Lok Sabha Elections 2019 Live: Cong to give final shape to manifesto for LS polls at CWC meet

The top Congress leadership will on Monday discuss and give a final shape to the party's manifesto for the Lok Sabha election starting April 11.

According to sources, the contents of the manifesto will be discussed at the Congress Working Committee (CWC) at its headquarters at Akbar Road.

The CWC is the highest decision-making body of the party and is chaired by Congress president Rahul Gandhi.

Top Congress leaders, including former prime minister Manmohan Singh, senior Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Ahmed Patel, A K Antony, Ghulam Nabi Azad, P Chidambaram, Mallikarjun Kharge, Ambika Soni and Anand Sharma, will be present at the meeting.

Former chief ministers Siddharamaiah, Oomen Chandy, Tarun Gogoi and Harish Rawat will attend the meeting.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal claimed that if the BJP forms the next government at the Centre, Narendra Modi will become prime minister of the country forever as there will be no election after the 2019 polls.

Virtually seeking to stoke fears of an impending end of democracy in the country, Kejriwal alleged that the Modi government is "following" German dictator "Adolf Hitler's tactics" to run the country.

While making the allegations, Kejriwal appealed to the people to ensure the defeat of the saffron party.

If Modi becomes the prime minister again there will be no election in the country, warned Kejriwal.

BJP releases its list of 9 candidates from Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Meghalaya and Maharashtra- Santosh Pandey to contest from Chhattisgarh's Rajnandagaon, Sunil Soni to contest from Raipur, Raghunanadan Rao from Medak in Telangana

Samajwadi Party releases its list of star campaigners for second phase of elections; Mulayam Singh Yadav's name included in the second list which was missing in the first list.

The election flying squad Sunday stopped an interactive session here by Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) leader Kamal Hassan midway as the party had not sought permission to use the public address system, party sources said.

Election department sources said the squad intervened and stopped the session of the actor-turned-politician with partymen in a hall of a school as there was no permission to use the mike.

The MNM sources said Hassan, however, carried on with the session without the microphone

Congress releases list of 10 candidates-Tariq Anwar to contest from Bihar's Katihar,BK Hariprasad to contest from Bengaluru South, Karti Chidambaram to contest from Tamil Nadu's Sivaganga & Suresh Dhanorkar to contest from Chandrapur in Maharashtra

Bolstered by its stellar showing in the tribal-dominated seats in the 2018 Chhattisgarh Assembly polls, the Congress is planning an even more effective encore for the April-May Lok Sabha elections.

Party leaders said the plan was to dislodge the BJP from all four tribal-dominated Lok Sabha seats, out of grasp of the Congress since 2000 when the state was carved out of Madhya Pradesh.

Three of these seats, namely Bastar, Raigarh and Surguja, will see sitting Congress MLAs contesting the Lok Sabha polls.

Former Samajwadi Party leader Shivpal Yadav, who recently floated a new political outfit 'Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party’ released its second list of 19 candidates for the ensuing Lok Sabha polls

Congress leader and MP from Thiruvananthapuram Kerala, Shashi Tharoor has challenged PM Modi to contest against him from the constituency

Panthic Morcha, an organisation of over two dozen social and religious organisations of Sikhs, Sunday said it would not contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections and will support the Congress to strengthen "secular ideology" in the state.

On March 18, the Morcha had announced prominent Sikh leader Avtar Singh Khalsa as its candidate from Jammu-Poonch parliamentary constituency, which is going to polls in the first phase on April 11.

The Congress has fielded former minister Raman Bhalla from the constituency and enjoys support form the National Conference, which has sealed a pre-poll alliance with the party.

Former Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker and eight-time Lok Sabha member, Kariya Munda, said on Sunday that he will return to farming after the BJP denied him ticket to contest the Lok Sabha elections from Jharkhand.

In the list of BJP candidates, Kariya Munda has been replaced by former Chief Minister and senior BJP leader Arjun Munda.

Kariya Munda was first elected to the Lok Sabha in 1977. He became Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha in 2009.

Congress finalises seat-sharing with partners in Jharkhand, to contest on 7 seats; Jharkhand Mukti Morcha gets 4, Jharkhand Vikas Morcha on 2 seats, talks are still ongoing with RJD, they have not yet agreed. Everyone will support RJD in Palamu

Surendranagar MP Devji Fatehpara, who was denied a ticket by the BJP for the April-May Lok Sabha polls, blamed two party colleagues for his ouster.

The BJP, which Saturday released a list of 15 candidates, dropped Fatehpara from Surendranagar and replaced him with Mahendra Munjpara.

Talking to reporters, Fatehpara said he had been denied a ticket at the behest of former minister Jayanti Kavadiya and MLA Dhanji Patel, a charge both of them denied.

