Lok Sabha Election 2019 LIVE: Sacked BSF jawan to contest LS polls from Varanasi 

"I will contest against Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Varanasi constituency as an independent candidate," Tej Bahadur Yadav told reporters in Rewari, Haryana on Friday.

Yadav said he wanted to contest the polls to eliminate corruption in the forces. "I had raised the issue of corruption but I was sacked. My first objective will be to strengthen and eliminate corruption in the forces," he said.

Kumaraswamy on Saturday wrote on Twitter, "IT officials continued their raid. They raided the rice and sugar mills run by Congress and JDS workers till 4am today and put spy cams on their premises. Disguising themselves as railway officials, they borrowed vehicles and are now staying at CFTRI Mysuru (sic)." "A shameful attempt to threaten and generate fear among our workers! We request the election commission to immediately intervene and stop this harassment of our workers," he said in another tweet.

“If you break that bridge (Art 370)...then you will have to renegotiate relationship between India-Jammu & Kashmir, there will be new conditions. A Muslim-majority state, would it even want to stay with you? If you scrap Article 370, your relation with J&K will be over,” says PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti

"I was elected six times as an MP and twice as MLA from the Janata Dal and the BJD. I never hesitated to take on challenges to help the BJD party grow in the district,” said Bhadrak MP Arjun Charan Sethi

"In the last few months, I met you time to time and was also given assurance that my son would contest from Bhadrak due to my old age but unfortunately his name was deleted from the final candidate list," he said in the letter.

Maratha leader Pravin Gaikwad joins Congress in the presence of Mallikarjun Kharge, Ashok Chavan and KC Venugopal in Mumbai.

What is Narendra Modi doing in this electoral campaign? He is running away from real issues, says Congress leader Anand Sharma

The Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP) will hold a meeting on Monday to decide whether to continue its alliance with the BJP for the general election.

"An important meeting of party workers has been convened in Lucknow on April 1 in which strategy for the upcoming Lok Sabha election and continuation in the government will be finalised," SBSP general secretary Arun Rajbhar said on Saturday.

The Election Commission is learnt to have issued a fresh show cause to the Railways, this time on the use of paper tea cups with "main bhi chowkidar" slogan. As the image tweeted by a passenger went viral, railways said they have withdrawn the cup and penalised the contractor.

EC sources said Railways have been asked to explain the prima facie violation of the model code of conduct by Saturday evening. It has also been asked to explain the person responsible for it.

The EC is learnt to have invoked the 'party in power' clause of the poll code in the case as it could be averred that party in power' is using government transporter for election publicity.

"The capability to shoot down a satellite has existed for many years. A wise government will keep the capability secret. Only a foolish government will disclose it and betray a defence secret," tweeted Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram

“Besides, why was it done now in the middle of an election campaign? Only to boost the sagging fortunes of the BJP,” he wrote

BJP chief Amit Shah, who is set to file his nomination for the Gandhinagar Lok Sabha seat on Saturday, started his election campaign by garlanding the statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.

Shah has replaced BJP veteran L K Advani, who had been winning uninterrupted from Gandhinagar since 1998, from the prestigious constituency. Shah is contesting the Lok Sabha poll for the first time.

Ram Kumar to contest from Kanpur and Rambhual Nishad to contest from Gorakhpur Lok Sabha constituencies.

Three sitting MPs and former student leaders are in the fray for the first phase of polls for Assam's five Lok Sabha constituencies, even as political parties are seen making last ditch efforts to gain votes for their candidates.

Voting will be held for the Tezpur, Kaliabar, Jorhat, Dibrugarh and Lakhimpur constituencies on April 11 and going by the list of candidates, it is assumed that the five seats are set for a straight battle of ballots between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led alliance and the opposition Congress.

The BJP has given tickets to two sitting Lok Sabha MPs -- Rameswar Teli (Dibrugarh) and Pradan Baruah (Lakhimpur).

The BJP has replaced the sitting MPs in Tezpur and Jorhat with new faces this time.

The residents of a village in Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar district have threatened to boycott the upcoming Lok Sabha elections over the authorities not paying heed to their demand to construct a bridge over Solani river.

The decision was taken at a panchayat meeting in Yogender Nagar village. A villager, Pratap Singh, said since the village is located near the river, residents face problems in getting across.

These problems are aggravated during the monsoon season, he added.

Election Commission sends second notice to Ministry of Railways over the matter of PM Narendra Modi's pictures printed on railway tickets. The Ministry has been asked to file a reply by today.