facility at the Dholera Special Investment Region (DSIR), Gujarat; Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Test (OSAT) facility at Morigaon, Assam; and the Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Test (OSAT) facility at Sanand, Gujarat.

In a sudden political development, Haryana got a new chief minister after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Manohar LAl Khattar resigned from the post on Tuesday amid reports that he may be fielded for the Lok Sabha elections and speculation that the saffron party is headed for a split with its alliance partner in the state - JJP- due to failed seat-sharing talks for Lok Sabha elections.

Nayab Singh Saini of the BJP took oath as chief minister of Haryana later on Tuesday.

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Two sitting MLAs and a former legislator are among the seven candidates in Gujarat whose names were declared by the Congress for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in its second list of nominees released on Tuesday.

Two-term Congress legislator from Vav constituency, Geniben Thakor, has been given the ticket by the party to contest from the Banaskantha Lok Sabha seat in north Gujarat. She is pitted against Bharatiya Janata Party's Rekhaben Chaudhary, whose name was declared in the ruling party's first list of candidates.

On implementation Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said: "The fact is that it took four years and three months to promulgate these rules. The law was passed in December 2019, it was a controversial law because citizenship is never based on religion, it goes against the Constitution. Citizenship based on religion is not part of our constitutional principles or constitutional values. Anyway they had the brute majority and they bulldozed the law through Parliament, but why did it take four years and three months to come our with the rules?"

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The Mahayuti alliance in Maharashtra, comprising the BJP, Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena, and Ajit Pawar's NCP, is learnt to have made progress in their seat-sharing talks for the Lok Sabha elections 2024.

The NDA partners have finalised the four seats from where Ajit Pawar will field its contestants, an NDTV report cited sources.

Ajit Pawar, Sharad Pawar's nephew, will field candidates from Baramati, Raigarh, Shirur, and Parbhani. Meanwhile, the BJP will get 31 seats and the Shinde-led Shiv Sena will contest 13, the report said.

The state has 48 Lok Sabha seats.

Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray told Union minister Nitin Gadkari to leave the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) if he is being "insulted", adding that the the opposition in Maharashtra would ensure his victory in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Union Nitin Gadkari, the Minister of Road Transport and Highways of India, is a prominent leader of the BJP, but party's first list did not have names from Maharashtra as seat-sharing discussions between the BJP and its allies were not complete, according to deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. READ MORE

Haryana BJP chief Nayab Singh Saini was on Tuesday sworn in as state's new chief minister, hours after the surprise resignation of Manohar Lal Khattar from the post along with his cabinet ministers.

Five MLAs -- four from the BJP and one independent -- were also sworn in as ministers. However, former home minister and six-term MLA from Ambala Cantt, Anil Vij, has not found a place in the new cabinet, amid suspense over the name for deputy chief minister as the post still remains vacant.

The switch in Haryana came amid the ruling BJP-JJP coalition coming apart, though party leaders from both sides did not make immediate comment.

JJP leader Dushyant Chautala was the deputy chief minister and there were two other members of his party in the Khattar-led government.

The names of Anil Vij and Bhavya Bishnoi have surfaced for the post of Haryana deputy chief minister.

On the implementation of Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), Union minister and BJP leader Giriraj Singh said, "No one should have a problem with CAA. It does not take away citizenship but grants it..."

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has virtually laid foundation stone of three semiconductor projects worth around Rs 1.25 lakh crore.

Launching three semiconductor projects on Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, "today is going to be a historic day."

"We are not only scripting history today but also taking a step forward towards a bright future. The foundation stone was laid for three semiconductor projects worth Rs 1.25 lakh crore today in Gujarat's Dholera and Sarang, and Assam's Morigaon. This will help in making India a global hub for semiconductor facility," said PM Modi.

"...Today's event is an event of the dreams of the youth...The real stakeholders of the future of India are the youth...Today the youth are seeing how India is working all-round for progress, for self-reliance and for its presence in the global supply chain," PM Modi said.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday said the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act ahead of the Lok Sabha polls was a "dirty vote bank politics" of the BJP and asserted that people want this law to be repealed.

