Lok Sabha election 2024 LIVE Updates: Poll process should be completed before summer, says CEC

Regarding the Lok Sabha election results, Govind Singh Dotasara, Rajasthan Congress chief, said, “Exit polls are misleading, influenced by BJP and Modi ji. Over the past decade, the BJP hasn’t achieved much. While BJP is seeking votes, it fails to articulate its vision.”

Biggest learning from elections is that poll process should be completed before summer: CEC Rajiv Kumar.

Union minister Anurag Thakur, actor Kangana Ranaut, four-time RS MP Anand Sharma and sitting Public Works minister Vikramaditya Singh are the bigwigs to watch for in the four Lok Sabha and six assembly seats in Himachal Pradesh where counting will be taken up on Tuesday.

While four-time MP and BJP candidate Thakur is seeking a fifth term from Hamirpur, the other party candidate Ranaut, who has entered the political arena for the first time, is trying her luck from Mandi. Former BJP state president Suresh Kashyap is contesting from Shimla.

Among the prominent Congress candidates are four-time Rajya Sabha MP Sharma from Kangra seat and scion of erstwhile Rampur estate Vikramaditya Singh, who is son of six-time chief minister Virbhadra Singh and state Congress chief Pratibha Singh from Mandi seat.

All preparations for counting for two Lok Sabha constituencies – Tripura West and Tripura East – and Ramnagar Assembly segment byelection have been completed, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Puneet Agarwal said on Monday.

The counting will be held in 20 locations on June 4.

The voting for Tripura West Lok Sabha seat and Ramnagar Assembly segment byelection was held on April 16 while polling for Tripura East Lok Sabha constituency was conducted on April 26.

An average of 81.48 per cent voting was recorded in Tripura West Lok Sabha constituency while Tripura East registered 80.36 per cent polling.

CEC Rajiv Kumar says, “…We failed to understand the fake narratives that were going on during the elections. But we have understood it now.”

Ahead of Lok Sabha elections counting, CEC Rajiv Kumar says, “Postal ballot counting will start first. After only half an hour, we will start EVM counting. There is no doubt about it.”

Senior BJP leader Uma Bharti on Monday said the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will win around 450 Lok Sabha seats, more than the numbers predicted by the exit polls.

In a post on X, former Union minister Bharti also said that pilgrims from various states and seers whom she met in the last two-and-a-half months of her stay in the Himalayas only spoke of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Exit polls on Saturday predicted that Prime Minister Modi will retain power for a third straight term, with the BJP-led NDA expected to win a big majority in the Lok Sabha polls.

While India Today-Axis My India has forecast 361-401 seats for the BJP-led alliance and 131-166 seats for the opposition INDIA bloc in the 543-member Lok Sabha, the ABP-C Voter predicted 353-383 seats for the ruling alliance and 152-182 seats for the INDIA bloc.

On Congress leader Jairam Ramesh’s allegations that Union HM called DMs/ROs (Returning Officers), CEC Rajiv Kumar says, “…Can someone influence them (DMs/ROs) all? Tell us who did this. We will punish the person who did it…It is not right that you spread a rumour and doubt everyone.”

Bastar Blooms!

102 villages of BASTAR DIVISION voted for the 1st time at a PS in their own village in a National Election. Severely Naxal-affected PCs of Bastar & Kanker recorded an upward trend of poll participation from the last Lok Sabha election.

All issues raised by multi-party delegations have been addressed: CEC Rajiv Kumar.

System of Indian polls is such that it allows for post-election scrutiny: CEC Rajiv Kumar

There should be no doubt on the process. Lakhs of people including counting officials, counting agents, micro-observers, ROs/AROs, Observers present during the world’s largest counting exercise.

Entire counting process is absolutely robust: CEC Rajiv Kumar on counting of votes of 2024 general elections on June 4.

We have by and large controlled menace of deep fakes, AI generated synthetic content in 2024 general elections: CEC Rajiv Kumar.

Over 90 per cent of 495 complaints of Model Code of Conduct violations disposed during 2024 general elections: CEC Rajiv Kumar.

All development work used to stop during MCC, EC gave permission within 48 hours of applications in 95-98 per cent projects: CEC Rajiv Kumar.

EC issued notices to top leaders, FIRs were filed against many and top officials transferred to sanitise poll process: CEC Rajiv Kumar

Everyone’s chopper were checked, irrespective of position, says CEC

Seizures of ₹10,000 crore, including cash, freebies, drugs and liquor, made during 2024 polls as compared to ₹3,500 crore in 2019: CEC.

