Page 139 - Congress

Will serve as active Oppn for Northeast Delhi: Cong's Kanhaiya Kumar

Congress leader Kanhaiya Kumar on Tuesday congratulated his BJP rival Manoj Tiwari on his hat-trick win from the Northeast Delhi Lok Sabha seat and said the Congress will "play the role of an active and positive opposition" for the residents there. Tiwari defeated Kumar by a margin of 1,38,778 votes, according to the Election Commission. The BJP drew a clean sweep in all the seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi, forcing the INDIA bloc partners Congress and AAP to draw a blank. In a social media post on X, Kumar wrote in hindi, "Many congratulations and best wishes to my opposition candidate Manoj Tiwari for being elected MP for the third time. I hope that he will live up to the expectations of the people." "The people of North East Delhi have given INDIA bloc the mandate to play the role of opposition. We will follow their orders! We will play the role of an active and positive opposition for the people of the area and will continue to raise the voice for their demands and issues," Kumar

Uttar Pradesh Lok Sabha election results: What worked in favour of INDIA?

The Lok Sabha elections 2024 has witnessed several unexpected turns, particularly the impressive performance of INDIA in Uttar Pradesh. What contributing factors have bolstered the Opposition's perfor

How did India react to the outcome of an intensely fought poll battle?

Lucknow, a traditionally BJP-voting urban constituency, lacked the usual saffron hue on the big day, even as local candidate and Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh extended his lead

Change of mood: Drums and desolation at party offices after poll results

One Congress worker pointed to the screen and said, "Bazaar me lagi aag", referring to the stock market crash and causing much mirth all around

Cong ends LS seat drought in Gujarat after a decade as it wins Banaskantha

The Congress on Tuesday broke its decade-long jinx in Gujarat as its candidate Geniben Thakor won from Banaskantha Lok Sabha seat by more than 30,000 votes. Congress had drawn a blank in the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi both in 2014 and 2019 when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had swept all 26 seats. This time, the BJP is poised to win 25 seats. Thakor defeated the BJP's Rekha Chaudhari by 30,406 votes in a nail-biting contest. Thakor polled 6,71,883 votes against her rival's 6,41,477. "I express my heartfelt thanks to Congress workers and voters of Banaskantha. The people of Banaskantha have given me both vote and note, and I will fulfil all promises made to them," said Thakor who had crowdfunded her campaign. "I once more thank them for coining the slogan, "Banas ni ben Geniben' (translated from Gujarati as 'Geniben, the sister of Bansasnaktha'), and promise to serve them as long as I live....This is a victory of the people, voters and democracy," she told ...

LS polls: Congress gains five seats in Haryana, BJP down from 10 to 5 seats

Congress made significant gains in Haryana winning three and heading towards victory in two more giving a setback to ruling BJP, whose tally was down from ten to five seats in the state, where Assembly polls are also due later in the year. For the Congress, Kumari Selja (Sirsa) registered big win while Deepender Singh Hooda (Rohtak) was also headed to register an emphatic win, as per the latest data of results and trends of the Election Commission. Among the BJP leaders, former Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar was also headed for a big win from Karnal. The BJP and Congress were set to win five seats each. In 2019, the saffron party had won all the 10 LS seats in the state. However, candidates of JJP, which contested all ten seats and INLD and BSP, which fought seven and nine seats, respectively, received a severe drubbing and their candidates were set to lose security deposits. In the Karnal assembly constituency, where a bypoll was held, Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Sin

Lok Sabha 2024: The results prove Prashant Kishor's predictions wrong

Lok Sabha elections 2024: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) poised to win 239, NDA 290, while INDIA bloc leads in 235 seats, others in 18

Lok Sabha results: PM Modi wins from Varanasi with his lowest-ever margin

According to the latest data, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is set to retain power in India but with a narrow margin

Yogendra Yadav poll predictions were right: BJP misses 272-majority mark

Lok Sabha elections results 2024: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) poised to win 241, NDA 294, while INDIA bloc leads in 231 seats

Rae Bareli or Wayanad: Which seat will Rahul Gandhi keep? He says this

According to data from the Election Commission (EC), Gandhi was leading on both the seats he was fighting on, Wayanad and Rae Bareli

Our guarantee to give special category status to Andhra Pradesh: Congress

The Congress on Tuesday said it is its guarantee that it will give special category status to Andhra Pradesh, as promised by former prime minister Manmohan Singh, if it comes to power. The reiteration of Congress' promise made in its 2024 manifesto assumes significance amid reported efforts by the INDIA bloc to win over the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), which was leading on 16 seats in Andhra Pradesh. The TDP is currently part of the BJP-led NDA. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said, "INDIA will finish the unfinished business of 2014: On Feb 14th 2014, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh pledged special category status to the new state of Andhra Pradesh for 5 years. BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu countered by saying BJP if elected to power will extend it for 10 years. Two months later Narendra Modi, in the holy city of Tirupati, repeated the promise." "For the past 10 years the outgoing Modi government did nothing," he said. It, in fact, abolished the very policy of special category .

