PM Modi Chairs BJP CEC Meeting in New Delhi - Watch Inside Visuals

Former Himachal Pradesh Minister Sudhir Sharma on joining the BJP: "Congress party has given 10 guarantees to the people, 14 months have passed and it was difficult for a common party worker to meet the CM. This hurt the self-respect of elected MLAs. I am here in BJP due to the policies of PM Modi. We all know how this nation is growing under his leadership. I will spend my entire life here (in BJP) only..."

Congress has released the first list of 18 candidates for the upcoming Sikkim Assembly polls 2024. Here are the names of the 18 candidates.

In the Fourth List of Congress released for the Lok Sabha Polls 2024, candidates include Digvijaya Singh from Rajgarh and Ajay Rai from Varanasi, with the latter contesting against PM Modi. Four candidates from Maharashtra were announced by the Congress, as follows:

1-Vikas Thakre, Nagpur

2-Rashmi Barve, Ramtek

3-Prashant Padole, Bhandara Gondiya  

4-Namdeo Kirsan, Gadchiroli Chimur.

Here is the full fourth list of Congress for LS Polls 2024:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired the BJP CEC meet in Delhi this evening. Watch inside visuals from the BJP meet here:

---

Shimla: BJP welcomes 6 Congress rebel MLAs and 3 Independents who joined the party recently.

JDU MLA Bima Bharti has resigned from the primary membership of the party. She has written a letter to JDU chief and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has arrived for the BJP CEC meet in Delhi this evening. The final CEC meeting of the BJP is expected to go on until after midnight. 

BJP CEC Meet: Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has reached BJP headquarters in Delhi.

A massive rift has emerged in Congress-RJD alliance in Bihar after the Tejashwi Yadav-led RJD named its candidate from the Aurangabad Lok Sabha Seat. Republic's Prakash Singh spoke to former bureaucrat and MP Nikhil Kumar. Former Delhi police commissioner and former Congress MP Nikhil Kumar hit out at Lalu Yadav for his unilateral decision to announce the Aurangabad Lok Sabha candidate from RJD. In an exclusive interview to Republic, Nikhil Kumar said, "We will contest the Aurangabad Lok Sabha seat at any cost. Else it will affect the alliance in Bihar. At any cost we will contest 9-10 seats out of 40. Lalu ji is not following the alliance dharma. We have spoken to the Congress high command and a decision will be taken soon. It's been a traditional seat of the Congress party." RJD has so far declared candidates in 11 Lok Sabha constituency even without the seat sharing being finalised. Watch the interview here:

The BJP candidates from Vadodara and Sabarkantha Lok Sabha constituencies in Gujarat on Saturday expressed their unwillingness to contest the upcoming general elections citing "personal" reasons. Sitting MP Ranjan Bhatt, who was fielded by the saffron party from the Vadodara seat, announced that she was not keen on fighting the elections. Her candidature had faced stiff resistance from some sections within the BJP. “I, Ranjanben Dhananjay Bhatt, am unwilling to contest the Lok Sabha Elections 2024 due to my personal reasons,” Bhatt announced on X in Gujarati.

Soon after, the party's Sabarkantha candidate Bhikhaji Thakor made a similar announcement. “I, Bhikhaji Thakor, am unwilling to contest the Sabarkantha Lok Sabha 2024 election due to personal reasons,” Thakor said on Instagram.

Inputs from PTI.

The Left Front has announced the names of candidates for four more Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal, including Murshidabad where CPI(M) state secretary Mohammed Salim has been fielded. The Left Front has already announced the names of candidates for 16 seats in its first list, and of them, 13 were from the CPI(M) and one each from RSP, CPI and Forward Bloc. In the second list, apart from Salim, the Left Front named Alokesh Das of CPI(M) from Ranaghat, the party's Sukriti Ghosal in the Bardhaman-Durgapur seat and CPI(M)'s Shyamali Pradhan for the Bolpur constituency. Left Front chairman Biman Bose said the names were decided at a meeting of the constituent parties. Salim is a former Lok Sabha MP from Raiganj, and prior to that, he was an MP from the Kolkata North-East constituency. 

PTI

West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose on Saturday asserted that there would be no interference on his part in the Lok Sabha Elections 2024 process, a day after the Trinamool Congress (TMC) accused him of meddling in the poll process.