With just a day to go for counting of votes polled for the Lok Sabha election, the focus in the northwestern state of Punjab is on prominent faces such as the BJP’s Preneet Kaur, SAD’s Harsimrat Kaur Badal, former chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi and state Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring.

The stakes were also high for other heavyweights like the BJP’s Ravneet Singh Bittu and Congress leader and former deputy chief minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa.

Another contest that will be watched closely is the Khadoor Sahib Lok Sabha seat where radical Sikh preacher Amritpal Singh, lodged in Assam’s Dibrugarh jail under the National Security Act (NSA), is in the fray as an Independent candidate.

India created a world record with 64.2 crore voters, including 31.2 crore women, participating in the Lok Sabha elections this year, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said on Monday.

Addressing a press briefing, he said over 68,000 monitoring teams and 1.5 crore polling and security personnel were involved in the world’s largest electoral exercise.

“India created a world record with 64.2 crore voters, including 31.2 crore women, participating in the Lok Sabha elections this year,” said Kumar.

Jammu and Kashmir recorded highest turnout in four decades at 58.58 per cent overall, and 51.05 per cent in valley: CEC Rajiv Kumar.

“642 million voters chose action over apathy, belief over cynicism and in some cases, the ballot over the bullet. We thank each and every one who took part in this festival of democracy.” Says CEC Rajiv Kumar

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Monday questioned the veracity of exit polls, and claimed the agencies conducting them were only trying to create a conducive atmosphere in favour of the BJP.

At a press conference ahead of the Lok Sabha poll results on Tuesday, the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said the INDIA bloc’s victory will be victory of the country and its people.

“We and you (media) were among the people to strengthen democracy. We have seen they (BJP) did not have people (in their rallies), their tents were empty…nothing was seen in their favour,” Yadav said.

Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Monday exuded confidence and reiterated his earlier statements that this time a change has been confirmed in Odisha.

“Change has been confirmed in Odisha. By trusting PM Modi’s words, people are going to form the BJP govt in Odisha. This change is going to be for the welfare of people. In the 21st century, Odisha will become a leading state, economic hub,” he said.

Earlier today, Pradhan offered prayers at the ‘Maa Chausath Yogini’ temple in Hirapur.

Notably, the exit polls on Sunday predicted that the state is going to witness a neck-and-neck fight with the two-decade rule of Naveen Patnaik-led Biju Janata Dal facing a stiff challenge from BJP.

Speaking to news agency ANI about tomorrow’s Lok Sabha election results, Haryana CM & BJP leader Nayab Saini says, “Election trends will get converted into results tomorrow…The country will give over 400 seats to BJP to make Narendra Modi ji the prime minister for the third time…After independence, this is the first time a prime minister has worked to take the country forward at this speed.”

ll eyes will be on Lok Sabha election results on Tuesday with a number of high-profile electoral battles, starring veterans and debutants, formidable opponents and unlikely contestants. Here are some key contests to watch out for:

NARENDRA MODI VS AJAY RAI IN VARANASI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi contested the Lok Sabha elections from Varanasi for the third time. In 2014, he defeated AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal and won against Samajwadi Party’s Shalini Yadav in 2019.

The Congress fielded Ajay Rai, also its candidate from the constituency in 2014 and 2019. Before Modi, the Varanasi seat was held by BJP veteran Murli Manohar Joshi.

RAHUL GANDHI VS DINESH PRATAP SINGH IN RAE BARELI

Rahul Gandhi contested the Lok Sabha poll from Rae Bareli against BJP’s Dinesh Pratap Singh. He has been an MP thrice from Amethi and was defeated in 2019 by sitting MP Smriti Irani.

The seat, which until February was held by his mother Sonia Gandhi, has remained with the Congress since 1952 barring three elections – 1977, (Janata Party), 1996 and 1999 (BJP).

RAHUL GANDHI VS ANNIE RAJA IN WAYANAD

Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is facing CPI leader and women’s rights activist Annie Raja as he seeks a second term from Wayanad in Kerala. The contest has aroused public interest particularly since both the Congress and CPI are members of the INDIA alliance. In 2019, Gandhi was elected from the Wayanad constituency after he defeated P P Suneer of the CPI by an impressive 4.31 lakh votes.

After the exit polls predicted victory for the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance and a straight third term for Narendra Modi as Prime Minister, Tamil Nadu minister and DMK leader Mano Thangaraj asserted that the BJP manipulates each and everything and called the exit polls as a manipulation done by Modi media groups.

Speaking with ANI, the Minister of Milk and Dairy Development of Tamil Nadu said, “We have a rich experience with BJP manipulating each and everything. Do you know how the poll managers of the BJP started this and tried to manipulate people? This is to create a sense of fear among the Opposition cadres as well as demotivate them.”

