BJP-Shiv Sena sweep 41 seats in Maharashtra; Congress bags 1, NCP 4

Congress candidates, including former Union minister Sushilkumar Shinde, state president Ashok Chavan and Mumbai unit chief Milind Deora, lost the polls

The BJP-Shiv Sena combine won 41 of the 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra, while the Congress won one and NCP 4 seats. Two Union ministers and two former chief ministers tasted defeat in the election, which saw the Sharad Pawar-led NCP managing to retain its tally, while the Congress bagged just one seat, down from two it won in 2014. The last result was declared early Friday.

The BJP-Sena ruling alliance had secured 42 seats in 2014 elections. The AIMIM got its first MP from the state as its nominee Imtiaz Jaleel won from Aurangabad, defeating the Sena nominee Chandrakant Khaire. Congress candidates, including former Union minister Sushilkumar Shinde, state president Ashok Chavan and Mumbai unit chief Milind Deora, lost the polls.

Sujay Vikhe Patil defeated NCP rival Sangram Jagtap in Ahmednagar. The BJP nominee, son of Congress leader Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, quit the Rahul Gandhi-led party to join the BJP ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. In Maval, sitting Shiv Sena MP Shrirang Barne defeated his NCP rival Parth Pawar, the grand nephew of former Union minister Sharad Pawar.

Click Here: Lok Sabha Election Results 2019

In Mumbai-North, BJPs Gopal Shetty defeated Congress nominee Urmila Matondkar. In Raver, BJPs Raksha Khadse trounced her Congress rival Ulhas Patil. The 23 Lok Sabha seats BJP won are Nandurbar, Dhule, Jalgaon, Raver, Akola, Wardha, Nagpur, Bhandara-Gondiya, Gadchiroli-Chimur (ST), Nanded, Jalna, Dindori (ST), Bhiwandi, Mumbai North, Mumbai North East, Mumbai North-Central, Pune, Ahmednagar, Beed, Latur (SC), Solapur (SC), Madha and Sangli.

Maharashtra minister Girish Bapat of BJP comfortably won from Pune Lok Sabha seat against Congress candidate Mohan Joshi. The Shiv Sena won Buldhana, Ramtek (SC), Yavatmal- Washim, Hingoli, Parbhani, Nashik, Palghar, Kalyan, Thane, Mumbai North West, Mumbai South Central, Mumbai South, Maval, Shirdi (SC), Osmanabad, Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg, Kolhapur and Hatkanangale seats.

Village in Bihar calls for poll boycott after giving chance to every party

Begusarai goes to polls on April 29 with three main candidates in fray: CPI’s Kanhaiya Kumar, BJP’s Giriraj Singh and RJD’s Tanveer Hasan

Lok Sabha elections 2019: As one passes through the Barauni region in Bihar’s Begusarai, a crowd of 50-odd people can be seen standing by the side of an unpaved road. But they are not standing in the soaring heat to witness the election spectacle or catch a glimpse of a star campaigner. Shoulder-to-shoulder, each one has just one strong message to deliver to all the politicians and their cavalcade passing by: Boycott polls. Begusarai goes to poll on April 29, in the fourth phase of the Lok Sabha election, with three main candidates in fray: CPI’s Kanhaiya Kumar, BJP’s Giriraj Singh and RJD’s Tanveer Hasan.

“Can you hear us for a moment?” a group of young boys and women, belonging to Rajwara village, ask as they watch the campaign vehicles of Kanhaiya Kumar pass by. The villagers claim they haven’t seen a concrete road since the time of independence and they have to collect donations to maintain the unimproved roads. The voters of Rajwara have given a chance to all the parties in the Assembly elections since India’s independence in 1947.

Rajwara falls under the Teghra assembly constituency. First, there was an elected MLA from the Congress in 1951, followed by an independent candidate in 1957, Communist Party of India in 1962, BJP in 2010 and RJD in the latest state elections held in 2015. “I have never seen a road in this village since independence. We have given an opportunity to all parties. They come here to ask for votes and forget about us every time,” Arun Kumar, an unskilled worker in the region, says.

