Lok Sabha polls top updates: Six-time Biju Janata Dal MP from Cuttack joins BJP

Political parties on Thursday welcomed new members ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. In Maharashtra, the Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led faction of the Shiv Sena inducted actor Govinda, while former BJP leader Ram Tahal Choudhary switched to the Congress in Jharkhand.

Here’s a look at today’s top developments:

• Six-time

on Thursday joined the Bharatiya Janata Party. The son of former Odisha Chief Minister Harekrushna Mahtab, has held the Cuttack Lok Sabha seat since 1998. This comes after the BJP last week announced that it will not form an alliance with the Biju Janata Dal for the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections in the state.

Actor

joined Shinde’s Shiv Sena faction on Thursday. Govinda had earlier served as a Congress MP from the Mumbai North Lok Sabha constituency from 2004 to 2009.

Five-time former BJP MP from Jharkhand, Ram Tahal Choudhary, on Thursday joined the Congress. The senior politician accused the Hindutva party of being dictatorial. “Just a couple of months before the elections, I was asked to give in writing that I will not contest the elections,” he said at a press conference. “I said it’s dictatorship and resigned then and there.”

, the president of the Bharatiya Gorkha Parisangh, joined the Congress on...

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