With this law, the BJP-led government at the Centre has opened the floodgates for the arrival of a large number of poor minorities from Pakistan and Bangladesh into India, he said at a press conference.

"There are 3.5 crore minorities in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. The BJP wants to spend the money of our people in settling poor migrants from Pakistan and Bangladesh by giving them houses and jobs here," news agency PTI quoted Kejriwal, who is also the Aam Aadmi Party national convener, as saying.

TMC supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's younger brother Babun Banerjee is reportedly unhappy over ticket distribution from Howrah Lok Sabha seat in the state.

On Wednesday Babun Banerjee expressed displeasure over the party re-nominating Prasun Banerjee from Howrah seat.

Babun Banerjee, who is presently in New Delhi, however, denied speculation that he might switch over to the BJP, but said he is pondering over contesting "Lok Sabha polls from the Howrah seat as an independent."

"I am not happy with the selection of the candidate from Howrah Lok Sabha seat. Prasun Banerjee is not the right choice. There were many capable candidates who were overlooked," news agency PTI quoted him as saying.

Bhojpuri singer Pawan Singh, who the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had fielded from Asansol for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections 2024, backtracked on his decision to not contest.

"I will contest elections to fulfill the promise made to my society, people, people and mother," Pawan Singh said in a post on X on Wednesday.

After BJP released its first candidate list on March 2, Singh took to X to announce his decision that he was withdrawing from the polls. “I express my heartfelt gratitude to the top leadership of Bharatiya Janata Party. The party trusted me and declared me the candidate from Asansol but due to some personal reason, I will not be able to contest the election from Asansol,” he wrote in Hindi on Sunday, tagging BJP national president J P Nadda.

His decision came hours after the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) targeted the BJP, saying several songs performed by Pawan Singh made “lewd and uncivilised remarks about Bengali women”.

West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee said she and her family are "renouncing all relationships" with her brother Babun Banerjee" over an issue on ticket distribution.

Mamata Banerjee's younger brother Babun Banerjee had expressed displeasure over the party re-nominating Prasun Banerjee from Howrah Lok Sabha seat in West Bengal.

Babun Banerjee, who is presently in New Delhi, however, had denied speculation that he might switch over to the BJP, but said he is pondering over contesting "Lok Sabha polls from the Howrah seat as an independent."

"I am not happy with the selection of the candidate from Howrah Lok Sabha seat. Prasun Banerjee is not the right choice. There were many capable candidates who were overlooked," news agency PTI quoted him as saying.

BJP has released the list of candidates for all 60 assembly seats in Arunachal Pradesh. CM Pema Khandu will contest from Mukto.

LJP (Ram Vilas) chief Chirag Paswan on Wednesday said the party has finalised a sharing formula with the BJP for the Lok Sabha polls.

Paswan announced this after a meeting with BJP chief J P Nadda here.

“As a member of the NDA, today in a meeting with BJP national president J P Nadda ji, we have together finalised the seat sharing in Bihar for the ensuing Lok Sabha polls,” he said in a post on X.

“The same will be announced in due course,” he added.

Amid the ongoing BJP-BJD alliance talks, the core members of the BJP's Odisha unit and met Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday, as per reports.

According to reports, BJP's state election in-charge Vijaypal Tomar and state party chief Manmohan Samal were among the leaders who met Amit Shah.

With Lok Sabha polls coming closer, reports say BJP's Karnataka unit is seeing trouble over the party's candidates list for the state, which is yet to be announced.

As per media reports, Union Minister Sadananda Gowda along with several other senior leaders opposed certain names and changes in constituencies.

Gowda, a sitting MP from Bangalore North, has expressed displeasure over his seat being given to the Union Minister of State, Shobha Karandlaje.

BJP on Wednesday released a second list of 72 candidates.

As per the list, Union Minister Anurag Thakur has been fielded from Hamirpur, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari from Nagpur, Union Minister Pralhad Joshi from Dharwad, and former Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar from Karnal.

AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday appointed senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala as the chairman of the Congress's Lok Sabha election campaign committee in Kerala.

In a statement, the AICC said that the Congress president has approved the proposal for the appointment of Chennithala as the chairman of the campaign committee of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee for the upcoming general elections, with immediate effect.