BJP General Secretary Bhupender Yadav announced list of NDA candidates in Bihar.
Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad will contest from Patna Sahib, the parliamentary constituency represented by Shatrughan Sinha. Reports of the BJP replacing Mr Sinha in the seat has been doing for a while. Mr Sinha's criticism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has grown progressively sharper over the time, with the Patna Sahib lawmaker criticising various policies including demonetisation, GST, among others. He even attended an opposition rally called by West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee in January. Mr Sinha is likely to contest the April-May election on a Congress ticket.
Congress President Rahul Gandhi addressed a Jan Bhawna Rally in Bihar this afternoon. From Bihar, the Congress leader will fly to West Bengal to hold his first election campaign rally there.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has accused the BJP of having his public rally cancelled, while questioning how many rallies of the BJP were cancelled in the last five years. "BJP gets my public rally cancelled today through police. Police denies permission. How many BJP rallies were denied permission by police in Delhi in last 5 years?" Mr Kejriwal said in a tweet.
The Aam Aadmi Party chief also said that the BJP should accept that it will lose all the seven seats in Delhi. The Arvind Kejriwal's party has planned 280 rallies and 3,000 roadside meetings for the April-May election.
Meanwhile, the NDA is expected to release th list of its 40 candidates in Bihar. On friday, the BJP released its third list of candidates carrying 36 names, which included 23 nominees for Andhra Pradesh where polling will be held in the first phase on April 11.
Voting for the Lok Sabha elections will be held in seven phases starting April 11. Results will be declared on May 23.
Here are the updates on political developments on Lok Sabha elections:
Congress releases list of candidates for Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh assembly elections
Gujarat BJP starts second phase of poll campaign from GandhinagarThe Gujarat BJP kicked off the second round of its door-to-door poll campaign, with state unit chief Jitu Vaghani leading party workers in Gandhinagar Lok Sabha seat from where Amit Shah is contesting.
Mr Vaghani started the ''sampark abhiyaan'' from Rupal village by seeking blessings at a local temple.
We will support Sumalatha as the independent candidate from Mandya (Karnataka), says JP Nadda
Rahul Gandhi is an MP, his source of income is salary, there's no other clear source. In 2004 election affidavit, he declared his wealth to be Rs. 55,38,123, it came to Rs. 2 cr in 2009 & to Rs. 9 cr in 2014; we would like to know how your asset grew to Rs. 9 cr from Rs. 55 lakh: Ravi Shankar Prasad
Major Surendra Poonia joins BJP in the presence of senior BJP leaders JP Nadda and Ramlal.
HD Devegowda will contest from the Tumkur parliamentary constituency as the combined candidate of JDS & Congress, says JDS spokesperson Ramesh Babu
The BJP-led NDA won 31 of the 40 seats in the state in 2014. Of this, the BJP won 22 seats, the LJP six and the Upendra Kushwaha-led Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP) three.
NDA names 39 candidates in Bihar
Bihar's ruling NDA on Saturday announced candidates for 39 out of the total 40 Lok Sabha seats in the state.
The BJP has dropped actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha from his Patna Sahib seat and instead fielded Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad in his place.
Mr Sinha won the seat in 2014.
LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan will not contest from Hajipur seat, the party has fielded Paswan's younger brother Pasupati Kumar Paras, a Bihar Minister and state LJP president, in his place.
Ram Vilas Paswan's son Chirag will contest from Jamui, while another brother Ram Chandra Paswan is being fielded from the Samastipur seat that he won in 2014.
BJP leader Giriraj Singh has been shifted from Nawada to Begusarai. Nawada went to the LJP under the seat sharing formula.
Only one Muslim candidate figures in the NDA list. The JD-U has fielded Mahmood Ashraf from Kishanganj.
Shatrughan Sinha, who won elections in 2014 on BJP ticket, had a fallout with the party leadership after he was left out of the cabinet. He has since publicly criticized the party leadership and the Prime Minister. Despite his very public attacks on PM Modi, the BJP stopped short of sacking him or taking any disciplinary action.
The NDA list did not release the name of the candidate to contest from Khagaria. Mr Yadav said that Ram Vilas Paswan's Lok Jan Shakti Party has not finalised the candidate for the seat.
Ravi Shankar Prasad will contest from Patna Sahib, the Lok Sabha seat of BJP leader Shatrughan Sinha.
NDA Release List Of Candidates In Bihar
Bhupender Yadav, BJP national general secretary, is announcing the names of NDA candidates from Bihar.
Congress and NCP are likely to announced their candidates for the April-May election today. Congress has already announced 12 candidates in Maharashtra.
Voters in Jharkhand, Rajasthan and Goa most satisfied with PM Modi
Voters in Jharkhand, Rajasthan and Goa are most satisfied with the performance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi while people in Puducherry, Kerala and Tamil Nadu are the least impressed with his work, news agency IANS said, attributing a survey it carried.
According to CVOTER-IANS Tracker 2019 opinion polls, PM Modi remains the most popular leader in the country leaving all his rivals far behind. A state-wise breakdown of the satisfaction level of people with him show that in at least 13 states, more than 50 per cent of the respondents approved of his work.
Jharkhand topped the charts where 74 per cent of the respondents said that they were satisfied with the Modi's performance, followed by 68.3 per cent in Rajasthan and 66.3 per cent in Goa.
The Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled Haryana is next where 65.9 per cent respondents were happy with his work.
Among the states where he scored less than 50 per cent includes Maharashtra (47.9), Assam (47.0), Uttar Pradesh (43.9), West Bengal (43.2) and Jammu and Kashmir (39.6).
The Aam Aadmi Party, which has promised statehood to Delhi if it performs well in the elections, will also launch its campaign in the national capital today. The Arvind Kejriwal's party has planned 280 rallies and 3,000 roadside meetings for the April-May election.
Congress President Rahul Gandhi will be addressing the Jan Bhawna Rally in Bihar. From Bihar, the Congress leader will fly to West Bengal to hold his first election campaign rally there.
Voting for the Lok Sabha elections will be held in seven phases starting April 11. Results will be declared on May 23.