Page 142 - Congress

Madhya Pradesh exit poll 2024: 5 surveys predict near-sweep for BJP-led NDA

Madhya Pradesh Exit Poll 2024: BJP expected to secure 59% of the vote share, Congress 32%

LS polls: INDIA bloc to get over 295 seats, says Kharge after meeting

INDIA bloc parties will get more than 295 seats in the Lok Sabha polls, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said on Saturday, asserting that they had arrived at the figure after feedback from people. Addressing reporters here after a meeting of top leaders of the opposition bloc at his residence here, Kharge said the leaders of the alliance met for about two and a half hours and discussed a host of issues, especially the precautions to be taken on counting day and the instructions they have to give to their parties' workers. Votes for the seven-phase general elections will be counted on June 4. Targeting the BJP, he said, "They are trying to give a narrative through government exit polls and we want to tell the people the truth." "The INDIA bloc will get more than 295 seats. We have arrived at this figure after speaking with all our leaders," Kharge said. "This is a survey of the people. The people have given this information to our leaders. The government surveys are there and

Sensex to GDP: How India looked when a party won 400 seats the last time

If the BJP secures over 400 seats in the Lok Sabha, it will be the second party to do so after Congress, which won 414 seats in 1984 after the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi

Congress takes a U-turn, says will participate in exit poll debates today

Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera had earlier said the Congress will not participate in today's exit poll debates and questioned the need of engaging in speculation to boost the TRPs of TV channels

INDIA bloc leaders meet to discuss strategy for counting day, TMC skips

Senior leaders of the INDIA bloc met here on Saturday to discuss their strategy for the counting of votes on June 4, even as the TMC and PDP skipped the meeting. Senior leaders of the Congress, Samajwadi Party, CPI-M, CPI, DMK, JMM, AAP, RJD, Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (Sharad Pawar) met at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge's residence on Saturday afternoon and held discussions, even as the last phase of polling was underway. TMC chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had already said they would not attend the meeting as there were elections in the state, while PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti did not attend the meeting due to personal reasons. "I may not go as my mom has undergone an eye surgery," she had told PTI. Opposition leaders who attended the meeting included Sharad Pawar, Akhilesh Yadav, Tejashwi Yadav, Anil Desai, Sitaram Yechury, Arvind Kejriwal, Bhagwat Mann, Sanjay Singh and Raghav Chadha, Champai Soren, Kalpana Soren, T R Baalu, Farooq Abdullah, D Raja and Muk

LS polls: Congress in Kerala condemns PM Modi's comment on Mahatma Gandhi

The Congress in Kerala on Saturday termed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent remarks about Mahatma Gandhi as "highly condemnable" and said it amounted to disrespecting the 'Father of the Nation'. Senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala demanded that Modi withdraw his statement and apologise to the people. The Prime Minister, in a recent interview to a TV channel, had said that the "world did not know of Mahatma Gandhi till the film 'Gandhi' was made". Chennithala, also the former Leader of Opposition in the state assembly, claimed that disrespect towards Gandhi is going on in the country. "Narendra Modi's statement about Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of the Nation, is highly condemnable. Was Gandhi recognised world over only after the film 'Gandhi' was made? "Anywhere in the world you go, you will find a statue of Gandhi or a road named after him. No one else in the world has so many monuments dedicated to him except for Mahatma Gandhi. What he said is actually disrespect toward

Difficult for BJP to cross even 200 seats in LS polls: Himachal Cong chief

Meanwhile, exuding confidence in the BJP sweeping all four seats in Himachal Pradesh, Kangana Ranaut said that there is a complete 'Modi wave' in Himachal

BJP slams OpenAI for late report on 'dangerous threat' to Lok Sabha polls

OpenAI should have released this report on 'dangerous threat' earlier, not when polls are ending: BJP's Rajeev Chandrasekhar

2024 Odisha Legislative Assembly elections: Here's all you need to know

As voting is currently underway in the fourth phase of the Odisha Assembly polls 2024, here's a quick look at the assembly seats, polling dates and key candidates

Lok Sabha polls: Over 35% polling in eight LS seats in Bihar till 1 pm

Polling commenced on Saturday morning for eight Lok Sabha constituencies in Bihar, along with the by-election to the Agiaon assembly seat, to determine the fate of 134 candidates. Voting began at 7 am in Patna Sahib, Pataliputra, Arrah, Karakat, Jehanabad, Buxar, Nalanda, and Jehanabad Lok Sabha seats and will continue till 6 pm. Over 1.6 crore people in these eight seats are eligible to cast their votes to decide the electoral fate of the candidates, a senior official said. Voting is underway at 16,634 polling stations, with 3,885 situated in urban areas. Several high-profile candidates are in the fray such as Union Minister RK Singh, who is seeking his third term from Arrah, where his principal challenger is Sudama Prasad, a sitting MLA of CPI(ML) Liberation. The Arrah Lok Sabha seat includes six assembly segments, including Agiaon, a reserved seat, where a by-poll is also being conducted simultaneously due to the disqualification of CPI(ML) MLA Manoj Manzil following his convic

