Page 394 - Politics
Modi wave: Failed assembly poll candidate makes it to Lok Sabha
A BJP candidate who lost the Rajasthan assembly polls only a few months back made it to the Lok Sabha, amid a Modi wave that has led to a clean sweep for the party in the state. In contrast, two Congress MLAs lost the election to the lower House. BJP candidate Kailash Chaudhary from Barmer defeated former party leader Jaswant Singh' son Manvendra Singh who was fielded by the Congress. The Congress had given ticket to Manvendra Singh after he joined it, quitting the BJP over growing differences with the state party leadership. Manvendra Singh had earlier fought the 2018 state assembly elections unsuccessfully. BJP candidate Kailash Chaudhary won the Barmer seat with a margin of 3,23,808 votes, despite having lost the assembly polls earlier. BJP legislator from Mandawa, Narendra Khinchar, who was given a ticket from Jhunjhunu seat won the parliamentary elections, defeating Shrawan Kumar of the Congress by a margin of 3,02,547 votes. Two Congress legislators, Krishna Punia and ...
Looking forward to working with new govt of PM Modi: IMF
The IMF is looking forward to working with the new government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a top official said Friday, asserting that India's reforms and future direction should continue to focus on achieving faster and more inclusive growth with low inflation. Prime Minister Modi on Thursday led his Bharatiya Janata Party to a landmark victory for a second five-year term in office, winning 303 seats in the 543-member Lok Sabha. "As far as the IMF is concerned, we think that the reforms and the future direction should continue to focus on achieving faster and importantly, more inclusive growth with low inflation," IMF spokesperson Gerry Rice said. "The IMF looks forward to working with Prime Minister Modi's new government," Rice said when asked about the election results in India. In March, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said India has been one of the fastest growing large economies in the world. It said the country has carried out several key reforms in the last five ...
Trump moves to escalate the investigation of intel agencies
President Donald Trump has directed the US intelligence community to "quickly and fully cooperate" with Attorney General William Barr's investigation of the origins of the multiyear probe of whether his 2016 campaign colluded with Russia. The move Thursday marked an escalation in Trump's efforts to "investigate the investigators," as he continues to try to undermine the findings of special counsel Robert Mueller's probe amid mounting Democratic calls to bring impeachment proceedings against Trump. Press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement that Trump is delegating to Barr the "full and complete authority" to declassify documents relating to the probe, which would ease his efforts to review the sensitive intelligence underpinnings of the investigation. Such a move could create fresh tensions within the FBI and other intelligence agencies, which have historically resisted such demands. Barr has already asked John Durham, the US attorney in Connecticut, to examine the origins of ..
Over 13000 NOTA voters in Arunachal
Over 13000 voters in Arunachal Pradesh opted for the 'none of the above' (NOTA) option in the Lok Sabha as well as the simultaneous assembly elections, counting for which was conducted on Thursday, EC data said. An estimated 13,283 voters this year was found to have opted to use the NOTA button in the state even as counting for four assembly constituencies is on. It is the highest number of NOTA votes polled in the state in comparison to the previous elections. During the 2014 assembly and Parliamentary elections in the state, an estimated 4948 voters had opted for the NOTA option which constitute over one percent of the votes polled. This year NOTA votes were more than that bagged by some of the candidates. The maximum number of voters who opted for NOTA this year were in Namsai constituency(581), followed by Chowkham constituency with 337 NOTA votes. The lowest number of NOTA votes were recorded at Tali constituency in Kra Daadi district where the figure was just nine, .
Sena credits PM's popularity, Shah's political management for
The Shiv Sena Friday said the massive mandate the NDA got in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls was due to the popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the political management of BJP chief Amit Shah. In an editorial in party mouthpiece Saamana, the Sena said the opposition raised issues of unemployment, farm distress and the people decided Modi was the right man to solve them. "People felt the Congress got 60 years, why not five more years to Modi," the editorial claimed. It also said "Hindutva" won in West Bengal, adding that parties that ran a negative campaign against Modi were shown the door by voters. The opposition camp is in dire straits because they do not have a leader of the stature of Modi, the Sena claimed. In Maharashtra, the editorial said, senior Congress leaders Ashok Chavan and Sushilkumar Shinde lost and so did Sharad Pawar's grandnephew Parth Pawar. The victory of Supriya Sule was the only solace for the NCP, it added. It said the Sena also lost some of ...