BJP should focus on development, instead of communalism: Shashi Tharoor

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, who won a fourth consecutive time from the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha seat, on Tuesday said that the poll results were a lesson for the BJP that they do better when they go on other tracks, like development, instead of communalism. Tharoor said that the poll results were also a "serious message by the electorate to the BJP that their kind of governance needs to improve colossally". The Congress leader said that the saffron party will be able to appeal to voters in Kerala only if it goes beyond the "classic sort of north Indian BJP template". "... I always felt that the BJP was hitting a ceiling in Kerala because of the communalism embodied in their messaging. That when they go on other tracks they do better. Whether it was the development track that Rajeev Chandrasekhar espoused here or the conscious outreach to minorities and for sure by Suresh Gopi. "When you go beyond the classic sort of north Indian BJP template, only then can you appeal to vot

BJP failed to tackle issues like inflation, unemployment: Bhupinder Hooda

Former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Tuesday said that farmers' plight, Agnipath, unemployment, law and order, and inflation were key issues which the ruling BJP failed to address. As the Congress appeared set to wrest five Lok Sabha seats from the ruling BJP in Haryana, Hooda said that he had been saying "there is a wave blowing in favour of the Congress". "You asked me about exit polls predicting most seats to the BJP, to which I said wait for the actual poll results on June 4," the Congress veteran said. Haryana is known for "jai jawan, jai kisan, jai pehalwan". "But what did they (BJP) do. They brought Agniveer (Agnipath scheme), which faced opposition from the youth. They did not redress farmers' issues. And everyone knows the treatment that was meted to our wrestler daughters, who had to protest (at Delhi's Jantar Mantar)," he said. Hooda said that unemployment increased in the state during the BJP rule while the law and order situation also deteriorated. H

Financial markets were given artificial booster dose by exit polls: Cong

As financial markets went for a tumble on Tuesday after the trends of the Lok Sabha poll results showed that the BJP was not getting a majority on its own, the Congress said the markets were given an artificial booster dose by the exit polls and have now turned turbulent. The Congress also recalled the words of former prime minister Manmohan Singh in 2004 to say that the party is committed to an orderly and healthy development of the financial markets that reflect the fundamentals of the economy. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said the party-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government provided a fear-free and intimidation-free 10-year period (2004-14) for the private sector that helped the country achieve its highest GDP growth. "Financial markets that were given an artificial booster dose by the exit polls are turbulent today. In this context, it is wise to recall the words of Dr Manmohan Singh on May 17th 2004, the last occasion on which the markets were faced with

Who ordered you to slow down Lok Sabha election results, Congress asks EC

Lok Sabha elections 2024: Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh questions Election Commission on delays in vote counting

PM Modi must take moral responsibility and resign: Congress on LS polls

Lok Sabha elections 2024: Jairam Ramesh said that the INDIA bloc's better-than-expected performance was a sign that it was time for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to resign from his post

Lok Sabha Elections 2024: In Amethi, Smriti Irani trails Congress worker Kishori Lal

In 2019, Irani had defeated Rahul Gandhi from the seat, considered to be one of the strongholds of the grand old party

Election trends show moral defeat for PM Modi, he should resign: Congress

With latest trends showing the BJP falling below the majority mark, the Congress on Tuesday said it has become clear that it will be a staggering political and decisively moral defeat for Narendra Modi and he should resign and head to the Himalayas. Counting of votes are underway for the Lok Sabha elections, with the BJP emerging as the single largest party but not getting a majority on its own. "He used to pretend that he was extraordinary. Now it has been proved that the outgoing prime minister is going to become former. Take moral responsibility and resign. This is the message of this election," Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said in a post on X in Hindi. He said on December 3, 2016, in Moradabad, the "outgoing" Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said - "What at the most can they do to me? What can they do? I am a faqir (poor man), I will just pick up my bag and leave". "Do you remember this statement of yours, outgoing prime minister? The time has come. Take your bag an

LS polls 2024: BJP leads in 10 seats in Chhattisgarh, Congress ahead in 1

The BJP has maintained an impressive lead in 10 out of 11 Lok Sabha seats in Chhattisgarh, as per trends available so far. The Congress has managed a lead only in the Korba seat where its sitting MP Jyotsna Mahant, wife of the incumbent leader of opposition Charandas Mahant, was leading by a margin of 8,304 votes over the BJP's influential woman leader Saroj Pandey. Counting of votes began at 33 centres at 8 am on Tuesday, and postal ballots were counted in the first half an hour. In the high-profile Rajnandgaon seat, Congress leader and former chief minister Bhupesh Baghel, who was initially leading, was trailing by a margin of 33,512 votes against the BJP's sitting MP Santosh Pandey. BJP's influential leader, Brijmohan Agrawal, was leading by a significant margin of 2,04,684 votes against Congress' Vikas Upadhyay in the crucial Raipur seat. In Durg, BJP's sitting MP Vijay Baghel was ahead against his nearest rival, Rajendra Sahu of Congress, by 1,82,933 votes. In the Naxalite-h

BJP leading in all 7 Lok Sabha seats in Delhi: Election Commission trends

The BJP is leading in all seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi on Tuesday, according to trends on the Election Commission (EC) website. The BJP's Praveen Khandelwal was initially trailing the Congress' Jai Prakash Agarwal in the Chandni Chowk seat but has now moved ahead to secure a lead of 27,041 votes, EC data showed. The BJP's North-East Delhi candidate Manoj Tiwari, who is pitted against the Congress' Kanhaiya Kumar, was leading by a margin of 73,781 votes. BJP West Delhi candidate Kamaljeet Sehrawat, who is up against AAP's Mahabal Mishra, was ahead by a margin of 69,296 votes, and the BJP's North-West Delhi candidate Yogender Chandoliya was leading by 1,05,266 votes against the Congress' Udit Raj, the data showed. On the East Delhi seat, AAP's Kuldeep Kumar was trailing by a margin of 14,134 votes against the BJP's Harsh Malhotra. The BJP's Ramvir Singh Bidhuri was ahead by a margin of 63,675 votes against AAP's Sahi Ram Pahalwan from South Delhi, while in the New Delhi constituen