Lok Sabha elections 2024: While speaking to exclusively today (April 27), Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that the people of India will vote for Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the third time straight in a row. 

"Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to win over 400 seats in Lok Sabha elections 2024. People will vote for PM Modi for the third time," Amit Shah said. 

Victory in Gujarat 

"We will win all 26 seats in Gujarat. People are not in support of I.N.D.I.A bloc as they are not active anywhere," he added. 

All 26 parliamentary seats in Gujarat will go to the polls in the third phase of Lok Sabha elections on May 7 (Tuesday). BJP candidate Mukesh Dalal was elected unopposed in Surat after the nomination papers of the Congress party's candidate Nilesh Kumbhani were rejected, as his three proposers claimed in an affidavit to the district election officer that they had not signed his nomination form.

The third phase will include constituencies from Kutch, Banaskantha, Patan, Mehsana, Sabarkantha, Gandhinagar, Ahmedabad East, Ahmedabad West, Surendranagar, Rajkot, Porbandar, Jamnagar, Junagadh, Amreli, Bhavnagar, Anand, Kheda, Panchmahal, Dahod, Vadodara, Chhota Udaipur, Bharuch, Bardoli, Navsari, and Valsad. 

Phase-wise voting graph 

"After the polling of Phase 1 and 2, BJP is ahead and we will win a good number of seats," the Home Minister said to on Saturday. 

's statement on Rajput community 

"Parshottam Rupala has apologised several times and I hope that his apology will be taken seriously," Amit Shah said. 

Meanwhile, Rajputs continue their protests in Gujarat over statements made by Union Minister Parshottam Rupala. He addressed the Kshatriya community's concerns during a recent BJP event in Jasdan, Rajkot and urged them not to direct their ire against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Rupala admitted that he had made an error and stressed upon the community's significant contributions to both the nation and the BJP. Union Minister Rupala had incurred the wrath of the Kshatriya community by making unsavoury remarks against the Maharajas.

What had Rupala said?

Rupala has irked the Rajput community by claiming that erstwhile 'maharajas' succumbed to the persecution of foreign rulers as well as the Britishers. He further said these 'maharajas' broke bread with these rulers and also married off their daughters to them. Since majority of the erstwhile rulers in Gujarat were Rajputs, the community saw the remarks as an insult to them and has asked the BJP multiple times in the recent past to withdraw Rupala's candidature or else the community will go against BJP in this election. Though Rupala has already tendered an apology over his remarks and sought forgiveness, Rajput community leaders have refused to back down.