The problems compounded in 2016 when villagers realised Rajwara had been moved out of the Bihat nagar parishad (city council). It wasn’t a part of a gram panchayat either. “As a result, we haven’t been able to get benefits of any government schemes to build toilets, get cylinders or be a part of any housing scheme,” 27-year-old student Sanjeet Kumar said. The villagers have not been able to reap the benefits of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, PM Awaz Yojana, among other central government schemes...

Elections 2019: In UP, parties try to shore up their flanks before phase 2

The principal players are trying to fine tune their complex and complicated caste equations to ensure victory

Dharmendra Soni, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) coordinator of the Aligarh region, was supremely confident that the BSP’s alliance with the Samajwadi Party (SP) would be more “productive” and “enduring” in 2019 than it was in 1993, when the BSP’s founder-president Kanshi Ram linked up with the SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav to jointly fight the assembly election and defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The raison d’etre was identical but Soni believed that the essence was not the same.

“The foundation of the earlier understanding was shaky, there was mutual distrust. Dalits regarded the SP’s Yadavs as land-grabbers and oppressors. The Yadavs thought of us as infra dig. The BJP exploited the cracks and took away the BSP. We now understand that the backward castes, scheduled castes and Muslims are natural allies, ‘shudras’ who were artfully divided by the upper castes to thwart a coalition. Mayawati (the BSP president) will fight for Dalits and Akhilesh Yadav (the SP head) will fight for the backward castes and together they will ensure that Muslims will be protected. See the contempt with which the BJP looks at Akhilesh. Once Akhilesh vacated the chief minister’s bungalow (in Lucknow after losing the 2017 elections), his successor (Yogi Adityanath) performed a ritual to cleanse the place because it was occupied by a backward caste person,” said Soni, who works out of Awagarh in Etah district.

To try and underscore that the Mayawati-Akhilesh re-union was not a one election partnership, Om Prakash Jatav, a BSP worker also at Awagarh, said, “The BJP has earmarked a 10 percent quota for the upper castes but after the elections, the BSP and SP will launch an agitation to demand a 52 percent reservation slot for the backward castes and Dalits, equivalent to our population, and a caste census.”

Click Here: Lok Sabha Elections 2019

Lok Sabha 1st phase candidates: 32% crorepatis, 17% facing criminal charges

Nearly half of all candidates have declared they have a graduate degree or above, while 1.5% have declared they are just literate, and 5.2% that they are illiterate

Of the candidates contesting the first phase of Lok Sabha elections, 213 (17%) have declared they are facing criminal cases, of which 146 (12%) face serious criminal charges, as per an analysis of candidates’ affidavits by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).

About a third (32%) or 401 of 1,266 candidates whose affidavits were studied have declared assets worth Rs 1 crore or more. Among the major parties, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) are notable for having all (25 from TDP and 17 from TRS) ‘crorepati’ candidates.

Nearly half of all candidates have declared they have a graduate degree or above, while 1.5% have declared they are just literate, and 5.2% that they are illiterate. About a third of candidates are aged between 25 and 40 years, while more than half are between 41 and 60 years. The first phase of polling began on April 11, 2019. ADR studied the affidavits of 1,266 of the 1,279 candidates who are contesting during this phase. Affidavits of 13 candidates were not analysed as they were not properly scanned or were incomplete.

Candidates filing nomination papers for contesting an election have to submit an affidavit (Form 26) furnishing personal details that include details of income and assets, with PAN and income tax return as proof. A candidate also has to list the details of any criminal cases he or she has been charged with. If a candidate is found to have filed a false affidavit, he or she can be imprisoned for up to six months and/or made to pay a fine.

The affidavits filed by the candidates contesting the 17th Lok Sabha elections are publicly available at the Election Commission’s website. Of the 146 candidates facing serious criminal charges, 12 have declared they have been convicted in the past. Persons convicted are debarred from contesting elections for six years from the date of conviction, but only if they have been sentenced to imprisonment of two years or more.

