Lok Sabha Elections 2024 Highlights | Congress releases 6th list, Prahlad Gunjal to contest against Om Birla in Kota

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The 18 Lok Sabha poll candidates announced by the BJP for Odisha include two members from erstwhile royal families, five from tribal communities and two Dalits.

Four women also featured in that list of nominees. Of the total 21 Lok Sabha seats in the state, the BJP released names of candidates for 18. Contestants for Cuttack, Jajpur and Kandhamal constituencies will be declared later.

The party retained Bolangir MP Sangeeta Kumar Singh Deo, who belongs to the Patnagarh royal family. She is the wife of KV Singh Deo, the titular Maharaja of Patnagarh. KV Singh Deo is also a BJP leader and a former minister in Odisha.

BJP MP Sushil Kumar Singh, who will be running for a fourth consecutive term from Bihar’s Aurangabad Lok Sabha seat, on Monday filed his nomination papers. Singh filed his nomination papers a day after the BJP announced its candidates for all 17 seats, out of 40, it will be contesting in Bihar.

The AIMIM said the party will contest from Bharuch and Gandhinagar constituencies in Gujarat in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Notably, the high-profile Gandhinagar seat is represented by Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

“Our Central leadership has decided to field party’s candidates from Bharuch and Gandhinagar Lok Sabha seats. Names of candidates will be announced soon. Both Bharuch and Gandhinagar have significant number of Muslim population,” said Gujarat unit All India MajlisEIttehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Sabir Kabliwala, a former MLA.

The Congress party has released its sixth list of candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.The party has nominated Prahlad Gunjal to challenge the incumbent Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla from Kota constituency.

In a press conference held earlier today, March 25, the Congress announced the nomination of five candidates, with Gunjal’s candidacy for Kota being the highlight of the list. Alongside Gunjal, Ramchandra Choudhary was nominated for Ajmer, Sudarshan Rawat for Rajsamand, Damodar Gurjar for Bhilwara, and C Robert Bruce for Tirunelveli.

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A fierce electoral battle is anticipated in the Kollam Lok Sabha seat in South Kerala between the sitting MP and Congressled UDF candidate N K Premachandran, who seeks a third consecutive term, and two prominent film personalities M Mukesh of CPI(M)led LDF and G Krishnakumar of BJPled NDA. With poll campaigning gaining momentum in the constituency, Mukesh, a highly acclaimed actor in Malayalam cinema, and BJP’s G Krishnakumar, known for his roles in movies and television serials, are expected to leverage their considerable fan bases for the April 26 elections.

Pitted against sitting MP Rahul Gandhi in the April 26 Lok Sabha polls from here, BJP Kerala president K Surendran on Monday said the Congress leader will this time “face the same outcome as in Amethi,” where he had lost to the saffron party in 2019.

The mountainous Wayanad constituency is all set for a high-profile 3-way fight between Rahul Gandhi, CPI senior leader Annie Raja, who is the LDF pick and Surendran.

The Congress on Monday declared four more candidates from Rajasthan for the Lok Sabha elections. The Congress gave ticket to Prahlad Gunjal, a former BJP leader who joined the party recently, from Kota to take on BJP candidate and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.

Ajmer dairy chairman Ramchandra Chaudhary was given the ticket from Ajmer, former MLA Sudarshan Rawat from Rajsamand and local party leader Damodar Gurjar from Bhilwara. With the latest list, the Congress has so far declared 22 candidates and left two seats — Sikar and Nagaur under alliance with the CPI (M) and RLP respectively. (PTI)

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday said the slogans ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ and ‘Jai Hind’ were first raised by two Muslims and asked whether the Sangh Parivar would be ready to abandon them. Reaching out to the minority community in this Muslim-dominated north Kerala district, the veteran CPI(M) leader said Muslim rulers, cultural icons and officials had played a significant role in the country’s history and independence movement.

A noisy argument broke out between the office bearers of the AIADMK and DMK here on Monday when both sides demanded that the election officer accept the nomination of their candidate first. Read more here.

The Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) announced on Monday that its convener Hanuman Beniwal will contest the upcoming Lok Sahha elections from Rajasthan’s Nagaur seat as an INDIA bloc candidate. The Congress, which is also part of the opposition INDIA bloc, on Saturday announced candidates for two more Lok Sabha constituencies in Rajasthan but left Nagaur seat for the RLP.

#WATCH | Jaipur: Congress candidate from Jaipur Lok Sabha, Pratap Khachariyawas says, ” Yesterday, I was given the Lok Sabha ticket without asking for it. In these challenging times, it is our responsibility to fight unitedly… All of us our Sanatani, and all Congress leaders… pic.twitter.com/fLTYEOD6Xp

— ANI (@ANI) March 25, 2024

#WATCH | Chennai, Tamil Nadu: After filing her nomination for the Lok Sabha elections, former Telangana and Puducherry Governor and BJP candidate Tamilisai Soundararajan says, ” The people want PM Modi to be Prime Minister again. South Chennai is a constituency with very… pic.twitter.com/jsrKEvjgTQ

— ANI (@ANI) March 25, 2024

Between 1962 and 1989, the duration of the Lok Sabha elections was between four to 10 days. The shortest election was held in 1980 — from January 3 to 6 — when Indira Gandhi was voted back to power.

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The BJP has dropped as many as seven sitting Members of Parliament from Uttar Pradesh in its fifth list of candidates for the Lok Sabha elections, including Union minister VK Singh from Ghaziabad and former Union minister Santosh Gangwar from Bareilly. However, the absence of Varun Sanjay Gandhi from the names picked for the 2024 battle has stood out from the rest.

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