Alleging that the BJP through exit polls is trying to create an impact among the officers who are involved in the counting of votes, Mano Thangaraj said, “This is not going to work and the ground reality is different. On what basis they have predicted, we don’t know. It is purely a manipulation done by Modi media groups.”

In a heart-wrenching incident, Anil Kumar, a JDU leader was brutally murdered by criminals in Maua village of Parwalpur police station area in Nalanda district, Bihar on June 3.

JDU leader Anil Kumar had become a polling agent in the Lok Sabha elections this time. He was made the agent during the seventh and last phase of general elections on June 1.

Gopal Krishna, Hilsa DSP-Nalanda, spoke about the incident and said, “On June 3 in Maua village of Parvalpur police station area, 62-years-old Anil Kumar was found in an injured condition at around 4:30 am. After that, his family took him to the primary health centre in Parwalpur. From there, he was transferred to Sadar Hospital in Bihar Sharif. However, he could not be saved.”

Krishna added, “After receiving the information, the police reached the hospital and sent the body for postmortem. Apart from that, the police team in Mahua village, and are searching for the miscreants whose names have been registered by the family members.”

The two main INDIA bloc partners in Uttar Pradesh – the Samajwadi and the Congress — have issued instructions to their party workers and leaders in each district to exercise utmost alertness and be ready to protest if they find discrepancies anywhere when votes for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls are counted on Tuesday. Read more

While the country waits for a new government, the nearly century-old bruised Rizwan castle in the heart of Patna pleads mutely for its restoration.

An eerie silence pervades the faded hallway that leads to the damaged grand stairway of the castle while a thick layer of dust deposited on its crumbling bannisters obscures the intricate woodwork.

From marathon public rallies to a flurry of social media posts, politicians and leaders made a litany of promises to the people, but preservation and restoration of heritage structures in the city wasn’t one of them.

Rizwan, an Arabic word, means the ‘keeper of the gates of Heaven’, but the Scottish-style castle’s appalling condition at present — vegetation grown over its facade, garbage strewn all over its campus and a thick layer of soot deposited on its once famed ornate ceilings — belies its famed past.

We are very hopeful that our results are completely opposite to what exit polls are showing: Congress leader Sonia Gandhi to PTI.

More than 2,000 personnel would be deployed for counting of votes for the lone Lok Sabha seat in Mizoram, a senior official said on Monday.

Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Madhup Vyas said a three-tier security arrangement has been made in all the 13 counting centres across the state.

There would be three counting centres in state capital Aizawl and one each in the other district headquarters, he said.

Altogether, there would be 40 counting halls with 379 counting tables. Each table would be supervised and monitored by a counting supervisor, counting agent and micro observer, he said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called for the nation to “reassess outdated thinking and beliefs” and free “our society from the pressure of professional pessimists”, asserting that the foundation for a “Viksit Bharat” must be laid in the 25 years in the run up to the centenary of India’s independence.

“The world of the 21st century is looking towards Bharat with many hopes. And we will need to make several changes to move forward in the global scenario. We also need to change our traditional thinking regarding reform. Bharat cannot limit reform to just economic reforms,” he said in an article which he had penned on June 1 on his flight to Delhi from Kanyakumari.

He had reached Kanyakumari on May 30 on a spiritual sojourn after the Lok Sabha polls campaign ended.

Repolling was underway on Monday at one booth each in the Barasat and Mathurapur Lok Sabha constituencies in West Bengal, officials said.

The repolling started at 7 am and would continue till 6 pm, they said.

The booth in the Barasat constituency is located at the Kadambagachi Saradar Para FP School in the Deganga assembly segment, while the one in Mathurapur is located at the Aaddir Mahal Srichaitanya Bidyapith in the Kakdwip assembly seat, they added.

The Congress and its INDIA bloc allies are trying to undermine the integrity of India’s electoral process, the BJP alleged on Sunday and urged the Election Commission to prevent any attempts of “violence and unrest” during the counting of votes for the Lok Sabha polls on June 4.

A BJP delegation comprising Union ministers Nirmala Sitharaman and Piyush Goyal also urged the poll panel to take cognisance of the “systematic attempts” being made to undermine the electoral process and initiate stringent action against those responsible.

The delegation submitted a memorandum to the Election Commission (EC) in this regard.

“We had to call upon the Election Commission today in light of the repeated attempts by a section of political parties, like the Congress and their INDI alliance partners, and also by certain motivated civil society groups and NGOs who are trying their level best to undermine the integrity of India’s electoral process,” Goyal told reporters after meeting EC officials.