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Better jobs to farm distress: Key issues in India’s general elections

Here are the main issues in the election, votes in which will be counted on May 23

India will hold general elections in seven phases starting from Thursday, with about 900 million voters eligible to participate in the world’s biggest democratic exercise.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling alliance will win a thin majority, opinion polls show, with its focus on national security appearing to trump concerns over jobs and farm prices.

Here are the main issues in the election, votes in which will be counted on May 23.

Jobs : With more than half the population of 1.3 billion younger than 25 and millions joining the workforce every year, the lack of jobs created during Modi’s term is a major issue. Better job opportunities are voters’ top priority, a survey of more than 270,000 people by electoral watchdog Association for Democratic Reforms has shown. Unemployment rose to 7.2 percent in February, its highest since September 2016, data from private thinktank the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy shows.

A government report leaked to the Business Standard newspaper said unemployment in the year ending June 2018 rose to 6.1 percent, its highest in at least 45 years. The election manifesto of the main opposition Congress party promised a slew of measures to try and halve unemployment.

Muscular Nationalism : Modi’s national security record was spotlighted by an aerial clash with arch foe Pakistan, triggered by a February suicide attack in disputed Kashmir that killed 40 Indian paratroopers and was claimed by an Islamist militant group based in the neighbour.

Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) says the decision to send warplanes to Pakistan to bomb a purported training camp, in India’s first such aerial strike since 1971, is proof of Modi’s muscular stance against what New Delhi calls Islamabad’s backing for militants. Prime Minister Imran Khan has said no militant group will be allowed to operate from Pakistan’s soil for attacks abroad…

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‘Modi ki sena’ remark to NaMo TV: EC buried under tide of complaints

Opposition parties have accused the ECI of being biased towards the ruling BJP, which they say is giving Modi an unfair advantage in the election

Lok Sabha Elections 2019: Did Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi break election rules by addressing the nation on an anti-satellite test recently? Is it right to have a channel dedicated to the leader? Can the country’s armed forces be called “Modi’s soldiers”?

Ahead of a general election that starts next week, the Election Commission of India (ECI) says it is swamped with hundreds of thousands of such questions and complaints of alleged violation of election rules, known as the model code of conduct. Many are coming via ever expanding social media. Opposition parties have accused the ECI of being biased towards the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which they say is giving Modi an unfair advantage in the election. There is even a threat to jail commission officials if Modi is ousted. The BJP denies getting any special treatment from the ECI.

The ECI – an autonomous constitutional body tasked with the smooth conduct of the world’s biggest democratic exercise with as many as 900 million eligible voters – said it was impartial and taking action against the guilty irrespective of party affiliation..

“MODI”S SOLDIERS”

Among the top complaints the ECI has ruled on or is examining are a speech by the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh state, Yogi Adityanath of the BJP, in which he associated the armed forces with Modi by calling them “Modi’s soldiers”, according to the ECI’s website.  Adityanath has been warned against making such statements in future. The Commission is also examining a representation against the planned release of a biopic titled “PM Narendra Modi” this month.

The ECI late last month said Modi did not violate the code of conduct when he addressed the nation to announce that an Indian anti-satellite missile had shot down an Indian satellite in space in a major breakthrough. Opposition parties had accused Modi of trying to gain political benefits through the televised address.

Modi’s pro-poor image: Has Congress’ NYAY scheme stolen the PM’s thunder?

Five years on, the choice between Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress, led by Rahul Gandhi, seems to have been reset

Lok sabha elections 2019: When Narendra Modi was elected prime minister of India in 2014, one of the reasons that many welcomed him, at home and abroad, was that governance in New Delhi seemed to have ground to a halt. His predecessors in government, the Indian National Congress, had once been identified as the party of reform and competence. But, a series of political missteps and growing popular opposition meant that they instead developed a reputation for administrative paralysis.

Five years on, the choice between Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress, led by Rahul Gandhi, seems to have been reset. For many, Modi’s government has not lived up to expectations. While he brought a new energy to governance, a lack of familiarity with policy combined with a lack of competence in his party and cabinet to stymie his more ambitious efforts at reform.

