News Highlights: AIADMK-DMDK sign seat-sharing pact for Lok Sabha Election 2024, Pappu Yadav merges Jan Adhikar Party with Cong

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The Election Commission of India (ECI) took serious note of the non-compliance/partial compliance of its instructions and directed all the states and union territories to immediately remove all unauthorised political advertisements and ensure full compliance with its instructions.

Lal Singh, former MP and Jammu and Kashmir minister, rejoined the Congress in the presence of senior party leaders.

Furthermore, Singh also announced the merger of his outfit, Dogra Swabhiman Sangathan Party (DSSP), with the Congress party.

Tamil Nadu's main opposition AIADMK on March 20 finalised a seat sharing arrangement for the Lok Sabha elections 2024 with the DMDK, founded by actor-politician 'Captain' Vijayakanth who passed away recently.

AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami said the DMDK would contest from Tiruvallur (SC), Central Chennai, Cuddalore, Thanjavur and Virudhunagar Lok Sabha constituencies.

Days after former Kerala Chief Minister K Karunakaran’s daughter Padmaja switched to BJP, the leader’s confidant Maheshwaran Nair too made a similar move. Former Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) Executive Member and Congress Councillor for Thiruvananthapuram Corporation, Maheshwaran Nair joined BJP in the presence of Union Minister Rajeev Chandrashekhar.

The Apna Dal (Kamerawadi), claiming it to be an ally of the INDIA bloc, on March 20 declared candidates for three seats in Uttar Pradesh for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Phulpur, Mirzapur and Kaushambi are the three seats on which the party has decided to contest.

In Uttar Pradesh, the Samajwadi Party and Congress have decided on seat-sharing, according to which the Congress will contest on 17 seats and the Samajwadi Party will field its candidates on 63 seats.

Assam Congress MP Abdul Khaleque, who had quit from the party, withdrew his resignation on Wednesday.

"Strengthening Congress is the need of the hour, hence I withdraw my resignation and wish to work under your (Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge) and Rahul Gandhi's able leadership," the Lok Sabha MP from Assam's Barpeta wrote.

Danish Ali, the expelled Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MP from Amroha, formally joined the Congress party in New Delhi on March 20.

"On one hand are the divisive forces of the country and the other hand are those who are struggling to give justice to the poor, deprived, and downtrodden. The choice is very clear. Today was the time to take the decision," said Ali on joining the party.

Just a month before the Lok Sabha polls, Bihar leader Pappu Yadav merged his Jan Adhikar Party with the Congress and formally joined the party in New Delhi on March 20.

"The respect which I have received and the faith put in me and my party by Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi are enough to keep me going... Rahul Gandhi has awakened the consciousness of 130 crore people of India...," he said.

A day after quitting the Congress party, Khariar MLA Adjiraj Panigrahi joined the BJD on March 20. Panigrahi said that he joined BJD inspired by the works of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

"The CM always says that he believes in work and not words. Taking this pledge, I joined the BJD," he said.

Himachal Pradesh Congress chief and Mandi MP Pratibha Singh announced that she has decided not to contest the Lok Sabha elections as the ground situation was "not favourable".

She said that she toured the state extensively and found that no worker is active and in such a situation, it is difficult to achieve success. "I have declined to contest elections as I am not in a position to put up a fight. You cannot win polls just by distributing MPLAD funds," she said. Singh further added that if the party workers who had worked hard for the party's victory in the assembly polls were given responsibilities and importance, they would have been active on the ground.

As BJP MLA from Jharkhand, Jai Prakash Bhai Patel joined the Congress on March 20, he said that he wanted to fulfill his father's dream. "I clearly stated that I want to fulfil my father's dream, which I see happening only in the INDIA alliance... I have not joined Congress for any Lok Sabha or Vidhan Sabha ticket," he said.

- RJD and Congress leaders meet at the residence of Congress General Secretary Mukul Wasnik in Delhi, over seat-sharing.

- Congress MP Dr Md Jawaid says, "...We hope that our alliance will win the maximum seats, I can tell you this..."

- As the first of the seven-phase 2024 Lok Sabha elections went underway on Wednesday with the Election Commission issuing notification to begin the nomination process, here is a look at how the political parties fared in the 2019 parliamentary polls in the key state of Uttar Pradesh.

