Lok Sabha Election 2024: BJP Appoints Poll In-charges, Co-incharges; Congress Releases 8th List | Updates – News18

Lok Sabha Polls 2024 LIVE Updates: The political mercury in the country is continuously rising with the upcoming Lok Sabha Election 2024 set to be held in seven phases between April 19 and June 1. With over 90 crore eligible citizens voting for 543 seats of the Lower House, the poll results will be declared on June 4. In addition to the general elections to the 18th Lok Sabha, the Election Commission of India (ECI) also announced elections in four states – Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha and Sikkim.

While the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday released its seventh list naming candidates for 403 seats so far, the Congress party also released its eight list of candidates.

Lok Sabha Election 2024 LIVE Updates | Top Highlights

• Nirmala Sitharaman on Why She is Not Contesting LS Polls: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) offered her ticket to fight the Lok Sabha election 2024, however, she declined the proposal citing a lack of funds required for fighting polls. The minister said that the BJP chief JP Nadda gave her the option to contest either from Andhra Pradesh or Tamil Nadu.
• Congress’ Pratibha Singh’s Candidacy: Himachal Pradesh Congress chief Pratibha Singh has left the decision on contesting the Lok Sabha polls to the party high command, the grand old party’s in-charge for the hill state Rajeev Shukla, said on Wednesday. Singh, the member of Parliament from Mandi in Himachal Pradesh, had recently said she had decided not to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha polls as the situation on the ground was “not favourable” and the party workers were disheartened.
• Blow to MVA: In a major blow to Maha-Vikas Aghadi (MVA), Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) chief Prakash Ambedkar on Wednesday announced to field eight candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha election in Maharashtra. The move indicates that the VBA is no longer in alliance with the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA).

BJP Appoints In-charges, Co-incharges for States and UTs

The BJP on Wednesday appointed its Lok Sabha poll in-charges and co-incharges for several states and union territories, drafting in quite a few leaders who did not get tickets to fight the elections. Bihar MLA Nitin Nabin will be in-charge for Chhattisgarh and Rajya Sabha MP Dinesh Sharma for Maharashtra, the party statement said.

Bihar MLA Sanjeev Chaurasia, Ramesh Bidhuri and Sanjay Bhatia were named as co-incharges for Uttar Pradesh. Both Bidhuri and Bhatia are MPs in the outgoing Lok Sabha but were not renominated by the party for the polls. BJP vice president Baijayant ‘Jay’ Panda is the poll in-charge for Uttar Pradesh but is likely to be busy in campaigning after he was named the party’s candidate for Kendrapara constituency in Odisha.

Haryana leaders O P Dhankar and Captain Abhimanyu have been made in-charges for Delhi and Assam respectively. Former Karnataka BJP president Nalin Kumar Kateel, who was not renominated for the Lok Sabha polls contest, will be co-incharge for Kerala. Former Union minister Prakash Javadekar was appointed in-charge for the state earlier.

BJP vice president M Chuba Ao, MP Ajit Gopchade, Bihar MLC Devesh Kumar, spokesperson Nalin Kohli, Karnataka MLA Abhay Patil and Avinash Rai Khanna have been made in-charges for Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Telangana and Tripura respectively.