Lok Sabha Election 2019 LIVE: NSS to remain equi-distant in Lok Sabha polls

The Nair Service Society (NSS), the socio-cultural body of the Hindu Nair community in Kerala, on Tuesday made it clear that it will continue to remain equi-distant vis-a-vis all political fronts in the Lok Sabha polls. This was stated by NSS General Secretary Sukumaran Nair.

On the Sabarimala temple issue, the NSS said that both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress tried to reap political capital.

"When it came to protecting the traditions and customs of the temple, neither the state nor the Central governments come out with laws to protect it. Only the Congress-led UDF took legal steps while the BJP took to (organising) protests."

Kerala goes to the polls on April 23 to elect 20 MPs.

Trinamool Congress MP and theatre activist Arpita Ghosh's movable assets have soared over five-fold to about ₹28.24 lakh from over ₹5.44 lakh declared in 2014.

In her affidavit while filing nomination for Balurghat parliamentary seat in West Bengal, Ghosh has declared over ₹92,000 cash in hand and over 24.07 lakh worth of bank deposits, including fixed deposits and Public Provident Fund.

About ₹3 lakh of investments in bonds, mutual funds, debentures and shares have also been shown in her affidavit.

Biju Janata Dal (BJD) releases list of 9 candidates; 2 for Lok Sabha polls and 7 for Legislative Assembly polls. Mahesh Sahu to contest from Dhenkanal Lok Sabha seat and Chandrani Murmu from Kendujhar Lok Sabha seat.

Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) President Asaduddin Owaisi on Tuesday said his party stood by Hindu women who were abandoned by their husbands.

"Majlis stood by our Hindu sisters who are victim to the cruel social evil of abandonment without divorce," tweeted Owaisi.

His comments came a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi raked up the issue of triple talaq at an election rally in Hyderabad.

Modi told the rally that he had to face criticism for bringing a bill in Parliament to protect the country's "sisters and daughters" from the "repressive tradition" of triple talaq.

Heightening the electoral pitch of his party, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah on Tuesday dared the Modi government to "even touch" articles 370 and 35A of the Constitution which provide special status to the state.

Addressing a gathering of National Conference supporters in Ganderbal town, Abdullah said: "The moment they touch article 370 or 35A, the accession of Jammu and Kashmir with India will end. I dare them to even touch article 370 and 35A."

He argued that if these articles were supposed to be temporary, then the accession of Jammu and Kashmir with India was also temporary.

The Delhi University Students' Union on Tuesday wrote to the varsity vice-chancellor and the Election Commission to ensure that the April-May semester exams do not clash with the dates for voting in the Lok Sabha elections.

The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad-led DUSU appealed to students to consciously exercise their fundamental right to vote in the polls beginning April 11.

In the letter addressed to DU VC Professor Yogesh Tyagi, students' union president Shakti Singh demanded that no practical or semester examinations be conducted anytime during the Lok Sabha elections.

The DUSU also demanded that the exams neither be held a day prior nor a day later than the date of casting votes so that students from other states can conveniently exercise their right to vote.

The CPI(ML) Liberation manifesto on Tuesday advocated amending the Constitution for recognising the Right to Work, Right to Health, Right to Housing and Right to Education as fundamental rights.

The party's general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya also came down heavily on Narendra Modi government's "anti-poor" policies while releasing the party manifesto. Demanding an allocation of 10% of GDP for education, the ultra-Left party also made a strong pitch for "scrapping" the Defamation Act and Official Secrets Act.

He, however, had a word of appreciation for the Minimum Income Guarantee Scheme saying, "we are in favour of the scheme if the ongoing welfare schemes meant especially for the poor are not withdrawn." Pointing out that money will not be a problem for running the scheme, he suggested an increase in corporate tax and imposition of 1% of wealth and inheritance tax on the super rich.

On Mar 27, EC had written to Ministry of Railways and Ministry of Civil Aviation, asking them why have the pictures of PM Modi had not been removed from rail tickets and Air India boarding passes even after Model Code of Conduct had come into effect.

“BJP will obviously say that the manifesto is impractical and unimplementable. However, these schemes and ideas are only unimplementable for the BJP not for the Congress,” says former Finance Minister P Chidambaram.

The BJP on Tuesday appointed union minister Ananth Kumar's widow Tejaswini as the state unit vice-president in an apparent placatory move after denying her the ticket to contest from Bangalore South Lok Sabha constituency, which her husband had represented.

Tejaswini was sulking after the BJP announced political greenhorn Tejasvi Surya as the Bangalore South candidate, leaving her supporters angry and agitated.

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to accompany Congress President Rahul Gandhi to Wayanad in Kerala for filing of his nomination from the parliamentary constituency.