"I have been denied a ticket at the behest of Jayanti Kavadiya and Dhanji Patel. Kavadiya has been against me for a long time. Now, he has got the company of Dhanji Patel. Both of them brought in Munjpara because they wanted someone who is obedient, someone who follows their orders," Fatehpara told reporters in Rajkot.

The ruling Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) has launched the "Ma Pani Chamling" campaign to build an inclusive manifesto, incorporating people's aspirations for the upcoming polls.

Through the campaign, the SDF aims to connect with 4 lakh people in the state and take their suggestions to prepare manifesto for the April 11 Assembly and Lok Sabha polls in the state

The Congress late on Saturday night announced its candidates for three Lok Sabha constituencies in Uttar Pradesh.

The eighth list of candidates announced by the party names Rashid Alvi from Amroha, Mahesh Pathak from Mathura and Kunwar Sarvaraj Singh from Aonla in the state.

A former spokesperson of the Congress, Alvi has been a member of the Lok Sabha from Amroha (1999-2004) and a two-term Rajya Sabha MP from Andhra Pradesh.

Kunwar Sarvaraj Singh has been a three-time Lok Sabha MP from Aonla. He was elected to the Lok Sabha from the constituency in 1996 and 1999 on Samajwadi tickets, while in 2004, he got elected on a Janata Dal (United) ticket.

Mahesh Pathak, who has been fielded from Mathura by the Congress, is a local businessman

Over 100 Tamil Nadu ryots will dress up like Aghori sadhus (Shiva followers) and seek alms in Uttar Pradesh to pay for filing their nomination to the Varanasi constituency from where Prime Minister Narendra Modi is contesting, farmers' leader P Ayyakannu said on Sunday.

This plan is to try and bring back focus on the plight of farmers besides collecting money (about Rs 25,000 for each nomination) for filing papers, Ayyakannu said.

"We plan to dress up like Aghori sadhus and seek alms," Ayyakannu, president of the National South Indian Rivers Inter-Linking Farmers Association said

Ayyakannu had said on Saturday that 111 farmers from Tamil Nadu would contest against Modi from Varanasi if the BJP does not assure them of fulfilling their demands such as profitable prices for farm produce and include it in the party manifesto.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Sunday announced that it will contest three seats each in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, and also introduced its candidates.

In a series of tweets, AAP leader Sanjay Singh said that in Uttar Pradesh, the party will contest in Saharanpur, Gautam Buddh Nagar and Aligarh.

"The Political Affairs Committee (PAC) of AAP has given its approval for three names in Uttar Pradesh. Yogesh Dahiya from Saharanpur, Prof Shweta Sharma from Gautam Buddh Nagar and Satish Chand Sharma from Aligarh will be AAP's candidates," Singh said.

The Congress has announced its candidates for nine of the 29 Lok Sabha seats in Madhya Pradesh, fielding former Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh from Bhopal.

The announcement was made on Saturday night.

Former Minister and Lok Sabha member Kantilal Bhuria was given the ticket to contest on Ratlam (reserved) sea

Meenakshi Natrajan will contest from Mandsaur, Ramu Tekam from Betul (reserved), Kavita Singh from Khajuraho, Kiran Ahirwar from Tikamgarh (reserved), Pramila Singh from Shahdol, Shailendra Diwan from Hoshangabad and Madhu Bhagat from Balaghat

Over two lakh disabled or `Divyang' voters in Maharashtra can use a specially designed mobile app to seek special facilities at polling booths during the next month's Lok Sabha elections.

Facilities such as wheelchairs, ramps and transport from home will be rolled out for 2,24,162 registered Divyang voters in the state, an Election Commission official said.

"Accessible Elections" is the EC's slogan, he said.

Bru voters lodged in relief camps in Tripura would exercise their franchise for the lone Lok Sabha seat in Mizoram on April 11 in special polling booths which would be set up for them at Kanhum village in Mizoram-Tripura border, officials said Sunday.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has instructed the Mizoram Election department to make arrangements so that the Bru voters lodged in relief camps in Tripura could exercise franchise at Kanhmun village, the officials said.

The ECI has also instructed the Tripura government to make arrangements for the transport of the Bru voters from their relief camps to the polling booths on April 11.

The Congress has announced candidates for all the five Lok Sabha seats in Uttarakhand.

The party has fielded Congress general secretary Harish Rawat from Nainital, former MLA Ambrish Kumar from Haridwar, former Chief Minister B.C. Khanduri's son Manish Khanduri from Pauri, state Congress president Pritam Singh from Tehri and Rajya Sabha member Pradeep Tamta from Almora.

"The Congress' central election committee cleared names of all the candidates," Suryakant Dhasmana, the state party vice president, said on Saturday.