Victorious SKM to take call on Sikkim CM candidate soon
The Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) on Friday said it will meet soon to decide on the party's chief ministerial candidate, after unseating five-time Chief Minister Pawan Kumar Chamling of the SDF. SKM supremo P S Golay is likely to preside over the legislature party meeting later in the evening, where the chief ministerial candidate will be finalised before its delegation meets Governor Ganga Prasad to stake claim to form government. "It will be decided by the party soon," Golay said. Earlier in the day, SKM spokesperson Jacob Khaling Rai said party leaders and workers would like to see Golay lead the next government in Sikkim. "I thank the people of Sikkim for giving a mandate to the SKM for serving them... We hope to live up to their expectations," Golay told a local news channel, while leading a victory procession. The SKM, founded in 2013, won a slender majority in the 32-member legislative assembly by bagging 17 seats against 15 by the SDF.
DRDO successfully tests indigenous 500-kg guided bomb
The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) on Friday successfully tested an indigenously developed 500-kg inertially guided bomb at the Pokhran test-firing range in Rajasthan.The bomb hit its target with high precision, government officials said."The bomb was fired by a Su-30MKI combat aircraft from a 30-km range and hit its target with high precision," they said.Guided bombs are meant to precisely hit a designated target to minimize collateral damage.The weapon being developed is similar to the SPICE (Smart, Precise Impact, Cost-Effective), an Israel made bomb which was used by the Indian Air Force to hit terror camps in Pakistan's Balakot on February 26.DRDO is also reportedly developing two such glide bombs named--Gaurthmaa and Garuda.Garuthmaa is the winged version with a range of 100 km while Garuda is the non-winged version with a range of 30 km.DRDO is also developing a Smart Anti Airfield Weapon (SAAW) which can be used to damage enemy airfields during war.
Patil resigns as KPCC campaign committee chief
Senior Congress leader H KPatil has resigned as the President of Karnataka PradeshCongress Campaign Committee, taking responsibility for the party's disastrous defeat in the state in the Lok Sabha polls. In a letter to Congress President Rahul Gandhi, he said the results had "shocked" all Congressmen and the outcome in Karnataka was contrary to their expectations. Stating that it was time for all of them to introspect, he said "As President of the Karnataka Pradesh CongressCampaign Committee I had the privilege to take the policiesand message of my esteemed Party to the people. In view of the debacle, I feel it my moral duty to own-up the responsibility. Hence, with all humility I submit my resignation to the post." Steamrolling the ruling Congress-JDS alliance, BJPscored a resounding win in Karnataka, bagging 25 out of thetotal 28 Lok Sabha seats in an outcome that left the one-yearold Kumaraswamy government in a tizzy over its stability. With the BJP dealing a hammer ...
Rajiv may offer to quit in CWC meet tomorrow
Severely mauled for a second time in consecutive Lok Sabha elections, the Congress Working Committee (CWC) will be meeting here on Saturday to take stock of the situation as party President Rahul Gandhi is likely to offer his resignation accepting moral resonsibility for the debacle.Though there was no official word on the agenda for the meeting, sources said Gandhi's offer may not be accepted and the party may reaffirm its faith to work under his leadership.Gandhi apparently wants to send a signal that he was also accountable for the party's performance which was not any better than the 2014 results. In the last elections, the Congress won 44 seats, the lowest-score in its history, and improved its tally marginally by 8 to reach 52 in the current elections.The CWC is expected to discuss the reasons for the party's debacle, especially in states like Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh where it had won the Assembly elections only five months ago and in Karnataka where the the ...
Rahul may offer to quit in CWC meet tomorrow
A division bench comprising Justices L Nageswara Rao and Justice MR Shah warned the central bank that any further violation of the apex court's 2015 verdict would result in serious contempt of court p
"Narrative against Centre weaned away people from NDA in TN"
Factors like a consistent campaign by the DMK and other outfits that the BJP-led Centre was against the interests of Tamil Nadu on several issues like NEET contributed to the rout of NDA alliance in the Lok Sabha polls in the state. While the wave in favour of Prime Minister Narendra Modi worked wonders in the rest of the nation, Tamil Nadu ended up a stand-alone state like Kerala, keeping aloof from the national mood. Ever since NEET became a reality by 2017, DMK had ratcheted up the rhetoric against both the Centre and state, saying the test would adversely impact the prospects of the poor and rural students and hurt social justice. With opposition to NEET assuming emotive overtones, DMK assured scrapping the entrance exam, even as AIADMK also promised to get it exempted for Tamil Nadu in the run up to the elections. Be it a relief package for cyclone Gaja from the Centre, the controversial Methane extraction initiative, the BJP-led NDA was the prime target. Modi was .