Congress names Babi Bagkar as its candidate to contest by-election from Mandrem (Goa) legislative assembly seat and Atal Shukla (UP) to contest by-election from Nighasan legislative assembly seat.

Congress leader Francisco Sardinha and Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) Elvis Gomes on Tuesday filed their respective nominations for the South Goa Lok Sabha seat.

Sardinha is a former Member of Parliament, while Gomes, who quit the Goa government service in the run-up to 2017 state Assembly polls to join politics, is AAP's state convener.

Sardinha, 73, filed his nomination papers before South Goa district election officer Ajit Roy in Margao town.

He was accompanied by Congress MLAs Digambar Kamat and Isidor Fernandes along with a large number of supporters.

With a large amount of cash being seized by the Income Tax (IT) Department from a cement godown in Vellore district that belongs to a DMK official, suspense continues over whether the Lok Sabha polls for the Vellore seat in Tamil Nadu will be held as scheduled on April 18 or will be postponed.

On Monday, IT officials found bundles of cash stuffed in cartons and gunny bags in a cement warehouse belonging to a DMK official who is said to be close to party Treasurer Duraimurugan.

The cash haul runs into several crore of rupees.

Following the seizure, the immediate question is whether the April 18 Lok Sabha polls for Vellore constituency will be cancelled and held on a later date.

About 1,700 Jan Dhan bank accounts in Uttar Pradesh's Moradabad district have come under the scanner of the Election Commission-deployed surveillance teams for receiving suspicious deposits during the poll season, officials said.

They said about ₹10,000 each, totalling about ₹1.7 crore, have been deposited in these accounts over the past few days and the instances have come under the scanner of investigative and intelligence agencies for possible abuse by political candidates as bribe to voters.

The Income Tax department has launched an investigation into the issue, along with other agencies deployed to check black money and illegal inducements to voters during the ongoing polls in the country.

JDS supremo HD Deve Gowda on Tuesday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of wanting to make India a "Hindu Rashtra".

The former prime minister also sought to know as to why article 370 of the Constitution that gives special status to Jammu and Kashmir should be abolished.

"Why it should be abolished? The question is- why it should be abolished? I did not give article 370 there. When Kashmir joined India after an agreement with the then Maharaja there, article 370 (was agreed upon)," Gowda said.

He said, "There are Buddhists there (in J&K), Muslims, Hindus, Brahmins, Pandits, and there are many communities there. After looking into the atmosphere that existed there, a decision was arrived at."

BSP chief Mayawati in Bhubaneswar said, “The announcements made by the BJP government in the last days of the government are just of electoral gains,” reported CNN News18.

Omar Abdullah in Pattan said, “ I have promised the people that the Public Safety Act law will be abolished.”

A senior leader of the IUML, a major political force in Wayanad from where Congress chief Rahul Gandhi is contesting elections, on Tuesday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of aiming to divide people on the basis of religion and said he should see all Indians as one.

Wayanad, a hill district in Kerala bordering Tamil Nadu and Kerala, epitomises "unity in diversity", Indian Union Muslim League leader Sayyid Munavvar Ali Shihab Thangal said, a day after Modi declared the Congress is scared to field leaders from constituencies where the majority dominates in terms of voters.

“We never expected such a statement from the prime minister,” said Thangal, and added that Gandhi's candidature from Wayanad had given confidence to workers of the Congress as well as to other members of the UPA in the region.

YSR Congress party leader YS Jaganmohan Reddy's sister Sharmila is running the party campaign in Andhra Pradesh in an innovative way.

'Bye Bye Babu' slogan is the focus of Sharmila's campaign as she is exhorting people at every rally and road show to bid adieu to Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, who is also referred to as Babu.

Confident of YSRCP's victory in the April 11 elections to the Andhra Pradesh Assembly, Sharmila has come out with an innovative campaign method to drive home the message that the countdown has begun for the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief.

At every meeting, she tells people that it's time to bid goodbye to Babu and then appealing the crowd to loudly say 'Bye Bye Babu'. With her punch dialogues she is targeting Babu and his son Nara Lokesh for failing to fulfil their election promises.

The Election Commission on Tuesday issued notification for phase four of Lok Sabha elections to be held on April 29 in which 71 seats across nine states will go to polls.

Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal will head for voting in all the seven phases of the general elections.

Five seats in Bihar, three in Jharkhand, six in Madhya Pradesh, 17 in Maharashtra, six in Odisha, 13 each in Rajasthan and UP and eight in West Bengal will go for polling.

“This is not a normal election, this election is a fight against BJP and RSS,” says National Conference leader Omar Abdullah.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi on him contesting from Wayanad said, “They feel that they are not being included in the decisions of this country. So I wanted to send a message to south India that we are with you and we are standing with you. That is why I am standing from Kerala.”

