Lok Sabha Election 2019 LIVE: Congress announces candidates for T’gana Council bypoll

The Congress on Monday named Uday Mohan Reddy, K Lakshmi Reddy and E Venkatram Reddy as its candidates for the bypolls to be held to fill three vacancies in Telangana Legislative Council.

Uday Mohan Reddy, Lakshmi Reddy and Venkatram Reddy would be candidates from Ranga Reddy, Nalgonda and Warangal Local Authorities' Constituencies respectively for which the bypolls would be held, Congress sources said.

According to the schedule announced by the Election Commission, the bypoll would be held on May 31.

The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) in Kerala on Monday claimed to be confident of winning all the 20 Lok Sabha seats in the state, which went to the polls on April 23.

"It will be 20 out of 20 as we experienced a strong pro-Rahul (Gandhi) wave ever since he decided to contest from Wayanad and also because of an anti-Narendra Modi and anti-Pinarayi Vijayan feeling among the people," UDF Chairman and Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala said after an UDF meeting here.

Chennithala said they were confident even after the Left Front deleted a million voters from the electoral rolls and committed foul play in the postal ballots of over 56,000 policemen.

Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) leader & Telangana Chief Minister, K Chandrasekhar Rao, arrives at Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) President MK Stalin’s residence.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Monday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of ignoring the facts and deliberately targeting him over the gang rape of a Dalit woman in Alwar district.

"The state government has already taken action in the matter. All the accused have been arrested. The SP was removed, the SHO was suspended and we will take all steps (needed)," Gehlot told reporters.

On Mayawati's remarks on the incident, Gehlot said the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief leads the community and her reaction on a crime against a Dalit was natural and justified.

BJP Yuva Morcha leader Priyanka Sharma on Monday moved the Supreme Court against her arrest last week for allegedly sharing on social media a meme of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

A vacation bench of Justices Indira Banerjee and Sanjiv Khanna agreed to hear the matter on Tuesday.

Sharma's counsel sought an urgent hearing in the matter contending that legal work in West Bengal had been halted since April 25 in view of the ongoing lawyers strike and she had no choice but to move the Supreme Court in the absence of any legal recourse.

Rashtriya Janata Party (RJD) President Lalu Prasad on Monday accused Bihar Chief Minister and JD-U chief Nitish Kumar of looking for shortcuts, making compromises and betraying the people of the state.

He also attacked the Janata Dal-United (JD-U), saying its election symbol 'arrow' represented violence whereas the RJD's symbol ‘lantern' removes darkness.

Lalu Prasad's letter to the Chief Minister was uploaded on social media.

It read: "My younger brother Nitish, it seems you have started hating light... Are you aware that lantern is synonymous with light? It is a symbol of love and brotherhood... But your 'arrow' is a symbol of violence."

The Congress on Monday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his remarks that cloud cover could help IAF planes evade Pakistani radars during the Balakot strikes, saying that while "boasting" he "disrespected war strategy" and committed an "unforgivable crime".

In an interview to a private news channel aired on Saturday, Modi said he relied on his "raw wisdom" to dispel doubts of defence experts who wanted the air strikes to be deferred due to inclement weather.

Taking a swipe at Modi, Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala tweeted, "In 70 years no PM has made fun of military might, but Modi ji kept his raw wisdom above military's professionalism." "He is so busy garnering votes in the name of military that he ended up insulting the forces. While boasting, Modi ji disrespected war strategy and committed an unforgivable crime," he said.

SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, BSP supremo Mayawati and RLD chief Ajit SIngh hold joint rally in Uttar Pradesh’s Gorakhpur.

Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra offered prayers and performed panchamrit abhishek at the Mahakaleshwar temple on Monday.

Arriving from Indore, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra took a chopper to Ujjain. She was accompanied by Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath. She will campaign for Congress candidates in Indore and Ratlam later in the day.

Protestors greeted Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal with black flags when he launched his campaign for his AAP candidate Bhagwant Mann and asked him to go back.

It was a close shave for actor-turned politician Sunny Deol on Monday, when one of the tyres of the sport utility vehicle he was travelling in burst on the Amritsar-Gurdaspur national highway, police said.

At least four vehicles in Deol's convoy rammed into each other, though no one was injured. The actor was on his way for a roadshow. He, subsequently, left the spot in another vehicle.

Supreme Court vacation bench dismissed the petition filed by lawyer, Nizamuddin Pasha, challenging the ECI's decision refusing to prepone voting commencement time from 7 am to 5 am for the last phase of voting to,'ease difficulty for Muslims during the holy month of Ramzan'.

BJP sources said that party chief Amit Shah was denied permission to hold a rally in Jadavpur, West Bengal and he was also denied permission to land his chopper.

ECI: DEO Faridabad has reported that a polling agent was arrested yesterday and FIR has been lodged. He was trying to effect at least 3 women voters. Observer visited the booth at Asawati in Prithla constituency of 10, Faridabad PC. He is satisfied that voting was never vitiated.

A polling agent in Faridabad near Delhi was arrested on Sunday after he allegedly influenced voters in the sixth round of the national election. The action was taken against the official after a video on Twitter was brought to the notice of the Haryana election body reported by NDTV.

The video shows a man in blue t-shirt sitting at his table inside a polling booth at Asaoti in Faridabad Lok Sabha seats Prithla. Women voters can be seen standing in a queue inside the room. The man walks up to the voting compartment as a woman prepares to cast her vote, appears to press a button on the voting machine before returning to his seat. He repeats the act with two other women.

Mayawati, BSP said, “Narendra Modi was silent on Alwar gangrape case. He's trying to play dirty politics over it. So that in the elections his party can be benefited. It is extremely shamefully. How can he respect others' sisters and wives when he has left his own wife for political gains?”

Telangana Rashtra Samiti leader and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao to meet Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) President MK Stalin, in Chennai, on Monday.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi to address 2 public rallies on Monday - in Fatehgarh Sahib and Hoshiarpur of Punjab.