Page 20 - Elections In India

Rahul has no fire but Cong playing with fire by risking divide: Rajnath

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has no fire while his party is playing with fire by attempting to create Hindu-Muslim divide for electoral dividends, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has said. In an interview to PTI, Singh also indicated that the BJP will implement its big-ticket plans like rolling out of the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) and implementing the 'One Nation One Election' push if it retains power for the third consecutive term. The defence minister also said that he was confident that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will cross 400 seats and the BJP will get over 370 as these projections were made after detailed assessment of the ground situation and not made only for public consumption. On the overall political landscape, the defence minister accused the Congress of attempting to disturb social harmony and trying to create tensions on religious lines. "They are attempting to create Hindu-Muslim divide for electoral gains. The Congress is trying to create tensions on ...

Record-breaking election spending to ignite rural demand: Experts

Even as the 2024 Lok Sabha polls have started to unfold, anticipation remained high not only in the political landscape but also about the ripple effects on the economy, particularly in rural India, as experts described the elections as the most expensive one ever fought in the country's history. With an expenditure of a staggering Rs 1.35 lakh crore estimated by N Bhaskara Rao, who chairs the Centre for Media Studies and has been tracking election spending for 35 years, significant parts of the amount spent during the polls will reach the pockets of India's rural population boosting sales, business houses feel. According to a study, about 35 per cent of election expenditure in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in India was made on campaigns and publicity. The second highest expenditure head was payments to voters via various means hiring workers, purchasing campaign materials, freebies and direct cash transfers in some cases. Industry leaders expect these will have a positive impact on

LS polls: 'Country will rise' if Constitution is changed, says Uddhav

Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday claimed that the BJP wants to change the Constitution, and warned that the "country will rise" if that happens. Central agencies had become "servants"of the BJP, he said at a rally at Dharashiv in central Maharashtra, adding that after the results on June 4, those who "troubled" his party men will be made to "pay with interest." "The BJP wants to change the Constitution. The day they try to change the Constitution, the entire country will rise (against the attempt)," Thackeray said. He also hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his remark that Pakistan was eager to make Congress leader Rahul Gandhi India's next PM, stating that none of the INDIA bloc leaders had gone and "shared a cake" with Nawaz Sharif. The Sena (UBT) chief was apparently referring to Modi's surprise visit to Pakistan in 2015 for a meeting with his then counterpart Sharif. After the INDIA alliance government comes to power, GST on seeds, pesticides and ...

'Anarchy' of YSRCP govt will end in 10 days, says TDP chief Naidu

The "anarchy" of the YSRCP's five-year government will end in 10 days, TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu said on Saturday. Addressing a public meeting in NTR district's Nuziveedu as part of his Prajagalam election campaign tour, Naidu also labelled Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy a "gang leader of robbers and landgrabbers". "The anarchy that the state is now facing will end in another 10 days We are coming as an alliance to save the people from these conspirators," the leader of opposition in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly said. Elections for the 175-member assembly and the 25 Lok Sabha seats in Andhra Pradesh will be held simultaneously on May 13. The votes will be counted on June 4. Labelling Reddy a "gang leader of robbers and landgrabbers", the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief called on people to dump the fan -- the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) election symbol -- in the dustbin. Naidu alleged Reddy is formulating deceptive strategies to grab people's lands through the Land Titling A

Rahul took rights of his sister by entering fray from Rae Bareli: MP CM

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's filing nomination from Rae Bareli constituency is akin to him snatching the rights of his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and her husband, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav alleged on Saturday. Addressing a rally in the Guna Lok Sabha constituency, Yadav claimed Rahul ran away to Kerala (Wayanad constituency) from Amethi (Uttar Pradesh) after facing defeat. "There is the sea ahead (in Kerala), otherwise it is not clear where Rahul would have gone," Yadav quipped. Rahul Gandhi had said he would contest from Amethi while his sister will be in the fray from Rae Bareli, Yadav said. "Smriti Irani (Union minister and BJP candidate) was sitting in Amethi and calling Rahul but he developed cold feet by the time he reached Uttar Pradesh," Yadav said, a day after Rahul filed his nomination from Rae Bareli seat, currently represented by his mother Sonia Gandhi. Yadav claimed Rahul's brother-in-law (Vadra) had put up posters in Uttar Pradesh that he was rea

