Kolkata:

The Trinamool Congress released its manifesto for the 2024 Lok Sabha election on Wednesday evening and vowed – as the Congress, the DMK, and other members of the INDIA opposition bloc have – to repeal changes to the citizenship law should it defeat Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP.

Bengal’s ruling party – seen as part of INDIA despite failed seat-sharing talks with the Congress-led group – also made other big-ticket promises, including 10 free LPG (cooking gas) cylinders every year to below-poverty-line families and five kg of free rations (rice, wheat, and grains) monthly.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s party  also vowed to back farmers in the MSP, or minimum support price, row, which led to a months-long confrontation – including a blockade around Delhi – between protesting agriculturists and the centre in 2020, and a second round of protests this year.

The Trinamool has said it will set this price in line with the MS Swaminathan Commission’s recommendations and “at least 50 per cent higher than the average cost of production”.

The prices of petrol and diesel will be “capped at affordable levels” and a price stabilisation fund would be set up to handle future fluctuations in what is a volatile international market.

The Trinamool has also promised 100 days of guaranteed work to all job card holders, and that all registered workers, nationwide, will now get Rs 400 per day.

It has also reached out to students, promising to triple the number of higher education scholarships for marginalised – Other Backward Classes, and Scheduled Castes and Tribes – communities.

For senior citizens (over 60 years), the existing pension scheme will be overhauled. They will now get Rs 1,000 per month. “Dignified housing” has been guaranteed for all poor families in the country.

This will provide “safe and secure homes” to all, Ms Banerjee said.

“These are the promises which we will fulfil as part of (the) INDIA bloc, when it forms the next government,” outgoing Rajya Sabha MP Derek O’Brien said at the launch event in Kolkata.

The manifesto was released as Mamata Banerjee ripped into the BJP while campaigning for her party’s candidate in Assam’s Silchar. A fierce critic of the saffron party, Ms Banerjee offered a chilling warning to voters everywhere, saying, “This election is going to be scary…”

READ | “Think PM Will Give You Justice?” Mamata Banerjee in Assam

The Trinamool manifesto follows those of its allies – Tamil Nadu’s ruling DMK and the Congress, as well as that of the CPI(M), which made headlines by vowing to dismantle India’s nuclear weapons.

READ | No Citizenship Amendment Act, Uniform Civil Code: DMK Manifesto

The CPI(M)’s promise triggered pushback from Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, who said the Left party was playing with national security and claimed a “deep-rooted conspiracy” against the nation.

READ | CPI(M) Manifesto Promises To Dismantle India’s Nukes

The BJP released its manifesto last week.

READ | BJP Releases ‘Modi Ki Guarantee’ Manifesto, Congress Calls It Apology

The document underlined Mr Modi’s focus on the poor, young men and women, farmers, and women, all of whom are seen as key vote banks for the saffron party. He said the manifesto focused on the “dignity (and) quality of life” and the “quantity (and) quality of opportunities”.

The Congress released its manifesto on April 5 and, like the Trinamool, said it would roll back the changes to the Citizenship Amendment Act and ensure legal backing for farmers’ MSP demands.

READ | Congress’ 2024 Manifesto Focuses On Jobs, Vows Caste Census

Crucially, the party also said it would order a national caste survey, which is one of the biggest talking points in this election, and has been so since Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar – whose Janata Dal (United) was an INDIA leader till he jumped to the BJP – ordered its survey last year.

The Congress manifesto invited acerbic responses from the Prime Minister and senior BJP leaders, who described it as a “Muslim League imprint”. Congress boss Mallikarjun Kharge shot back and accused Mr Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah of “spreading falsehood”.

The 2024 Lok Sabha election will begin on Friday and run till June 1. Voting will take place over seven phases. The final result will be declared on June 4. In the 2019 election, Ms Banerjee’s Trinamool won 22 of the state’s 42 seats. The BJP got 18 and the Congress won the other two.

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New Delhi:

Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar on Saturday steered clear of a question on last week’s shock resignation of Arun Goel as an Election Commissioner – days before the poll panel was to announce Lok Sabha election dates – telling NDTV “… he had personal reasons”. 

He also rejected talk of an acrimonious departure, calling his former colleague “a very distinguished member of the team” and someone with whom he “enjoyed working”.

“Arun Goel was a very distinguished member of the team and I thoroughly enjoyed working with him. But, in every institution, everyone must be given personal space, and that should not be touched. He had his reasons, and you should ask him about it,” Mr Kumar said.

“But let me be clear… we have a very sound tradition of not stifling dissent within the four walls of the ECI. This (the planning and conduct of elections) is a very complicated exercise… and three minds are always better than one…” he added.

Last week, when Mr Goel said he was stepping down, sources told NDTV he too had cited “personal reasons”, and said the government had persuaded to reconsider. 

READ | Why Election Commissioner Arun Goel Resigned Weeks Before 2024 Polls

He also dismissed speculation ill health had forced to resign. 

Mr Goel was appointed in November 2022; this was a day after he quit the Indian Administrative Service. The Supreme Court had asked then “what is the tearing hurry?”

He was to have served till 2027; in fact, Mr Goel was in line to replace Rajiv Kumar as the Chief Election Commissioner after the latter retires next year.

After Arun Goel’s resignation, Mr Kumar was the only person on the three-member poll panel till two new officers were inducted – ex-civil servants Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu. They replaced Mr Goel and Anup Pandey, whose term expired in February.

