Election 2019 LIVE: Not BJP, Borders Safe Because of Brave Soldiers, Says Akhilesh Yadav

Prime Minister Modi reached Kathua and will be addressing a public rally shortly.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi landed in Pathankot to address a rally in Kathua. He is expected to reach Kathua at 11.20 am. PM Modi is also scheduled to address rallies in Aligarh and Moradabad today.

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said, “They say, as long as there is BJP government, our borders are secure. We the people of Samajwadi Party believe that as long as there are brave soldiers at our borders, the borders are secure. Governments come and go but the jawans stay at the border, protecting India.”

Akhilesh Yadav, SP President: They say, as long as there is BJP govt, our borders are secure. We the people of Samajwadi Party believe that as long as there are brave soldiers at our borders, the borders are secure. Govts come&go but the jawans stay at the border,protecting India pic.twitter.com/vZAOKQIvFw

— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) April 14, 2019

Lok Sabha Speaker and Local MP Sumitra Mahajan reached New Delhi. She has sought appointment from top leaders, including Amit Shah, and is also expected to suggest a couple of names for Indore constituency. The Congress which released candidate list on Saturday has also continued to hold back the name for Indore seat.

Lok Sabha Speaker and Local MP Sumitra Mahajan reached New Delhi. She has sought appointment from top leaders, including Amit Shah, and is also expected to suggest a couple of names for Indore constituency. The Congress which released candidate list on Saturday has also continued to hold back the name for Indore seat.

BSP in its fourth list of candidates for the Lok Sabha polls has fielded sitting MLA Ritesh Pandey, brother of the Ashish Pandey, who had brandished his pistol recently at a five-star hotel in Delhi, from Ambedkar Nagar seat. Chandrabhan Singh alias Sonu Singh is a prime accused in a murder case, who got a ticket from Sultanpur. Afzal Ansari who has been fielded from Gazipur is the brother of Mukhtar Ansari. Interestingly, it was Ansari brothers’ induction in SP that was opposed by Akhilesh Yadav, which led to the differences between him and Shivpal in 2016. Afzal is also an accused in Krishnanand Rai murder case.

Bahujan Samaj Party releases the fourth list of 16 candidates for Lok Sabha elections. 

Union Min Oram Asks Dilip Ray to Re-join BJP | The political equation in Odisha's tribal-dominated Sundergarh district is changing fast after Union minister Jual Oram Saturday urged former Rourkela MLA Dilip Ray to re-join BJP ahead of the second phase of polling in the state on April 18. "The issues raised by Dilip Babu has been solved as the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) has assured him that the work of the second bridge across Brahmani river and conversion of the Ispat General Hospital (IGH) into a super speciality hospital is being expedited," Oram said.

The Congress-in-charge of Assam, Harish Rawat, on Saturday claimed that the people of Assam will not vote for the BJP in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, as the saffron party is committed to bringing the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Bill. The general secretary of All India Congress Committee (AICC) was optimistic that the Congress had put up a good show in the five constituencies where polling was held during the first phase of the elections on April 11. Confident that the Congress will win all the five seats, he said, "According to ground reports the people in Assam voted against the BJP as they want to punish the party for bringing the anti-constitutional bill."

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday dubbed Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a "big fascist leader" running the country as per his whims, and urged people to not "waste" their votes on the Congress and the CPI(M). She reiterated that her party, the Trinamool Congress, will play an important role in ousting Modi, and forming the new government. Banerjee hit out at the BJP for taking out armed Ram Navami rallies at various parts of the state and accused the saffron party of trying to disturb the peaceful atmosphere of Bengal.

Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram took a swipe at PM Modi and said that he goes around the country but does not speak about the real issues. He tweeted, "Will he please speak on his real achievements: Demonetisation, Destruction of MSMEs, Loss of 4.7 crore jobs and Insecurity among women, Dalits, minorities, tribals, writers, artists, NGOs etc. Why is the PM get shriller and shriller every day? Is it because of fear of loss of power?"

Mr Narendra Modi goes around the country beating his own trumpet on his so-called achievements.

— P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) April 14, 2019

Prime Minister Narednra Modi, who is scheduled to address rallies in Kathua, Aligarh and Moradabad today, tweeted, “Another day, another set of rallies and the great opportunity of interacting with my fellow Indians...Will join rallies in Kathua (Jammu and Kashmir), Aligarh and Moradabad (Uttar Pradesh). As the campaign is progressing, I can see that BJP’s support is steadily rising."