- In a state that sends 80 MPs to the Lok Sabha, the BJP bagged 62 seats and its ally Apna Dal got two in the last general elections. The Congress managed just one seat, with Sonia Gandhi retaining Raebareli.

- The Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party had forged an alliance with the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) supporting them. But they did not fare well. BSP got 10 seats, the SP five while the RLD drew a blank.

- After the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) parliamentary party meeting, party chief Chirag Paswan said, "...It is certain that I will be the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) candidate, the NDA candidate, from Hajipur - which was the 'karmabhoomi' of my father."

- "He (Pashupati Kumar Paras) is welcome (to contest from there). I have bravely faced all challenges. I have never been scared of any challenges...I accept this challenge too. Uncle (Pashupati Kumar Paras) has to ultimately make a decision," he added.

- He also said, "...We will now head to Bihar. In the time to come, we are heading towards a major battle. Our goal is to win more than 400 seats. Under the alliance, for this goal of PM Modi all of the allies will win together. We are confident of this..."

- "I think that in the next 2-4 days, consensus will be reached on the names of candidates for all 5 seats. Names will be announced in the next 4-5 days," he added.

- Ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, BJP MLA from Jharkhand Jai Prakash Bhai Patel joined the Congress on Wednesday and vowed to strengthen the INDIA bloc.

- Patel joined the Congress at the party headquarters in the presence of AICC in-charge of Jharkhand Ghulam Ahmad Mir, Jharkhand Congress chief Rajesh Thakur, Jharkhand minister Alamgir Alam and party's media and publicity department head Pawan Khera.

- Patel is an MLA from the Mandu assembly constituency that falls under the Hazaribagh Lok Sabha segment. Earlier he had been an MLA of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha.

- The opposition AIADMK in Tamil Nadu on Wednesday named the first set of 16 candidates for the April 19 Lok Sabha polls in Tamil Nadu.

- In the list released by party General Secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami, the AIADMK has nominated former MP J Jayavardhan and ex-MLA, Dr P Saravanan.

- The ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu on Wednesday released the list of candidates for 21 seats for the April 19 Lok Sabha polls, retaining among other sitting MPs, Kanimozhi, TR Baalu and A Raja.

- It has allotted the rest 18 seats to its allies--Congress, Left parties and VCK among others.

- The party also released its manifesto for the polls, touching upon other subjects like appointment of Governors and abolition of Article 356.

- Of the 21 names the ruling party fielded, 11 were new faces, even as three women, including sitting South Chennai MP Tamizhachi Thangapandian were named.

- The process of filing nomination papers for the Puducherry Lok Sabha constituency began on Wednesday with the issuance of notification for the poll.

- The Returning Officer of Puducherry Parliamentary seat A Kulothungan issued the statutory notification today setting in motion the process of election to the lone LS seat in Puducherry. Nominations might be filed at the office of the Returning Officer located in the District Collectorate complex, it said.

- RJD and Congress leaders meet at the residence of Congress General Secretary Mukul Wasnik in Delhi, over seat-sharing.

- Congress MP Dr Md Jawaid says, "...We hope that our alliance will win the maximum seats, I can tell you this..."

- As many as 11,682 defacements, including wall writings, posters and banners, were removed in Gautam Buddh Nagar district within 72 hours in line with the model code of conduct for the Lok Sabha election, according to official data.

- Of the total defacements removed, 9,361 were on public properties and 2,321 on private spaces across the district, data on the status of enforcement of poll code, accessed by PTI, showed.

- According to data on the status of model code of conduct enforcement in Gautam Buddh Nagar, local election authorities removed defacements, including wall writings, posters and banners, from 9,361 public and 2,321 private properties across the district from March 17 to March 19.

- The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has rescheduled its exam dates in view of the Lok Sabha elections, according to officials. While the chartered accountant exams will be conducted in the month of May as decided earlier, the dates have been rejigged.

- While the chartered accountant exams will be conducted in the month of May as decided earlier, the dates have been rejigged.

- According to the revised schedule, the intermediate course exam for Group 1 will be held on May 3, 5 and 9. Earlier, the exam was scheduled on May 3, 5 and 7. For Group 2, the intermediate course exam will be held on May 11, 15 and 17. Earlier, the exam was planned on May 9, 11 and 13.

- The notification for the first phase of polls to the five Lok Sabha seats in Assam on April 19 was issued on Wednesday, an election office official said.