Differences resurface between Himachal Congress leaders
Differences between former chief minister Virbhadra Singh and ex-state Congress president Sukhvinder Sukhu resurfaced after the party's worst-ever performance in Lok Sabha elections in the state. A day after Arki MLA Virbhadra Singh told mediapersons that Sukhu should have been changed much earlier for better results, the former state Congress chief, who is the Nadaun MLA, said, "This is not the time for blaming others for political motives." In a press statement issued here on Friday, Sukhu, without naming Virbhadra Singh, said, "Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones on others (sheeshe ke gharo mei rehne waale doosro par pathar nahin fenkte)." Sukhu said, "Instead of levelling allegations and counter allegations against each other, this is the time to go ahead unitedly." He also thanked the Congress workers for their work during the elections. "There is no need to get disappointed with the election results. We should learn from the results. Time keeps on changing. ...
LS polls: 103 candidates in Delhi poll fray polled less than thousand votes
A total of 103 candidates, including 25 independents, who were in the fray in Lok Sabha elections in Delhi polled less than thousand votes. According to data shared by the Election Commission, there are 103 candidates who got less than one thousand votes, while 76 of them could not even cross 500 mark. These candidates, contesting elections in seven constituencies in Delhi, were from small parties such as Republican Party of India, Rashtriya Samrasta Party, Ekta Samaj Party, Kanshiram Bahujan Dal, Aapki Apni Party , Mazdoor Kirayedar Vikas Party, Bharat Prabhat Party and Rashtra Nirman Party. The least number of votes were polled in the New Delhi constituency where Prism party's nominee Raj Shekhar Gunti got 174 votes. The Chandni Chowk constituency had 18 such candidates who garnered less than thousand votes, including five independent nominees. The number of candidates securing less than thousand votes in East Delhi, New Delhi, North East Delhi and North West Delhi were 19, 21, 13 ..
Those indulging in muckraking against PM have been completely
Union Law Minister and newly elected Patna Sahib MP Ravi Shankar Prasad Friday said that those who had indulged in muckraking against Prime Minister Narendra Modi have been completely wiped out in the Lok Sabha polls. In an apparent reference to RJD, Prasad said that a party has been completely wiped out (in the Lok Sabha polls) so much so that it could not even open its account in the state. "Those who had indulged in muckraking against our prime minister have been completely wiped out as lotus (BJP symbol) bloomed in the mud, Prasad told newsmn. Except Congress, which won the Kishanganj seat in Bihar, its 'Mahagathbandhan' allies RJD, HAM(S), VIP and RLSP were completely routed. Out of 19 seats which RJD had contested it could win none. Prasad was felicitated by the party leaders and workers on his victory. He defeated actor-turned politician Shatrughan Sinha by over 2.84 lakh votes. He said the people of the country have recognized the work done by Narendra Modi ...
If Modi is a wave, I am tsunami: Bhagwant Mann
Bhagwant Mann, the lone AAP member in the new Lok Sabha, Friday said the "Modi wave" could not shake him off because he had earned the people's trust and asserted that the electorate has given "one last chance" to the Congress in Punjab ahead of 2022 Assembly polls. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had a dismal showing in Punjab, with its tally reducing from four seats in 2014 to just one in 2019. It found its saviour in Mann, the comedian-turned-politician who won from Sangrur by 1.10 lakh votes defeating Congress's Kewal Singh Dhillon. Asked about the road ahead for the party in Punjab, he said, "I will continue to fight and my party will come to power in the next assembly election. The people of the state have given one last chance to the Congress." He said the number of seats won does not exactly reflect the mood of the people. "We did not get anything in Delhi in 2014, but came to power with a thumping majority in 2015. We might have drawn a blank this time, but we will from government .
