As Modi 3.0 takes charge, five allies from parties in the NDA were given one cabinet berth each.
With the final phase of polling done for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, most exit polls have predicted a third time for the BJP-led NDA alliance. The results will be announced on June 4.
Himachal Pradesh’s Mandi seat is expected to see a fierce battle between Bollywood actor Kangna Ranaut and Vikramaditya Singh, a scion of the royal Rajput family of Bushahr.
Singh’s foray into politics is deeply rooted in his family legacy: he is the son of Raja Virbhadra Singh, a six-time former Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh, and his mother Pratibha Singh is a former Member of Parliament who won the by-election for the Mandi seat in 2021.
The BJP has won the crucial Mandi seat in the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha Elections. This time, they’re banking on Ranaut’s star power for the key constituency.
Birds of the same feather may flock together, but a single feather of the now extinct New Zealand huia bird sold at an auction for almost Rs. 24 lakh.
The feather, which was auctioned at Webb's Auction House in New Zealand, was initially valued at NZD $3,000, but fetched NZD $46,521.50 instead - setting a world record.
The huia bird, to which the feather belonged, was considered sacred and worn as headpieces by chiefs of the Maori people. The last confirmed sighting of the bird was in 1907.
North East Delhi stands out as a key battle-ground in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, with both the INDIA Bloc and the Bharatiya Janata Party fielding their strong candidates there.
Manoj Tiwari, fielded by the BJP, won the seat in the 2019 election. Meanwhile, it is Kanhaiya Kumar’s first time contesting for both the seat, and for the INC. Kumar had earlier contested for the Communist Party of India from Bihar’s Begusarai in 2019, but he lost to BJP’s Giriraj Singh.
Both the candidates have another thing in common: Viral fame. Tiwari shot to fame for being a Bhojpuri singer, with his “Rinkiya ke Papa” becoming a popular track. Kumar emerged as a prominent student leader in Jawaharlal Nehru University after becoming the president of the students’ union. Do you expect a close contest in the seat or an easy win for either candidate?
With just Rs 1,000 as his bank balance, Chief of the 'Waris Punjab De’, Amritpal Singh, who is currently Dibrugarh jail under the National Security Act is contesting the Lok Sabha elections from Punjab’s Khadoor Sahib.
His wife, Kirandip Kaur who is a British citizen owns movable assets worth Rs 18.37 lakh.
Amritpal has been in Assam's Dibrugarh under the National Security Act since April 2023.
His 12 criminal cases include charges of kidnapping, provocative speeches, breaking police barricading and threatening police officials by showing weapons, rash driving and “entering in house of complainant and snatching of motorcycle, shawl, specs, short turban and forcing her son to assist them to cross Sutlej river”.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi filed his nomination from Uttar Pradesh’s Varanasi yesterday. According to his affidavit, his assets tally up to Rs. 3.02 crore, with just Rs. 52,000 in cash. Modi has also not declared any houses or cars in the form. But, in the 2019 affidavit, he mentioned owning a residential plot in Gujarat's Gandhinagar, valued at Rs. 1 crore.
Modi is contesting from Varanasi for the third time, having clinched 63.62% of votes in 2019 and 56.37% in 2014. Varanasi will poll in the final phase on 1 June 2024.
The battle for power in West Bengal’s Krishnanagar is a fight between three: a former investment banker, a queen, and a community leader.
ATIC’s Mahua Moitra, who won in 2019, was perhaps the most vocal critic of the Modi government in Parliament until she was expelled.
The BJP’s challenger is Amrita Roy, a member of the royal family of Maharaja Krishnachandra Roy (whom the constituency is named after). She is known as ‘Rani Ma’ or ‘Queen Mother’, and only recently joined the party.
While it could be a tough battle between the two women, a third candidate stands out: CPI(M)’s SM Sadi. While Sadi may not be the obvious pick, he could significantly eat into Moitra’s vote share as both the parties share parts of their support base.
AITC has won the Krishnanagar seat three times in a row since 2009 but the CPI(M) won it nine times between 1967 and 1999. BJP has won this seat only once in 1999. Who do you think will be the victor this time around?
The Gandhinagar seat of Gujarat has been a BJP stronghold since 1989. Over the years, BJP stalwarts such as Lal Krishna Advani and Atal Bihari Vajpayee have won from this constituency. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had won the seat by a margin of more than five lakh votes.
The Congress tried to challenge BJP’s dominance in Gandhinagar by fielding heavyweight candidates such as former Election Commissioner T N Seshan and actor Rajesh Khanna, but victory eluded them. This time, the Congress has chosen AICC secretary Sonal Patel, an architect by profession, as their candidate from Gandhinagar, which goes to polls on May 7. Will the tides turn in 2024?
The battle for power in the city of Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, is expected to be a close contest between two Members of Parliament. Shashi Tharoor, the current Lok Sabha MP for Thiruvananthapuram, has been in power since 2009, winning the seat three times in a row. The BJP has never secured victory in this Lok Sabha seat. But Union Minister and Rajya Sabha MP from Karnataka, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, is aiming to change that. The constituency, along with the rest of Kerala, goes to the polls on 26 April.
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