BJP releases election manifesto; TN CM to probe Karunanidhi's death

The BJP released its election manifesto with 75 resolutions and the day saw the opposition tear into it while the saffron party vouched for its excellence. Other than that, here are the latest election updates from various states across the country:

Delhi

The Supreme Court asked petitioner Aman Panwar seeking a stay on the release of the film ‘PM Narendra Modi’ to place on record what is depicted in the movie and what he is objecting to. The SC order said that it cannot be determined whether the film violates the model code of conduct without seeing it. The next hearing is tomorrow.

The BJP released its election manifesto. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, at the release, said: “We have set 75 well-defined resolutions in our manifesto that we can fulfill in a time bound manner. We are moving forward with ‘one mission, one direction’.”

Supreme Court increased VVPAT verification from one EVM per constituency to five randomly selected EVMs for the upcoming general elections. At present, only one EVM per Assembly segment is taken up for VVPAT paper slip matching.

Jammu and Kashmir

Commenting on BJP’s promise to abrogate Article 370 and annul Article 35A in its election manifesto, former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti said: “Already J&K ek barood ki dher par baitha hua hai. If this happens then not only Kashmir but the country and the region will burn. So I appeal to BJP that please stop playing with fire.”

A PIL in Delhi High Court seeks to direct the Election Commission of India to ban Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti from participating in Lok Sabha Elections 2019 as their ‘statements are against the Indian constitution.’

Karnataka

The Karnataka Congress expelled two rebel party members — Amrith Shenoy and Shanul Haq — for contesting against its coalition candidates in Udupi-Chikkamagalur and Bidar Lok Sabha constituency.

With many of the Congress workers in Mandya working against the coalition candidate Nikhil Kumaraswamy and supporting the independent candidate Sumalatha Ambareesh indirectly, a worried Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy called for a joint party meeting on the second consecutive day on April 8, to address the concerns of rebel leaders.

Uttar Pradesh

Imran Masood, Congress’ candidate from Saharanpur, said: “For now the programme (Rahul Gandhi-Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s rallies) has been cancelled at all three places (Shamli, Bijnor, Saharanpur) due to bad weather. We are planning Priyanka ji’s road show tomorrow.”

West Bengal

West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee at a public rally in Cooch Behar said, “In India, we have seen large families consisting of people from different religions staying together, but how would he (PM Modi) know that? He neither has his own family nor does he think of you people as his family.”

Maharashtra

Actor-turned-politician Urmila Matondkar conducted a road show after filing her nomination as Congress candidate from Mumbai North parliamentary constituency on April 8. She said, “I’m very confident, I can feel people’s support.”

Madhya Pradesh

Politician M Kharge, on the I-T raids on Congress leaders in Madhya Pradesh, said: “Whatever’s happening in MP, it’s being done out of vengeance. By threatening like this during elections, the Centre is trying to create an environment of fear among our workers. Modi ji does this so I said the ED & I-T departments are being misused.”

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, at his campaign in Coonoor, Niligris district, raised allegations against DMK president MK Stalin on April 8 over the death of leader M Karunanidhi. He said that the former DMK chief and father of Stalin would have survived if he was taken abroad for treatment. Palaniswami added that his government will initiate a probe into the death of Karunanidhi, who died at the age of 94.