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.