This week, when the Congress released Congress manifesto for the forthcoming general elections, it felt like we were back in the 2000s. Much in the manifesto was solidly reformist; it included several longstanding prescriptions from economists and public policy experts including legal reform, devolving more power to local governments and simplifying the goods-and-services tax. The BJP struggled to come up with coherent, pointed replies to these policy suggestions — even Modi’s finance minister was reduced to declaring that the manifesto was designed to help separatists break up the country. The contrast between the two sides could not have been sharper and it wasn’t the ruling party that sounded like the party of government…

Lok Sabha polls : Investigate everyone, be it Vadra or Modi, says Rahul

Catch all updates on Lok Sabha Elections 2019 as parties form strategies and stitch alliances ahead of the seven-phase Lok Sabha elections 2019 starting on April 11

Lok Sabha Elections 2019: Congress President Rahul Gandhi began his party campaign for Lok Sabha elections 2019 in Tamil Nadu, by women students in Chennai. Addressing women students at the Stella Maris College, he said the Congress will change the mood of the country and make people feel happy and empowered.

Gandhi, who asked students to refer to him as Rahul, said the law must apply to everybody and not be applied selectively. He said this in response to a question on his brother-in-law Robert Vadra. In his informal interaction with the students, he also brought up the issue of the Rafale deal and reiterated his allegations about the pricing of the aircraft and the process. “I will be the first person to say it… investigate Robert Vadra but also investigate Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” he said. Gandhi said the Congress would pass the women’s reservation bill it if it comes to power.

He asked the gathering, “Did you like demonetisaton?” When the audience answered, “No”, he said, “I think it’s pretty clear the damage demonetisaton did. PM should have taken your advice.”We have no hatred towards anyone, it is for courts to decide: Rahul on Rajiv case convicts’ release. We are forgiving people and have no hatred towards anyone, it is for courts to decide: Rahul on Rajiv case convicts’ release.

Event Highlights

“He is the leader of the future” – students from Stella Maris College after their interaction with Rahul Gandhi

PM Modi is a ‘corrupt’ man: Rahul Gandhi 

BJP’s idea is to capture every institution of the country and run them from Nagpur, the RSS headquarters: Rahul Gandhi 

Rahul Gandhi assures GST reform if Congress voted to power 

Congress President Rahul Gandhi: Alliances have firmed up in a number of states like Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Jharkhand.

I want you to remember that as women you have every right to the space that you deserve: Rahul Gandhi…

Read Full Source: Lok sabha Elections 

PM-KISAN: Modi govt has so far transferred Rs 5,215 cr to 26 mn farmers

In the budget, the NDA government allocated a sum of Rs 20,000 crore, to transfer Rs 2,000 each to farmers in the first installment by March-end

Economy News| The central government has so far transferred Rs 5,215 crore to over 26 million small and marginal farmers under the PM-Kisan scheme announced in the last month’s interim budget.

Ahead of the general election, the Centre announced the Rs 75,000-crore Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-Kisan) scheme under which Rs 6,000 per year would be disbursed in three instalments to around 12 crore farmers who hold cultivable land up to 2 hectares. In the budget, the NDA government allocated a sum of Rs 20,000 crore, to transfer Rs 2,000 each to farmers in the first installment by March-end, for the ongoing fiscal under the scheme.

The scheme was formally launched at national level by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 24 at Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh by transferring the first instalment to 1.01 crore farmers, totalling Rs 2,021 crore. “Under PM Kisan Samman Nidhi: Benefit of over Rs 5,215 crore transferred directly into the bank accounts of more than 26 million small and marginal farmers within 37 days of announcement of the scheme!,” the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said in a tweet on Sunday.

“Would be first scheme where such an amount has been transferred to so many beneficiaries in such a short span of time,” the PMO further said. Last week, the Union Agriculture Ministry had said that Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradeshand Gujarat have taken a lead in taking benefit under the PM-Kisan scheme….