Congress party in its election manifesto promises to amend the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act - AFSPA.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi says, “Manmohan Singh Ji gave his expertise and vetted it, Antony Ji lent his experience and Sonia Gandhi Ji gave her opinion on the manifesto.”

Congress President Rahul Gandhi says, “Whatever is stated in the manifesto has to be true. I don't want anything to feature in the manifesto that is a lie,"

P Chidambaram says, “There is enough in the manifesto which addresses the concerns of Dalits, youths, minority, industry, state of healthcare and education, and concerns about internal and national security.”

UPA chairperson Sonia and former prime minister Dr. Manmohan Singh joined Congress president Rahul Gandhi at the launch of Congress manifesto ahead of Lok Sabha elections 2019.

A BJP leader has been arrested for allegedly misbehaving with district magistrate and tehsildar at DM's camp office, police said on Tuesday.

Local BJP leader Vinod Tiwari was arrested for misbehaving with DM Bhawani Singh and Tehsildar Gulab Chand on Monday, Superintendent of Police Devendra Nath said.

He said 12 cases were pending against Tiwari in Pakdi police station.

The BJP leader, however, denied the allegations. He said he visited the DM office after he received a call from there.

The Congress has fielded candidates for all the 25 Lok Sabha constituencies in Rajasthan ahead of the filing of nominations beginning on Tuesday.

The party announced the names of six candidates in its list on Monday night, which includes the name of sitting MLA and discus thrower Krishna Poonia on Jaipur rural seat.

Poonia will be contesting against Olympian and BJP candidate Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, also the Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting, on the Jaipur rural seat.

The party also announced names of industrialist Riju Jhunjhunwala on Ajmer, Bharatram Meghwal on Sriganganagar, Devkinandan Gurjar on Rajsamand and Rampal Sharma on Bhilwara seat in its list.

Bhalchandra Mungekar, member of Congress party's manifesto committee: When we will come to power, on the first day we will initiate an inquiry into Rafale deal and we have included this in the manifesto.

The district election officer of Mumbai has issued a notice to Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut for alleged violation of the model code of conduct over his comments against CPI candidate Kanhaiya Kumar.

Raut, who is the editor of Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana', said in the publication on Sunday that Kumar should be defeated in the elections even if it means the BJP has to "tamper with EVMs".

Kumar, the former president of the Jawaharlal Nehru University's student union, is contesting the upcoming Lok Sabha poll from Begusarai in Bihar.

Putting an end to suspense, the Congress has announced Mohan Joshi as its candidate from Pune Lok Sabha constituency in Maharashtra.

The announcement was made late Monday night by the Congress in an official release, a day after its city unit started poll campaigning in the constituency though it had then not declared its candidate.

Joshi's main rival in Pune constituency is five-time BJP MLA and state cabinet minister Girish Bapat.

Supreme Court declines urgent hearing on Hardik Patel's plea challenging Gujarat High Court order which refused to stay his conviction in 2015 rioting case so that he contest in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

The lower court at Mehsana, Gujarat had sentenced him to 2 years of imprisonment in July last year, for rioting and arson in 2015, during the Patidar quota protests.

SC says there is no urgency in listing Hardik Patel's plea as high court order was passed in August last year.

Union Min Ashwini Kr Choubey has been granted bail by a local court in connection with matter where he had misbehaved with SDM KK Upadhyay in Buxar after the official had stopped his convoy for violating model code of conduct. Incident took place on 30 March.

BSP chief Mayawati files affidavit before the Supreme Court justifying expenses in installation of her statues and elephant statues in Uttar Pradesh. In her affidavit she has stated, 'it was the will of the people'.

She had filed the affidavit in compliance with the last order of the Supreme Court asking her that prima facie, it seems that she needs to pay back the money as she had spent a lot of public money on installation of many statutes of herself and elephants in UP.

The Election Commission has found Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh’s remark that Narendra Modi should be re-elected as the Prime Minister violative of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) and will write to President Ram Nath Kovind to bring it to his notice, reported The Indian Express.

Kalyan Singh courted controversy last week in a bid to thwart the protests by BJP party workers after the announcement of sitting MP Satish Gautam’s name as the candidate from Aligarh again. He told reporters in Aligarh on March 23 that everyone wants PM Modi to win and that it’s necessary for the country.

BSP MLA Maulana Jameel joined the Congress ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

Talking to reporters here, Jameel said he left the Mayawati-led outfit as he felt only Congress could defeat the BJP in the coming elections.

The MLA joined the Congress in the presence of AICC general secretary Jyotiraditya