The BJP on Friday extended support to the Ajit Pawar-led NCP for the Lok Sabha elections in the Lakshadweep parliamentary constituency. The Ajit Pawar-headed faction is yet to announce its candidate for the seat. “BJP extend complete support to NCP (Ajit Pawar) candidate from Lakshadweep. Together NDA can and NDA will achieve victory,” BJP national general secretary Vinod Tawde said on  X. 

Mohammad Faisal PP, who has been associated with the Sharad Pawar faction of the NCP, won the Lakshadweep seat in the last general election. ThCongress has fielded former Lok Sabha member Mohammad Hamadullah Sayeed from the constituency.

PTI

CM Yogi Adityanath will lead BJP's Lok Sabha Elections 2024 campaign with the first mega rally in Mathura on March 27.  

On seat sharing with JDS, former Karnataka Deputy CM Dr CN Ashwath Narayan says, "Seat arrangements have been finalized. It will remove all the confusion. Our alliance partners can also start preparing... We are going to win all the 28 seats, and we are expecting cooperation from JD(S)."

On announcements of candidates in Odisha, State BJP President Manmohan Samal says, "Whenever the Central Election Committee finalises...I am leaving for Delhi. Central Election Committee will meet in the evening..."

The BJP on Friday announced extending its support to the ruling National People’s Party (NPP) in Meghalaya in both the Lok Sabha seats in the state and the Naga People’s Front (NPF) in one of the two parliamentary constituencies in Manipur in the 2024 general election.

In the state’s sole Lok Sabha seat, the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP), now in power in Nagaland, will also receive backing from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Six rebel Congress MLAs, who were disqualified from the Himachal Pradesh Assembly last month, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday. 

 BJP MP from Vadodara, Ranjanben Dhananjay Bhatt tweeted, “I, Ranjanben Dhananjay Bhatt, am unwilling to contest the Lok Sabha Elections 2024 due to my personal reasons.” 

On seat sharing with JDS, Karnataka state election in-charge Radha Mohan Das Agarwal says, "BJP and JDS have decided to contest on 28 seats. BJP will contest on 25 seats with the support of JDS, and JDS will contest on 3 seats with the support of BJP."

1. Valmiki Nagar - Sunil Kumar 
2. Sheohar -- Lovely Anand 
3. Sitamadhi -- Devesh Thakur
4. Siwan -- Raj Lakshmi Kushwaha 
5. Nalanda - Kaushalendra Kr
6. Purnea - Santosh Kushwaha 
7. Katihar - Dulal Chand Goswami
8. Kishanganj - Mohd Muzahid 
9. Supaul - Dileshwar Kamat 
10. Jahanabad -chandeshwar Chandravanshi 
11. Gopalganj - Dr Alok Kumar Suman 
12. Madhepura - Dinesh Chandra Yadav 
13. Jhanjharpur - Rampreet Mandal 
14. Bhagalpur -  Ajay Mandal
15. Banka - Girdhari Yadav 
16. Munger - Rajiv Ranjan Singh
     

Kolara, Hassan and Mandaya Lok Sabha seats are being given to JD(S). We should support JD(S), said Karnataka state election in-charge Radha Mohan Das Agarwal. 

In a massive jolt to the Congress, the 6 rebel Himachal MLAs and 3 independent legislators are planning to join BJP. 

The Janvadi Party (Socialist) severed ties with the Samajwadi Party on Saturday amid the differences between the alliance partners. Announcing the decision, founder and national president of the Janvadi Party (Socialist), Sanjay Chauhan said, "There was a dispute between the Janvadi Party (Socialist) and the Samajwadi Party over the distribution of seats."

After conducting a series of core group meetings, BJP is likely to hold CEC meeting today evening at party national headquarters. This could be the BJP's final CEC meeting. States to be likely in focus are: Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Haryana, Odisha, Gujarat and West Bengal. 

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK president MK Stalin campaigned in Thanjavur during his morning walk today. During this, he also interacted with the public.

The BJP's Lok Sabha election in-charge in Rajasthan Dr Vinay Sahastrabuddhe on Friday asked party workers to be ready for hard work ahead.

He was addressing a joint meeting of the party's election management committee, Lok Sabha cluster in-charge and coordinators of its state office here. "We have to work hard to make our candidates win the Lok Sabha election so that Rajasthan can score a hat-trick of victory on all the seats," he said.

Naveen Patnaik-led Biju Janata Dal (BJD) has decided to contest the Lok Sabha Election 2024 alone. Sharing the decision of the microblogging site, X Odisha BJP president Manmohan Samal announced that the party will contest all 147 assembly constituencies and all 21 Lok Sabha constituencies alone under the leadership of Naveen Patnaik.