- Elections to the 14 Sabha constituencies in Assam will be held in the first three phases on April 19, 26 and May 7.

- In the first phase, Kaziranga, Sonitpur, Lakhimpur, Dibrugarh and Lakhimpur will go to the polls on April 19.

- AIADMK releases its first list of 16 candidates for the Lok Sabha Elections 2024.

- In the AIADMK alliance, DMDMK is to contest in 5 seats, SDPI in 1 seat and Puthiya Tamilagam in 1 seat, from Tenkasi constituency, said AIADMK General Secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami

- Tamil Nadu CM and DMK chief MK Stalin said, "It is DMK which makes the manifesto before elections and continues to do what we say, this is what our leaders taught us. As Kanimozhi said we went all over the state and listened to various people. It is not only a DMK manifesto but the people's manifesto."

- "When the BJP came to power in 2014, they destroyed India. None of the election promises were fulfilled. We have formed the INDIA alliance and we will form our government in 2024. In our manifesto, we have announced special schemes for TN and schemes for every district are given in this manifesto," he added.

- Madhya Pradesh CM Mohan Yadav said, "Names of most of the candidates have been announced. We want all parties to be healthy in a democracy but unfortunately, Congress is not in good condition."

- "As per my knowledge, the names of 18 candidates are yet to be made by them. The atmosphere in Madhya Pradesh is one in favour of PM Modi. Our candidates are filing forms. I am going to have the form of Sidhi candidate filled. Senior minister Prahlad Patel is also going with me," he added.

- BJP leader Pravin Darekar on MNS chief Raj Thackeray's meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah "...With leaders joining us, the stature of the (NDA) alliance will only rise...Seat-sharing will happen properly and BJP will do well in the state."

- National Conference (NC) vice president Omar Abdullah on Tuesday asked if the Centre cannot hold assembly and Lok Sabha elections together in Jammu and Kashmir, how can it conduct simultaneous polls across the country.

- Abdullah was reacting to Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar's remark that the officers of the Union Territory administration had expressed inability to conduct the elections simultaneously in view of the requirement of a large number of security forces. "When the CEC addressed a press conference, he said the ECI and all political parties are ready for polls, but the current administration (in J-K) put hurdles, saying they need more security forces.

- The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Wednesday issued notification for simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in Arunachal Pradesh, in the first phase on April 19.

- The state election office has issued separate gazette notifications for holding elections to 60 assembly constituencies and two Lok Sabha seats in the northeastern state.

- With the issue of notification, the process of filing nominations has started, Joint Chief Electoral Officer Liken Koyu said.

- Janasena, an NDA partner from Andhra Pradesh, has named T Uday Srinivas as the alliance candidate for the Kakinada Lok Sabha seat.

- Janasena, which is in alliance with the BJP and TDP in the state, has been allotted 21 Assembly and two Lok Sabha seats as part of a seat sharing deal.

- "T Uday Srinivas will be the Janasena candidate from the Kakinada Lok Sabha constituency," a press release from Janasena quoted its chief Pawan Kalyan as saying on Tuesday.

- Around 70 companies of central forces have arrived in Tripura to ensure free and fair polling in the northeastern state, a senior police officer said on Tuesday.

- While the Tripura West Lok Sabha seat will go to polls on April 19, voting in the Tripura East seat will be held on April 26.

- Appointment of a nodal officer and issuance of a complaint number and email address are among the steps taken by Delhi Police to prevent the spread of "objectionable messages" through SMSs or social media platforms during the Lok Sabha polls.

- Joint Commissioner of Police B S Jaiswal has been appointed as nodal officer (social media monitoring and cybercrime) to deal with "matters concerning objectionable messages transmitted through SMSs or various social media platforms during the Lok Sabha elections 2024", said a notice issued by the police department here.

- Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha on Tuesday called upon BJP leaders and workers in the state to work towards increasing its vote share by 10 per cent in each polling booth in the Lok Sabha elections.

- The northeastern state has two Lok Sabha seats – Tripura West and Tripura East, and a total of 3,329 polling booths.

- The states where polling would be held in the first phase are Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Jammu and Kashmir, Lakshadweep and Puducherry.

- Due to a festival, March 28 is the last date for filing nominations for the Lok Sabha seats in Bihar going to polls in the first phase. Voting in four out of 40 seats in Bihar will be held in the first phase.