After taking part in the INDIA bloc meeting, former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren’s wife Kalpana Soren asked everyone to wait till June 4, when everything will be cleared.

“When you have waited so long, wait for 4th June. You will get to know everything on the 4th of June,” Kalpana said.

INDIA bloc held a meeting on June 2 to discuss preparations for the counting day on June 4.

Congress too held different meetings- first with their Lok Sabha candidates and then with Pradesh Congress Committee Presidents of different states to know the ground report after exit-polls prediction that the BJP-led NDA will form the government at the Centre with a full majority.

To manage post-election violence, nearly 400 Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) companies (over 40,000 personnel) will remain in West Bengal until June 19. A significant portion of the CAPFs will consist of the Central Reserve Police Force: Official sources

The Shiv Sena (UBT) and Congress have once again locked horns over the Sangli Lok Sabha seat. Without naming the Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut said that his party would not keep quiet about what had happened in Sangli during the elections. Read more

A voter turnout of 62.80 per cent has been recorded in the 13 Lok Sabha Constituencies in Punjab, which went to the polls on June 1 in the seventh and final phase of the 2024 Lok Sabha election, said the state Chief Electoral Officer, Sibin C

It was the latest revised voter turnout from 55.65 per cent reported on Saturday. However, the revised figure is still lower than the 65.96 per cent voter turnout registered during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

The Chief Electoral Officer said that as per the data received late on June 1 night, Bathinda has recorded the highest voter turnout of 69.36 per cent.

Amritsar recorded 56.06 per cent, Anandpur Sahib 61.98 per cent, Faridkot 63.34 per cent, Fatehgarh Sahib 62.53 per cent, Ferozepur 67.02 per cent, Gurdaspur 66.67 per cent and Hoshiarpur 58.86 per cent.

After the Bharatiya Janata Party secured 46 seats in the 60-member Arunachal Pradesh assembly, Chief Minister Pema Khandu thanked the people and assured them that the BJP government would fulfill all the promises made by the party in its poll manifesto.

Votes were counted for 50 Assembly segments for which elections were held in the northeastern State along with Lok Sabha polls on April 19. The rest 10 seats were won by the BJP party uncontested. The BJP won 46 seats in the 60-member assembly.

“I bow in gratitude to the great people of Arunachal Pradesh for their continued trust in the vision of PM Narendra Modi ji and sincere efforts of Team Arunachal in taking care of the well-being of every section of society,” Pema Khandu posted on X.

He vowed not to let the “process of building a self-reliant Arunachal Pradesh get derailed under any circumstances.”

“Your overwhelming support to BJP4Arunachal is in sync with our collective commitment and endeavours to take the state to the zenith of inclusive development. It’s our firm resolve not to let the process of building a self-reliant Arunachal Pradesh derailed under any circumstances,” he said.

The biggest festival of democracy, the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections, are concluding today in our nation, the Mother of Democracy. After a three-day spiritual journey in Kanniyakumari, I have just boarded the plane for Delhi. Through the day, Kashi and numerous other seats have been in the midst of voting. My mind is filled with so many experiences and emotions… I feel a boundless flow of energy within myself. The 2024 Lok Sabha elections are the first in the Amrit Kaal. I began my campaign a few months ago from Meerut, the land of the First War of Independence of 1857. Since then, I have traversed across the length and breadth of our great nation. The final rally of these elections took me to Hoshiarpur in Punjab, the land of the great Gurus and a land associated with Sant Ravidas Ji. After that, I came to Kanniyakumari, at the feet of Maa Bharti. Dig deeper

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief minister Yogi Adityanath jointly participated in 15 public meetings, five road shows, the PM’s nomination in Varanasi and paid a visit to the Kashi Vishwanath temple too — all during the long-drawn 2024 Lok Sabha poll campaign. Read more

Expressing confidence that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is going to emerge victorious in the elections, TDP supremo Nara Chandrababu Naidu on Sunday appreciated the efforts of the leaders and workers of all the alliance partners for the success of the NDA in these polls.

“All the exit polls indicated the victory of the NDA and the alliance is going to form the governments both at the Centre and in the State,” Naidu told the candidates who are in the race for Lok Sabha or State Assembly seats.

The TDP supremo organised a Zoom meeting with the NDA candidates who are in the race for the Lok Sabha and the Assembly.

Chandrababu said that the Jana Sena chief, Pawan Kalyan, the president of the State unit of the BJP, Purandheswari, and the leaders along with the activists of all the three alliance partners had worked hard for the victory of the NDA. He also gave a road map for the leaders and the activists of the NDA on the efforts to be taken during the counting process on Tuesday.