Rahul Gandhi promotes caste survey, promises to abolish Agniveer scheme

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi once again advocated for a caste survey and an economic review to ascertain who possesses how much wealth and asserted that this will be the first task of the INDIA bloc if it is voted to power. Addressing students at "Nyay Manch - Ab India Bolega" in the national capital, Gandhi said an INDIA bloc government will also abolish the Agniveer scheme and compensate the 1.5 lakh youngsters who were selected but not given entry into the armed forces. "The first step is a caste census along with an economic survey and it will ascertain who possesses how much wealth in the country," he said. People making up 90 per cent of the country's population do not even know their strength and are unaware as to how much of India's wealth they possess, he added. "They say that they have almost 50 per cent of the population but they do not know how much wealth they have. We are going to conduct a caste census and the OBCs (Other Backward Classes) will know how much they hav

Only 170 of 1,717 candidates are women in Phase-4 of Lok Sabha polls: ADR

Lok Sabha elections 2024: 38% of candidates studied between standard 5 to 12; 26 candidates declared themselves illiterate

Former Delhi Congress Chief Arvinder Singh Lovely and others join BJP

Lok Sabha elections 2024: Arvinder Singh Lovely, Naseeb Singh and Neeraj Basoya, in their resignation letters, denounced the Congress's alliance with AAP for the general elections

28% contesting Phase 4 Lok Sabha elections are crorepati candidates

Lok Sabha elections 2024: A report by ADR and National Election Watch reveals that 476 out of 1,710 candidates in Phase-4 of LS polls are crorepatis, with 12% with assets worth more than Rs 5 crore

21% candidates contesting Phase 4 LS polls have criminal cases against them

Lok Sabha elections 2024: A report by ADR and National Election Watch reveals that 360 out of 1,710 Phase 4 Lok Sabha candidates face criminal cases, with 16% facing serious criminal charges

Supreme Court tells ED it may consider giving Kejriwal bail due to polls

Supreme Court asks Enforcement Directorate's lawyer to be ready to address this issue when the case is heard on May 7

Sonia Gandhi's attempt to launch Rahul from Raebareli will fail, says Shah

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday said Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is contesting the Lok Sabha elections from Raebareli in Uttar Pradesh after running away from Amethi and predicted that he will lose the polls there against the BJP candidate by a huge margin. He also said former AICC President Sonia Gandhi's multiple attempts to "launch" Rahul Gandhi had failed and claimed that this was the twenty-first attempt. The top BJP leader addressed a public meeting here in Belagavi district for party candidate from Chikkodi Lok Sabha segment Annasaheb Jolle. "Modi ji tried and at once Chandrayaan (mission to Moon) got launched. Sonia Gandhi has launched this 'yaan' named Rahul Baba (Rahul Gandhi) twenty times, but her launching has not been successful. Today for the twenty-first time, running away from Amethi, he has filed nomination from Raebareli," Shah said. He said, "Rahul Baba, I'm telling the result of Raebareli from here. Against BJP's candidate Dinesh Pratap Singh, you will

Rahul contesting Rae Bareli seat out of fear of defeat: MP CM Yadav

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav on Friday took a swipe at Rahul Gandhi, saying the Congress leader who currently represents the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat in Kerala, has now changed the constituency and decided to contest from Uttar Pradesh's Rae Bareli seat out of fear of defeat. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Gandhi had contested from Amethi as well as Wayanad seats. While he won from Wayanad, he lost the Amethi seat to Union minister Smriti Irani. In a press statement, Yadav said, "Rahul Gandhi ran to Kerala last time after losing from Amethi, now he is running to Rae Bareli seeing the possibility of defeat in Wayanad. He will face defeat from Rae Bareli also." "Rahul was thinking of contesting from Amethi out of fear of defeat from Wayanad, but Irani did excellent work during the past five years and the Congress lost deposits on four out of five assembly seats of Amethi," he said. Earlier this week, Yadav held a roadshow in Amethi after accompanying local BJP candidate Smri

Maharashtra govt asks police to crack down on deepfake creators

The Maharashtra government on Friday directed the state police to take stern action against those creating deepfakes, saying such content is a cause for concern amid the poll season. According to an official release, the number of deepfakes and doctored photos being circulated on social media and digital media has risen during the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. Deepfake is a video of a person in which their appearance has been digitally altered so that they look like somebody else. Such manipulated content is being created using machine learning (ML) or artificial intelligence (AI), it said, adding that the use of this machinery during elections is a cause for concern. Deepfake content creates misunderstanding and is defamatory, said the government. The government has asked the Director-General of Police (DGP) to curb such practices and ensure a clean and transparent electoral process. The police have been asked to take stern action against anti-social elements making and circulatin