Cong slams Fadnavis over FDI data, says Maha has always been on top

The Congress on Saturday said that Maharashtra has continuously topped the list of foreign direct investment (FDI) receivers and attacked Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis over his comment that the state's ranking went down during MVA rule. Citing data from Union ministry of industries, state Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant said Maharashtra got about 33 per cent of all FDI in the country between 2000 and 2012. In terms of overall FDI from October 2019 to June 2022, Maharashtra ranked first even during the tenure of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, Sawant said. The MVA government under Uddhav Thackeray fell in June 2022 after Eknath Shinde led a rebellion in Shiv Sena and joined hands with the BJP to become the chief minister. Congress is an MVA partner. Maharashtra, which lagged in attracting FDI during MVA rule, has again risen to the top position in the past two consecutive years, Fadnavis had said on Friday. You (Fadnavis) presented data from April 2021 to Marc

Festival of democracy to be successful when it defeats dictators: Kharge

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge urged people on Saturday to vote for change and asserted that the "festival of democracy" will be considered successful only when democratic powers defeat the dictatorial ones. He said the last phase of voting to save the Constitution and democracy was underway in the country and the INDIA bloc was fighting the dictatorial powers with courage. "The battle is now in its final phase. The public has stood firmly with us in every phase. After six phases, people want to see us win," Kharge said in a post on 'X'. The people want to see the Congress' guarantees fulfilled, he added. "This time the country has supported and sided with 'Yuva Nyay, Kisaan Nyay, Nari Nyay, Shramik Nyay and Hissedari Nyay. "This festival of democracy will be considered successful only when the democratic powers defeat the dictatorial powers," the Congress leader said. "Today, when you press the EVM button for 57 seats in 8 states and Union territories, think about the Pre

2024 Lok Sabha elections: Florists, mithai shops get busy for D-Day

From florists in Ghazipur's phool mandi to sweet shop owners in Old Delhi's Chandni Chowk, the preparations, if not the sales, have already begun

LS polls highlights of the day: Exit polls results to be declared after 6:30 pm tomorrow

General Elections 2024 Live: Catch all the latest news updates on the Lok Sabha polls here

Highlights: India's FY24 fiscal deficit lower than full-year target, shows data

India GDP data release updates: Catch all the news updates on the release of India's Q4 GDP data here

Stalled attempts by Israeli firm to interfere in Lok Sabha polls: OpenAI

OpenAI, the creators of ChatGPT, has said it acted within 24 hours to disrupt deceptive uses of AI in covert operations focused on the Indian elections, leading to no significant audience increase. In a report on its website, OpenAI said STOIC, a political campaign management firm in Israel, generated some content on Indian elections alongside about the Gaza conflict. "In May, the network began generating comments that focused on India, criticized the ruling BJP party and praised the opposition Congress party," it said. "In May, we disrupted some activity focused on the Indian elections less than 24 hours after it began." OpenAI said it banned a cluster of accounts operated from Israel that were being used to generate and edit content for an influence operation that spanned X, Facebook, Instagram, websites, and YouTube. "This operation targeted audiences in Canada, the United States and Israel with content in English and Hebrew. In early May, it began targeting audiences in India wi

Election 2024: Congress not to participate in Lok Sabha exit poll debates

The Congress has decided not to participate in any Lok Sabha exit poll debates on the television channels and said it does not want to indulge in speculation and slugfest for TRP. Congress spoksperson and media department chairperson Pawan Khera said the voters have cast their votes and their verdict has been secured. "The results will be out on 4th June. Prior to that, we do not see any reason to indulge in speculation and slugfest for TRP," he said in a statement shared on X. "The Indian National Congress will not participate in the debates on Exit Polls. The purpose of any debate should be to inform the people. We will happily partake in debates from 4th June onwards," Khera said in a statement. The decision was taken after consultations within the party, the sources said.

LS polls: BJP says Manmohan Singh's remarks on PM Modi 'laughable'

The BJP on Thursday termed Manmohan Singh's remarks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi "laughable" and said that despite having quit active politics, the former PM has not given up his habit of misleading the people of the country. In a letter to voters of Punjab ahead of the seventh phase of the Lok Sabha polls on June 1, Manmohan Singh accused Modi of lowering the dignity of public discourse and the gravity of the office of the prime minister by giving "hateful speeches" during the election campaign. He also accused Modi of attributing some false statements to him. Hitting back, BJP national spokesperson R P Singh said in a post on X, "The nonsense that former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has stated suddenly in his letter on the last day of the Lok Sabha election campaign is not only laughable but it also does not suit the person who held the post of country's prime minister." "It seems that Dr Manmohan Singh, even after taking 'sanyas' from active politics, has not yet given up hi

Decentralisation reality vs rhetoric

Both the ruling party and the Opposition seek to empower local bodies, but rectifying a crucial 'birth defect' in decentralisation is the first step for progress

Party with most seats 'natural claimant' to INDIA bloc leadership: Ramesh

Ramesh said an INDIA bloc government formed after getting the mandate from the people will be 'authoritative' but not 'authoritarian'