Kharge also raised the issue of several companies purchasing electoral bonds soon after they faced raids by central agencies such as Enforcement Directorate and Income Tax Department.
The poll panel said it found Kharge's letter, placed in the public domain in the middle of the ongoing electoral process, 'highly undesirable' and designed to create confusion, misdirection and impediment to the conduct of smooth, free and fair elections.
The party said no Congress worker would even entertain the remotest thought of insulting the Pope, whom Christians around the world consider as God-like.
The ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha-led alliance won all five seats, performing particularly well in Singhbhum, Rajmahal, and Dumka.
Celebrations had already begun at BJP headquarters before the full announcement of results.
According to party sources, the Congress leadership has been making efforts to convince some ministers and lawmakers to contest, as they have faced problems in identifying winnable candidates in several segments.
Gandhi answers several such light-hearted questions in a more than two-minute video released by the Congress on its social media channels.
Sucharita Mohanty, the daughter of former Congress MP Brajamohan Mohanty, in a mail to Venugopal on Friday claimed that her campaign was hit hard because the party denied her funding.
Addressing the newly elected MPs in the Central Hall of Parliament, she said far from taking responsibility for the failure, the prime minister intends to get himself sworn in again on Sunday.
The leaders of the INDIA requested the EC to instruct its officials that they should follow the guidelines.
Five people were killed and about 50 missing following several incidents of cloudburst in Himachal Pradesh where rains washed away many houses, bridges and roads, officials said on Thursday.
Leaders of several Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) parties met on Saturday to take stock of the opposition's preparations leading up to the June 4 counting of votes polled in the Lok Sabha elections, and claimed they will get more than 295 seats, enough for them to form the next government.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi and party leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury have received invitations for the consecration ceremony of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya on January 22.
Kharge accused PM Modi of inciting people over the issues "that the Congress will never do".
A delegation of opposition party leaders on Friday met the top brass of Election Commission to raise its concerns over poll code violations by the ruling party leaders, and also flagged concerns over delay in release of voter turnout figures for the first two phases of the polls.
KC Venugopal mentioned that the Congress's goal is to diminish the BJP's representation in Uttar Pradesh by securing half of the seats in the state.
Speaking at the Congress manifesto launch programme, Gandhi said it is a much closer contest than what is propagated by the media, and expressed confidence in winning the polls.
Chowdhury termed Banerjee as an "opportunist politician" who altered her stance after realising the changing political landscape.
With the demand to have three more Deputy chief ministers resurfacing in Karnataka, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday said the decision of the Congress high command is final.
The Trinamool Congress (TMC) is unlikely to attend a meeting of the INDIA bloc on June 1, sources said, as it coincides with the last phase of voting in the ongoing Lok Sabha polls.
According to sources, while the date for the meeting has not been finalised yet, the meeting will be held in the third week of December.
Aam Aadmi Party leader Somnath Bharti on Saturday vowed to shave his head if Narendra Modi retained the prime minister's post while his party's national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal asserted that the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) would form a 'strong and stable' government at the Centre.
The trouble started when the SP member wanted to make a point on an ongoing heated discussion between Opposition parties and the Chairman in the Rajya Sabha over certain remarks made by BJP MP Ghanshyam Tiwari on Kharge a few days ago.
Union Minister Piyush Goyal on Friday sought an apology from the Congress for the controversial statement by party MP that suggested a call for a separate south nation over fiscal injustice, but the opposition party's president said it stands for a united nation and will not tolerate any such call.
Jan Adhikar Party leader Pappu Yadav joined the Congress on Wednesday and announced the merger of his outfit.
Kharge claimed that though the BJP says the corrupt must be put in jails, when leaders facing corruption charges join the saffron party, they are "put on the lap" and sent to Rajya Sabha or assembly.
Media reports claimed that the arrival of the Congress MLAs is part of a precautionary measure taken by the party to prevent any poaching attempts as the newly formed National Democratic Alliance government in Bihar, headed by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, seeks a trust vote on February 12.
Kumar, whose NDA-allied Janata Dal-United has won 12 of the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar, has emerged as a key player in government formation
Prime Minister Narendra D Modi on Tuesday paid floral tributes to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel at the Statue of Unity at Ekta Nagar in Gujarat's Narmada on the birth anniversary of the country's first home minister which is celebrated as National Unity Day. In New Delhi, Congress MPs Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi paid homage to Indira Gandhi on the 39th anniversary of the late prime minister's assassination.
As many as 12 MLAs of the Congress have threatened to boycott the upcoming state assembly session from February 23 and head to Jaipur if the ministers are not replaced with new faces.
"Public does not who 'Kharge Pharge' is. Even I don't know he was the president of Congress. Nobody knows him. Masses don't know him. The public knows Nitish Kumar. Nitish Kumar should become prime minister. He is popular all over India," Mandal said.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said on X that party chief Mallikarjun Kharge has accepted Pitroda's decision.
The AAP will field candidates from the South Delhi, West Delhi, North West Delhi and New Delhi seats, while the Congress will contest from the Chandni Chowk, East Delhi and North East Delhi constituencies, the sources in the Aam Aadmi Party said.
Glimpses from the Great Election Carnival on Sunday, April 21, 2024
The stampede took place as people headed home after a satsang in the district's Phulrai village, conducted by a preacher known as Bhole Baba. Twenty-seven bodies were brought to a hospital in neighbouring Etah district. Senior Superintendent of Police Rajesh Kumar Singh said 23 of them were women. And 89 lay dead in Hathras itself.
The authorisation will be sent to Kharge and the MLAs decided to go by the decision of the party's top leadership, said Shivakumar, one of the AICC observers appointed to coordinate the CLP meetings.
The authority said in its order that it believes that the movable assets and equity shares that were attached by the ED are proceeds of crime and linked to the offence of money laundering.
Eighteen people were killed and 19 injured when a double-decker sleeper bus headed for Delhi hit a milk tanker on the Agra-Lucknow Expressway in Unnao on Wednesday, officials said.
Following this a Veearashaiva-Lingayat seer -- Srisaila Jagadguru Channa Siddharama Panditaradhya Swamiji on Friday said ministers from his community should be considered for the CM's post in case there is a leadership change, while also pitching for them to be given priority in the event of creation of additional Deputy CM posts.
An alliance between the Aam Aadmi Party and the Congress in Delhi and in different states, including Gujarat and Haryana, for the Lok Sabha polls may be officially announced on Saturday, sources in the AAP said.
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