After BJP mauling, Mamata Banerjee tweets poem against religious aggression
Severely mauled by BJP in the Lok Sabha elections, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday penned down a poem in which she makes a veiled attack on rivals criticising "communalism" and "aggression" in religion.Her poem titled "I do not agree", which she shared on her Twitter account, the TMC leader said that she believes in the religion that draws light from humanism.Though she took no names, it was apparently aimed at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah who made strident attacks on her and her party repeatedly during the election campaign.The underlying theme of the poem targets the violence that took place in West Bengal during the Lok Sabha polls. A prime example was violence after BJP president Amit Shah's roadshow in Kolkata on May 16. The part of the poem saying,"I don't believe in selling religious aggression", Banerjee said asking people who believe in tolerance to unite against the forces that use religion as aggression.See the poem ...
LS polls: UPA performance only marginally better than last time
Congress managed to add only eight seats to its tally of 44 it had won in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, marking its second consecutive electoral debacle in five years.Last elections were the worst for the Congress when it got the lowest number in the Lok Sabha since Independence.The only consolation for the Congress came from Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Punjab where it could score some reasonable gains.In Tamil Nadu, Congress bagged 8 seats while its alliance partner Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) won a whopping 23 seats. The other alliance partners Communist Party of India (CPI) and CPI (M) each secured two seats while Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) and Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) got one seat each in the state where 38 parliamentary constituencies went to polls.Polling in Vellore constituency by Election Commission of India (ECI) after a lot of cash was seized during a raid.Congress was wiped out from three states- Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh where the party ..
Western UP: Gathbandhan wrests 5 seats from BJP, RLD draws blank
The Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party together wrested five seats from the BJP in western Uttar Pradesh in this Lok Sabha election but the third constituent of the alliance, the RLD, drew a blank. The Rashtriya Lok Dal, said to have had a considerable influence on many of the 22 Lok Sabha seats in the region, did not win any of the three seats it contested. The BJP lost Amroha, Bijnor, Moradabad, Nagina and Rampur to SP and BSP, but retained Agra, Aligarh, Meerut, Ghaziabad, Gautam Buddh Nagar and others in western UP, according to Election Commission data. Overall the BJP won 62 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh, down from its jaw-dropping victory on 73 seats in 2014, while BSP got 10, SP five, Apna Dal (S) two and Congress one, the data showed. RLD president Jayant Chaudhary lost from Baghpat in a close fight with sitting MP and BJP leader Satyapal Singh, while his father and party patron Ajit Singh was defeated in Muzaffarnagar by the saffron party's Sanjeev ...
Record victory for Modi's ministers; disappointment for Puri, Alphons
Riding the Modi wave, a record number of 43 Union ministers marched to Lok Sabha, while five others including former bureaucrats Hardeep Puri and KJ Alphons faced disappointment. As many as 48 ministers of National Democratic Allaince(NDA) government were in the fray in the general elections. Textile Minister Smriti Irani emerged as a giant-slayer against Congress president Rahul Gandhi who lost by 55,120 votes in Amethi. Prime Minister Narendra Modi retained Varanasi by defeating Samajwadi Party candidate Shalini Yadav by over 4,79,505 votes. He increased his victory margin as compared to 2014 by over one lakh votes. Giriraj Singh, who was up against CPI candidate Kanhaiya Kumar, defeated the former JNU students union president by a margin of 4,22,217 votes in Begusarai constituency. Radha Mohan Singh fielded from Purvi Champaran defeated his RJD rival Aakash Singh by a margin of 2,93,648 votes. In Arrah, RK Singh defeated his nearest rival Raju Yadav of CPI(ML) by a margin of 147285
Cong's high-profile losers in U'khand
Senior Congress leaders Harish Rawat and Pritam Singh who lost from Nainital and Tehri Lok Sabha seats, respectively were the two most high-profile disappointments for the party in Uttarakhand. The two, on whom the party had pinned all hopes of lifting its sagging fortunes after the rout of 2014 Lok Sabha election and 2017 assembly polls, could not hold out against the saffron surge which swept all the five seats in the state once again. Far from winning, the duo could not even give much of a fight to their BJP opponents who won by more than three lakh votes. Singh went down to BJP sitting MP from Tehri Mala Rajya Laxmi Shah while Rawat lost to Pradesh BJP president Ajay Bhatt, a Lok Sabha poll debutante who made it for the first time to Parliament. Even personally it was a do-or-die battle for Rawat who had lost both the seats he had contested in the 2017 state assembly polls and a win at this juncture would have given him a new lease of life, a political analyst here said. Given his