From Salman's denial to BJP's 1st list: Election wrap from 21st March

Even on Holi, political activity refused to die down as the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party finally announced its first list of candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. It has announced 184 candidates spreading across 20 states of the country. 

The big surprise in that is the absence of BJP patriarch Lal Krishna Advani who gives way to Amit Shah,who will be fighting from Gandhinagar. Also, Himanta Biswa Sarma who was expected to fight Lok Sabha election has been asked to focus on the development of North East for now. On the other hand, after massive speculation, Salman Khan has made it clear that he is not contesting or campaigning for any party. 

Here are some of the big highlights of the day:

BJP announces 1st List:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will contest the Lok Sabha election from Varanasi, the seat he represents in Parliament, and BJP president Amit Shah will fight from Gandhinagar in place of veteran leader L K Advani as the party Thursday announced its first list of 184 candidates for the general election.
BJP heavyweights such as Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari have been fielded from Lucknow and Nagpur seats respectively with the party reposing its faith in all but one Union minister from the constituency they had won in 2014.

The BJP has dropped more than 25 MPs in the first list but Nadda said it is not final as the party will be announcing names for the remaining seats in the 543-member House in the coming days.

Congress announces candidates for Andhra:

The Congress on Thursday announced the names of its candidates for three Lok Sabha constituencies and 45 Assembly seats in Andhra Pradesh. For the Lok Sabha polls, the Congress has fielded Ramana Kumari Pedada from Vishakhapatnam, Narahrasetti Narasimha Rao from Vijayawada, and J Lakshmi Narasimha Yadav from Nandyal.

With this, the Congress has named its candidates for all the 25 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state.The total number of Lok Sabha candidates declared by the Congress so far stands at 149. The party also declared 45 candidates for the Assembly polls on Thursday.

Congress takes jibe at Advani exclusion:

The Congress Thursday took a swipe at the BJP for fielding Amit Shah from Gandhinagar in place of Lal Krishna Advani, alleging that first the party veteran was "forcefully" sent to the 'margdarshak mandal' and now his parliamentary constituency has been snatched away.

TRS announces list, KCR's daughter to contest:

Telangana Rashtra Samithi MP K Kavitha, daughter of party supremo and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, will seek re-election from the Nizamabad Lok Sabha constituency,as the TRS announced the list of 17 candidates for the April 11 Lok Sabha polls Thursday.

The other candidates are B Vinod Kumar (Karimnagar), B Venkatesh Netakani (Peddapalli), G Nagesh (Adilabad), BB Patil (Zahirabad), Kotha Prabhakar Reddy (Medak); Pasunoori Dayakar (Warangal), Maloth Kavitha (Mahabubabad), Nama Nageswara Rao (Khammam), Bura Narsaiah Goud (Bhongir), Vemireddy Narasimha Reddy (Nalgonda); Pothuganti Ramulu (Nagarkurnool), Manne Srinivasa Reddy (Mahabubnagar), G Ranjith Reddy (Chevella), T Sai Kiran Yadav (Secunderabad), Marri Rajasekhar Reddy (Malkajgiri) and Puste Srikanth (Hyderabad).

Nikhil Gowda's nomination filing postponed:

The Janata Dal (Secular) on Thursday postponed the filing of nomination by Nikhil Gowda from Mandya Lok Sabha seat to next Monday.
Nikhil Gowda is the son of Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy and grandson of JDS supremo and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda, who is launching the third generation of his clan from party citadel Mandya.

"We did plan the filing of nomination by Nikhil today (Thursday), but after much deliberation, we postponed it to March 25," JDS MLC T A Sharavana told PTI.

Salman clears air:

Bollywood megastar Salman Khan on Thursday said he will not contest elections nor campaign for any political party in the upcoming elections, putting an end to all speculations of him entering the political arena.
Salman took to his Twitter handle to rubbish rumours regarding the same.
"Contrary to the rumours I am not contesting elections nor campaigning for any political party," Salman posted.