Another day, another set of rallies and the great opportunity of interacting with my fellow Indians...

Will join rallies in Kathua (Jammu and Kashmir), Aligarh and Moradabad (Uttar Pradesh).

As the campaign is progressing, I can see that BJP’s support is steadily rising.

— Chowkidar Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 14, 2019

Addressing Sultanpur people in his tweet, Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh said, “I want to assure the people of Sultanpur that I will not ask the religion and caste of any person who comes with a problem to me.”

Congress Names Ashok Singh as Candidate from Gwalior, Indore Still on Hold | Digvijaya Singh loyalist and three-time party nominee Ashok Singh got a ticket from Gwalior seat as the Congress released three more names for Lok Sabha elections in Madhya Pradesh. The party, which released a list of 18 candidates on Saturday, continued to hold back the name of the candidate from the prestigious Indore seat. Ending speculation about the candidature of former Union minister Jyotiraidtya Scindia’s wife Priyadarshini Raje from Gwalior, the party named hotelier-politician Ashok Singh who lost out on a ticket on three previous occasions.

Andhra Pradesh CM and TDP supremo Chandrababu Naidu on Saturday met Election Commission officials to complain about widespread EVM malfunctioning and violence during the first phase of voting in the state on April 11. Raising questions on the poll panel's independence and impartiality, Naidu told reporters outside the EC headquarters that the level playing field — an essential attribute of democracy — "now stands disturbed".

Opposition leaders are meeting today at 11.45 am to 12.30pm at Constitution Club, Delhi to discuss save democracy, transparency in elections and EVM issues. They will address the media at 12.30 pm. The Election Commission has written to the Telugu Desam Party asking how a person with criminal antecedents could be a part of a delegation led by its chief N Chandrababu Naidu during his visit to the poll panel on Saturday. The EC in its letter has said when Naidu visited, he was accompanied by Hari Prasad who repeatedly raised various technical issues regarding functioning of EVMs and claimed that he had the technical expertise in the field.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, in Margao, Goa said, “They call themselves 'strong leaders and strong government', there have been many weak governments in last 70 years too but no government did what Modi ji did, he wrote to ISI & called them for investigation...can Pak get a better PM of India than this?”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also scheduled to attend a rally in Aligarh, Moradabad today. This would be the third visit of PM Modi in UP to address election meetings after launching the first one at Meerut on March 28 and then in Saharanpur and Bijnore on April 5. The visit of PM to UP also coincides with the 128th birth anniversary of Dr B R Ambedkar.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address an election rally in Kathua district of Jammu and Kashmir today. He will be campaigning for Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh. BJP state president Ravinder Raina said that the BJP is expecting a mega rally, with over 2 lakh people of all seventeen assembly constituencies. “The rally will be held at 11 am,” Raina said. This will be Modi’s second rally in Jammu region. Earlier, he had addressed an election rally in Akhnoor on March 28 in support of sitting BJP MP and candidate from Jammu-Poonch seat, Jugal Kishore Sharma.  Voting for Udhampur seat will be held on April 18.

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi is scheduled to attend her first rally in Assam today. She will be participating in a meeting at Silchar in southern Assam. She will be campaigning for the party candidate and sitting MP Sushmita Dev. This will be Gandhi’s first campaign for election in the state. Silchar will go to polls in the second phase on April 18. Gandhi will also head to Kerala’s Wayanad, from where her brother and Congress chief Rahul Gandhi recently filed his nomination, on April 20.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi's proposed meeting at Siliguri has been cancelled after the Congress leadership was denied permission for his chopper to land at the police ground there. Senior Congress leader and the party's Darjeeling Lok Sabha candidate Shankar Malakar said he had sought permission for Gandhi's chopper to land at the police ground on April 14 but it was denied by the police. "We had to cancel the rally as we didn't get the permission," Malakar said. Siliguri Police Commissioner B L Meena confirmed that the Congress had sought permission for landing a helicopter at police ground which was denied. "We had denied permission for that specific ground. There are some rules due to which it was not allowed. But they didn't come up with any alternative venue," Meena said.