LS polls 2024: Priyanka, Rahul 'irrelevant' in Assam, says CM Himanta

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma claimed that Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra are "irrelevant" in this North Eastern state and they are "past expiry date". He dismissed Vadra's allegations that there is a 'mafia raj' in Assam and claimed that there was peace across the state and all welfare measures were reaching the people. He also hit back at the opposition party's 'washing machine' jibe at the BJP and alleged that the Congress has a "big, high voltage washing machine" which was used to cleanse Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal. "They (Congress) have a big washing machine. In which washing machine did they wash Arvind Kejriwal? I ask Priyanka Gandhi, four months ago she was saying Kejriwal has looted money through the liquor scam and now he is a good person, which high voltage washing machine she has?" Sarma said on Thursday, responding to the opposition leader's swipe at him. "Priyanka Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi are irrelevant in Assam. They are past expiry .

'Daro mat, bhago mat': PM Modi on Rahul Gandhi's nomination from Raebareli

Prime Minister Narendra Modi slammed the Congress for nominating Rahul Gandhi from the Raebareli constituency instead of Amethi

Bengal BJP to create legal cell to help teachers who lost jobs: PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said he has asked the West Bengal BJP unit to create a separate legal cell to provide help to "genuine teachers and candidates" who have lost jobs due to the School Service Commission (SSC) scam. While addressing an election rally at Bardhaman-Durgapur, Modi said "Although he wants those involved in corruption by the TMC to be punished but doesn't want the innocent to suffer." "The corruption that the TMC has done in Bengal in school recruitment is shameful. Due to this scam, several genuine candidates have suffered. I have asked the Bengal BJP unit on behalf of the party to create a separate legal cell and social media platform to provide help to the genuine candidates and teachers," he said. "BJP will support such honest candidates and will provide them legal help and will fight for them. This is Modi's guarantee," he said. Modi's remarks came a week after the Calcutta High Court declared the recruitment process of the State Level Selection

WB's industrial wealth threatened by Modi govt's capitalist policies: Cong

The Congress on Friday alleged that West Bengal's industrial wealth is threatened by the Modi government's "crony capitalist policies" and asked whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi will give a written guarantee that he will not sell public sector steel plants such as Durgapur to his "friends". Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh posed questions to the prime minister ahead of his Lok Sabha poll rallies in West Bengal. "Can the PM commit that he won't sell Durgapur Steel Plant to his friends? Why has the BJP failed to increase the MSP for paddy? Does the PM prioritise his PR over vaccines for India's children?" Ramesh said in his post on X. Elaborating on what he said were "jumla" details, Ramesh alleged that West Bengal's industrial wealth is threatened by the Modi government's crony capitalist policies. "Amidst SAIL's privatisation drive and the PM's attempt to sell steel plants in Salem, Vishakhapatnam, Bhadravathi, and Bastar, there is a fear that Durgapur Steel Plant will

BJD being run by bureaucrats, outsiders trying to capture Odisha: Pradhan

Naveen Patnaik-led Biju Janata Dal is facing public revolt for the first time and a caucus of "outsiders" in the chief minister's office wants to capture the state, BJP leader and Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has claimed. The Education Minister, who is contesting the Lok Sabha polls from Sambalpur, also dismissed the speculation that there were any attempts from BJP to enter into an alliance with the BJD. In an interview with PTI, Pradhan, who is returning to the electoral fray after 15 years, said, "the Odia identity is under threat and this election is all about that identity." "BJD is being run by a group of bureaucrats...the caucus in the chief minister's office which has few non-Oriya officers, they all came together and thought let's exploit the inability of the chief minister, let's create a vacuum from back door and their intention is to capture the state. "This is a very dangerous trend and this is what public is angry about besides their inaction on the ground," Prad

LS polls 2024: Priyanka hails Kishori Lal Sharma's candidature from Amethi

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Friday hailed the candidature of Kishori Lal Sharma from the Amethi Lok Sabha seat, saying the Gandhi family has had a longstanding association with him. Sharma, a close aide of the Gandhi family, has been fielded from the seat to take on the BJP's Smriti Irani. Sharma was the key person who looked after the two prestigious constituencies on behalf of the Gandhis. "Our family has a long-standing relationship with Kishori Lal Sharma ji. He has always been engaged wholeheartedly in serving the people of Amethi and Rae Bareli. His passion for public service is an example in itself," Priyanka Gandhi said in a post on X in Hindi. "Today, it is a matter of happiness that Shri Kishori Lal ji has been made the candidate from Amethi by the Congress Party. Kishori Lal ji's loyalty and dedication towards his duty will definitely bring him success in this election," the Congress general secretary said. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who has been an MP f