Highlights: Electoral bonds world's biggest extortion racket, says Rahul

Lok Sabha Elections 2024 LIVE updates: Catch all the latest updates on the General Elections here

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday termed the scrapped electoral bonds scheme brought in by the BJP-led Union government as the "biggest extortion racket in the world."

The funds amassed through the scheme were used to split political parties and topple opposition governments, he alleged at a press conference here, a day after data pertaining to the scheme was made public following Supreme Court directions.

There was no correlation between the electoral bonds and the contracts given by Congress or other opposition parties' governments in states, said Gandhi, whose Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra is in Maharashtra in its last leg.

Between April 2019 and January 2024, regional parties received over Rs 5,221 crore in donations through electoral bonds which was Rs 839 crore less than the Rs 6,060.51 crore raised by the BJP alone.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who has been re-nominated for the Gandhinagar Lok Sabha seat,  began his election campaign today from Ahmedabad.

Senior BJP leader BS Yediyurappa has denied the allegations concerning sexual harassment of a young survivor, stating that the allegations against him are baseless and the timing just ahead of the Lok Sabha polls is suspect. An FIR under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) has been filed against the former Karnataka chief minister. The FIR alleges that the survivor was sexually harassed when she went to seek help on February 2. The survivor had sought help in a case related to another alleged sexual assault on her. The police has registered a case under POCSO and 354 (A) against Yediyurappa.

In a setback to the ruling party in West Bengal, Trinamool leader Arjun Singh who was denied a ticket to seek a fresh term in the Lok Sabha from the Barrackpore constituency of West Bengal, has returned to the BJP. The BJP, which named 20 Lok Sabha candidates from West Bengal earlier, hasn't yet announced its pick for Barrackpore.

After the country's poll body the Election Commission of India (ECI) released electoral bonds data,  the Congress on Thursday claimed there was a discrepancy in the numbers of entries in donor and recipient files -- 18,871 against 20,421. "The donors file has 18,871 entries, the recipients file has 20,421 entries. Why the discrepancy @TheOfficialSBI?" Amitabh Dubey, in charge of research and monitoring in the Congress' communication department. Congress also asked why the data shared pertained to a period from April 2019 even though the scheme for anonymous political funding was introduced in 2017.

Steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, billionaire Sunil Bharti Mittal's Airtel, Anil Agarwal's Vedanta, ITC, Mahindra and Mahindra, and a lesser-known Future Gaming and Hotel Services were among the major buyers of the now-scrapped electoral bonds for making political donations. Future Gaming, which was probed by the Enforcement Directorate in March 2022, bought electoral bonds worth over Rs 1,350 crore under two different sets of companies.

10:21 PM

TMC fields Laliteshpati Tripathi from Bhadohi Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh

TMC has fielded ex-Congressman Lalitesh Tripathi from Bhadohi Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh.

9:20 PM

Electoral bonds involves 'give and take', alleges AIMIM President Owaisi

AIMIM President Asaduddin Owaisi on Friday alleged that the purchase of electoral bonds involves "give and take" and that all major parties, except his, have received funds through the scheme. Addressing a gathering here, the Hyderabad MP said that a company would not give money "for free". "When an owner of a big company gives money (purchase of electoral bonds) to BJP, Congress, TMC, BRS, RJD, Samajwadi Party, he will not give just like that," he said. The companies, who donate money, don't do it for charity, he added.

8:32 PM

Senior TMC leaders Arjun Singh, Dibyendu Adhikari join BJP ahead of Lok Sabha polls

Two Trinamool Congress MPs -- Arjun Singh and Dibyendu Adhikari -- joined the Bharatiya Janata Party here on Friday, saying that they were upset with the Sandeshkhali incidents. Singh represents West Bengal's Barrackpur in the Lok Sabha and Adhikari the Tamluk constituency. They joined the BJP at its headquarters here in the presence of party national general secretary Dushyant Gautam and West Bengal co-in-charge Amit Malviya, ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. Singh, who had earlier joined the BJP in 2019 after quitting the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and defeated the then-TMC candidate on the Barrackpur seat, had returned to the TMC again in 2022 even as he remained a BJP MP on Parliament record.

8:15 PM

ED, Election Commission of India, CBI are weapon of BJP and RSS, says Rahul Gandhi

7:11 PM

Electoral bonds data: SC pulls up SBI for furnishing incomplete info, issues notice

Admonishing the State Bank of India for furnishing incomplete information, the Supreme Court said on Friday the bank was required to provide the number unique to each electoral bond that would disclose the link between the buyer and the recipient political party. It issued a notice to the country's largest bank to explain the reasons for non-disclosure of unique alpha numeric numbers in compliance of its directions, saying the SBI was "duty bound" to reveal them. A five-judge bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud said the apex court had, in its verdict in the electoral bonds case, directed the disclosure of all the details of the bonds, including the purchaser, amount and date of purchase.

