Lok Sabha Election 2019 LIVE updates: BJP to release manifesto today

The first phase of polling for Lok Sabha elections 2019 is set to take place on Thursday. All political parties are intensely canvassing for the April 11 polls as today is the last day of campaigning for phase 1. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will release its manifesto for the Lok Sabha polls today at 11 am. Top party leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and its chief Amit Shah, will be present at the launch of the manifesto, described by the BJP as its "sankalp patra". Senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley earlier unveiled campaign themes and other materials of the party's election campaign, with "Phir ek baar, Modi sarkar (Modi government, once more)" as the tag line.

Meanwhile, parties will sweat it out today in Uttar Pradesh. BJP and Congress plan to hold mega rallies in several parts of western UP. Yogi Adityanath will address public meeting in Bijnor, Muzaffarnagar, Kairana and Baghpat constituencies, Congress President Rahul Gandhi and party General Secretaries and eastern UP in-charge Priyanka Gandhi and western UP in-charge Jyotiraditya Scindia will hold public meetings in Saharanpur, Shamli and Bijnor.

BJP star campaigner Modi will address election rallies in Karnataka's Chitradurga and Mysuru.

The Lok Sabha election to 543 seats is scheduled to be held in seven phases beginning April 11 and concluding on May 19. The counting of votes will take place on May 23.