- Nomination papers will be scrutinised on March 28. For Bihar, it would be done on March 30.

- The last date for withdrawal of candidature is March 20 while for Bihar, it is April 2.

- The nomination process for 102 parliamentary constituencies spread across 21 states and Union territories, where polling would be held in the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections on April 19, began on Wednesday with the issuance of a notification.

- According to the notification issued by the Election Commission on behalf of the President, the last date for filing nomination papers is March 27.

- As per ANI, in the Central Election Committee meeting, Congress finalised the names of candidates for 12 Lok Sabha seats of West Bengal.

- The election authorities on Tuesday set up an Integrated Election Control Room and Media Certification and Monitoring Committee Centre here to monitor violations of model code of conduct for the Lok Sabha polls.

- "In order to ensure better coordination among the line departments for smooth conduct of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections-related activities and to monitor violations of model code of conduct (MCC), if any, an Integrated Election Control Room and Media Certification and Monitoring Committee(MCMC) Centre has been established here at DC Srinagar," an official spokesman said.

- Polling for the two Lok Sabha seats in Tripura will be held in two phases, the Election Commission (EC) announced on Saturday.

- While the Tripura West seat will go to the polls on April 19, voting in the Tripura East seat will be held on April 26, it said.

- Union Minister and senior BJP leader Kiren Rijiju dismissed notions of an anti-incumbency wave against him in the Arunachal West Parliamentary seat and exuded confidence in securing a fourth term.

- The Union Earth Sciences minister asserted that political opposition is a natural facet of democracy, stressing that dissent from certain quarters does not equate to anti-incumbency.

- RJD president Lalu Prasad's daughter Rohini Acharya, who is based in Singapore, is being considered for a Lok Sabha ticket from the Saran seat, earlier represented by her father, a senior party leader said on Tuesday.

- RJD MLC Sunil Kumar Singh, who is known to be treated by Prasad's wife Rabri Devi as her own brother, said the party leadership has been apprised of the overwhelming public sentiment in Saran.

- The Election Commission has declared six of West Bengal's 42 Lok Sabha constituencies as "financially sensitive", and directed investigative agencies of the state and the Centre to keep a constant vigil on them, an official said on Tuesday.

- These six constituencies are Darjeeling, Malda Uttar, Malda Dakshin, Asansol, Bangaon and Kolkata North, he said.

- The Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed the Sharad Pawar faction to use 'Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar' as its name for the upcoming Lok Sabha and Assembly polls in the country.

- A bench of Justices Surya Kant and KV Viswanathan also permitted the NCP bloc led by the veteran politician to use as its symbol 'man blowing turha' (a traditional trumpet also known as tutari).

- The process for filing nomination papers for the first phase of the Lok Sabha polls will begin from Wednesday in Rajasthan, an official said.

- Voting will be held in 12 Lok Sabha constituencies -- Ganganagar, Bikaner, Churu, Jhunjhunu, Sikar, Jaipur Rural, Jaipur, Alwar, Bharatpur, Karauli-Dholpur, Dausa and Nagaur -- on April 19, Chief Electoral Officer Praveen Gupta said in a statement.

- As per PTI, sources said the manifesto includes the promise of implementing the old pension scheme (OPS) across the country and a law to ensure the independence of constitutional institutions and stop "misuse" of agencies.

- "These five guarantees are going to be a game-changer in this election," party leader K C Venugopal said.

- The Congress on Tuesday said the party's Lok Sabha election manifesto would focus on ensuring justice to people based on five "Nyay pillars" and claimed the BJP's 'guarantees' would meet the same fate as the 'India Shining' slogan of 2004.

- The Congress Working Committee (CWC), the party's top decision-making body, discussed the party's manifesto for Lok Sabha polls for over three hours and decided to reach out to every household with its five "Nyay" guarantees for the youth, women, workers, farmers and the marginalised sections.

- Eight parliamentary constituencies in Uttar Pradesh -- Saharanpur, Kairana, Muzaffarnagar, Bijnor, Nagina (SC), Moradabad, Rampur and Pilibhit -- will vote in the first phase of the Lok Sabha polls on April 19.

- According to the Election Commission, the notification for the polls will be issued on March 20, while March 27 is the last date for filing of nominations.