6:39 PM

Lok Sabha polls: Samajwadi Party gives Bhadohi seat in UP to Trinamool Congress

The Samajwadi Party on Friday declared six of its candidates from Uttar Pradesh for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The six candidates are Yashveer Singh (Bijnor), Manoj Kumar (Nagina), Bhanu Pratap Singh (Meerut), Bijendra Singh (Aligarh), Jasveer Valmiki (Hathras) and Daroga Saroj (Lalganj). The SP gave the Bhadohi Lok Sabha seat to the Trinamool Congress.

5:05 PM

EC must restore democracy in J-K, announce dates for LS, assembly polls: Former J&K Omar Abdullah

"We have no expectations from the Election Commission. The EC should play its role as part of its mission of maintaining democracy. It has been 10 years that J-K has not seen an assembly election," Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah told reporters here. Referring to the submission of a report by former President Ram Nath Kovind-led committee on 'one nation one election, Omar Abdullah said it was a golden opportunity to start the policy from J-K.

5:02 PM

DMK enemy of TN's future, has hatred for the country and its heritage: PM Modi

"The history of the DMK and Congress is loot. They want to come to power to loot the people. On one side is the BJP's welfare schemes, on the other (in the INDIA bloc) is the scams of crores of rupees. We gave optical fibre, 5G and other digital initiatives. INDI alliance has 2G scam," PM Modi said in Tamil Nadu.

5:00 PM

Electoral bonds data: Regional parties together raised Rs 5,221 crore through electoral bonds

According to the data of the electoral bonds published by the Election Commission, regional parties received over Rs 5,221 crore in donations through electoral bonds between April 2019 and January 2024 which was Rs 839 crore less than the Rs 6,060.51 crore raised by the BJP alone in the period under review.

National parties - the BSP, the CPI(M) and the NPP - did not receive any funds through electoral bonds.

 

 The Trinamool Congress alone received Rs 1,609.53 crore through electoral bonds which was 30 per cent of the total donations received by 22 regional parties.

2:32 PM

General Elections 2024 LIVE: Electoral bonds data proves BJP is most corrupt, says RJD leader Manoj Jha

Senior RJD leader Manoj Jha today claimed that the data on electoral bonds has proved that the ruling BJP government at the Centre is "the most corrupt political party in the history" of the country.

 

"The data shows that shortly after the Pulwama terror attack, a Pakistani agency purchased electoral bonds. So much for the nationalistic pretensions of the BJP, which stands exposed as the most corrupt party in the history of Independent India," Jha told PTI video.

2:16 PM

Lok Sabha updates: Home Minister Amit Shah starts campaign for Gandhinagar seat

Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who has been re-nominated for the Gandhinagar Lok Sabha seat,  began his poll campaign after offering prayers to Lord Hanuman in Ahmedabad city today.

1:53 PM

Lok Sabha polls LIVE news: AAP withdraws its candidate from Guwahati Lok Sabha seat

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has also demanded that INDIA bloc partner Congress withdraw its candidates from Sonitpur and Dibrugarh in Assam.

1:51 PM

PM Modi to attend NDA election meeting in Andhra Pradesh on March 17

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the NDA election meeting at Chilakaluripeta in Palnadu district on Sunday, BJP national general secretary Vinod Tawde said on Friday.

1:04 PM

General Elections LIVE: BSP to contest two seats in T'gana as part of its tie-up with BRS

The BSP will fight  the Hyderabad and Nagarkurnool Lok Sabha seats, out of the total 17 constituencies in Telangana, as part of its tie-up with the K Chandrasekhar Rao-led BRS. Following talks between KCR and state BSP president R S Praveen Kumar, the BRS and BSP on March 5 announced a pre-poll alliance in Telangana for the Lok Sabha polls.

11:41 AM

Lok Sabha polls updates: MVA meeting on seat-sharing to be held today

Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut on Friday stated that the MVA parties will meet later today for seat-sharing discussions. Raut said, "Seat-sharing (in Maharashtra for Lok Sabha elections) has been almost finalised. Prakash Ambedkar is a member of Maha Vikas Aghadi. He took part in the first meeting. We have given a proposal of 4 seats to Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi. In today's meeting (of MVA), there will be talks between NCP-Congress."