READ | Lok Sabha Elections From April 19 In 7 Phases, Results On June 4

The Election Commission this afternoon announced the schedule for the 2024 Lok Sabha Assembly election and for state polls in Arunachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, and Sikkim, as well as bypolls to 26 Assembly constituencies across 13 states.

Polling for all begins on April 19, with the general election spread over seven phases. Results for all elections will be declared on June 4.

New Delhi:

The Election Commission will announce the schedule of the upcoming Lok Sabha polls this afternoon. In a post on X, the poll body said the dates for the general and some state assembly elections will be announced at 3 pm today.

The tenure of the present Lok Sabha ends on June 16 and a new House will have to be constituted before that. The tenure of Andhra Pradesh, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, and Odisha assemblies will also end in June.

Nearly 97 crore people are eligible to vote in the upcoming polls.

LIVE UPDATES: Lok Sabha Election 2024 Date | Assembly Election 2024 Schedule

In the last parliamentary polls, the BJP, seeking a third consecutive term this time, won 303 seats, while the Congress got 52 seats. It could not muster enough numbers to claim the position of Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha.

The upcoming polls are extremely crucial for the Opposition bloc INDIA, fighting to stop the BJP’s run.

Here are the LIVE updates on the big story:

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Lok Sabha Elections 2024: 5 Points About Rahul Gandhi, Congress Candidate From Kerala Wayanad

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will contest the Lok Sabha elections 2024 from Kerala’s Wayanad. He was among the 39 candidates announced by Congress in its first list. Mr Gandhi is a four-time MP. He lost from Amethi in 2019.

1) Born on June 19, 1970 to former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi is the grandson of Indira Gandhi, also a former Prime Minister, and the great-grandson of the country’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Rahul Gandhi was homeschooled after the assassination of Indira Gandhi.

2) Rahul Gandhi entered electoral politics during the 2004 Lok Sabha elections from UP’s Amethi seat, then a stronghold of the Nehru-Gandhi family. The high-profile Lok Sabha seat was previously represented by Rajiv Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, and Sanjay Gandhi.

3) The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) came to power in 2004. Rahul Gandhi wasn’t a part of the government. He focused on working in the party and was appointed Congress’s general secretary in 2007. 

4) Rahul Gandhi was appointed Congress vice president in 2013. The UPA government suffered defeat at the hands of the Narendra Modi-led BJP’s campaign in the 2014 elections. The Congress was reduced to its lowest-ever tally of 44 seats. 

5) In 2017, Rahul Gandhi was appointed Congress president, replacing his mother Sonia Gandhi. Rahul Gandhi lost his family stronghold seat of Amethi, but was elected from Wayanad. He resigned from the post of Congress president in view of the party’s dismal performance in the polls.

Lok Sabha Elections 2024: 5 Facts On Amit Shah, BJP’s Gandhinagar Candidate
Union Home Minister Amit Shah will contest the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from Gujarat’s Gandhinagar. 

1)Apart from his mother, the teachings of Kanhaiyalal Maneklal Munshi, an Independence movement activist, politician and writer, also had a deep influence on Amit Shah.

2) Amit Shah’s interest in politics could be gauged from his active participation in the election campaign of Maniben Patel, the daughter of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, at the age of 13.A few years later, Mr Shah joined the RSS

3) Amit Shah, who became the secretary of BJP’s Ahmedabad unit in 1989, participated in the Ram Janmabhoomi movement and later in the Ekta Yatra. 

4) In 1997, Amit Shah, already the National Treasurer of the BJP’s Yuva Morcha, contested the Sarkhej assembly by-election and won by a margin of 25,000 votes. During his tenure as an MLA, Amit Shah developed close ties with then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, eventually forming one-half of the Modi-Shah juggernaut. 

5) In 2014, he took over as the BJP National President and was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Gujarat in 2017. In 2019, he entered the Lok Sabha after winning the Gandhinagar seat by a margin of over 5 lakh votes. He became the country’s Home Minister.

Lok Sabha Elections 2024 LIVE: 5 Facts On PM Narendra Modi, Who’s Looking To Win From Varanasi Again

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will contest once again from Varanasi in the Lok Sabha polls as he seeks a record third term.

1) Born on September 17, 1950, in Vadnagar town of North Gujarat’s Mehsana district, Narendra Modi lived with his entire family in a single-storey house.

2) As a child, Narendra Modi, was believed to have been inspired by the teachings of Swami Vivekananda.

3) At the age of 17, Narendra Modi left Vadnagar to travel across India, exploring cultures, and getting to know his country better. In 1972, Narendra Modi went to Ahmedabad and joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

4) In 1987, Narendra Modi entered mainstream politics and was made the General Secretary of BJP’s Gujarat unit in a year. In 2001, the party’s high command chose Narendra Modi to replace Keshubhai Patel as the Gujarat chief minister, a post he went on to hold until 2014.

5) In 2014, the BJP came to power at the Centre after a decade of Congress rule, and Narendra Modi, who by then had established himself as a name synonymous with development, was sworn in as India’s Prime Minister.

Election 2024 Date LIVE: Who Are The New Election Commissioners Named To Poll Panel?
Two new Election Commissioners were inducted, after the retirement of Anup Chandra Pandey in February and Arun Goel’s surprise resignation last week. Former IAS officers Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu have been named to the panel.