Will ‘mahagathbandhan’ have an impact in your constituency, asks NaMo app

One of the last questions is on the grand alliance. It asks people whether the ‘mahagathbandhan’ will have an impact in their constituency

Latest News: Will the ‘mahagathbandhan’ or the opposition’s grand anti-BJP alliance have an impact in your constituency? This is one of the several questions the ‘people’s pulse’ survey asks participants on the ‘NaMo’ app. Prime Minister Narendra Modi Monday posted a brief video on Twitter urging people to participate in the survey.

The survey asks participants about their state, constituency, their view on progress achieved by the central government in sectors such as affordable healthcare, prosperity of farmers, corruption-free governance, Swachh Bharat, national security, economy, infrastructure, employment and rural electrification.

In his video message, the prime minister says: “A survey has been launched on the NaMo app. I want your direct feedback through the survey. Your feedback matters. Your feedback on various issues will will help us take important decisions. Will you all fill that important survey?”

One of the last questions is on the grand alliance. It asks people whether the ‘mahagathbandhan’ will have an impact in their constituency. The survey comes amid an opposition attempt to forge an alliance against the BJP ahead of the national elections.

Source By Business Standard or BS

Onion prices fall 86%; poor farmers say they’ll make Modi pay in 2019 polls

Steep drops in recent weeks in the prices of onions and potatoes, both staple foods for India’s 1.3 billion people, have badly hit the rural economy in large states

Latest News: A spike in the price of onions has led to the ouster of governments in Indian elections in the past. Now, prices of the staple have collapsed, and many impoverished farmers are saying they will make Prime Minister Narendra Modi pay in next year’s general election.

Steep drops in recent weeks in the prices of onions and potatoes, both staple foods for India’s 1.3 billion people, have badly hit the rural economy in large states. In interviews with dozens of farmers last week, Reuters reporters found resentment welling against Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for not helping support incomes in the countryside, where a majority of the population lives.

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“Whatever they do in the coming months, I will vote against the BJP. I won’t repeat the 2014 mistake,” said Madhukar Nagare, an onion grower from Nashik in Maharashtra state, referring to his backing the BJP at the last general election.

In the 1998 state elections, a sharp spike in onion prices led to the fall of the BJP government in the capital New Delhi.In the 1980 general election, sky-high onion prices helped former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi dislodge a coalition government that had included politicians who later formed the BJP…

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2019 elections: BJP may lose 70% seats in Hindi heartland, Congress to gain

The bulk of seats that the BJP may lose is likely to be picked up by the Congress, dramatically altering its leveraging ability

Elections: There is unanimity that the keen contest resulting in a photo finish in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan has thrown open the race for 2019. It makes sense therefore, to examine electoral statistics from the past and visualise emerging trends. Needless to say that in addition to the two states, Chhattisgarh – in which the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lost too – is part of the Hindi heartland of north India. It is one of the two regions that propelled Narendra Modi to power in 2014. When we talk about the Hindi heartland, it refers to ten states – Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and the Union Territory of Chandigarh.

Although not really a separate region, the two other states in northern India – Punjab and Jammu & Kashmir – have to be treated separately while discussing politics in a general framework. But within the context of the BJP’s performance in 2014, these can also be clubbed with the heartland region for calculations in the run up to Elections 2019.

hese dozen states and the lone UT account for a total of 245 Lok Saha seats, of which the BJP won 196 in 2014. In addition, if you add the seats won by its allies in Bihar and UP, the total is a difficult to repeat 211. Essentially, in this block of states – which elects almost 45% of Lok Sabha members – the BJP’s opponents won just 34 seats at the height of the “Narendra Modi wave”.

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Election Results 2017 LIVE: BJP leads big in UP & Uttarakhand, Cong leads Punjab, close fight in Goa

Get live election result 2017 of Assembly elections for UP, Goa, Uttarakhand, Punjab and Manipur

 

Punjab election result 2017:Most polls forecast a close fight between the Congress, which is seeking to return to power in Punjab after a hiatus of 10 years, and Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), making its debut in the Punjab Assembly election. Stay with us for LIVE updates on Assembly Elections 2017.

Uttarakhand election result 2017: Most exit polls have projected that BJP will emerge as the single largest party in Uttarakhand election 2017, ending the Congress Party's hope to retain its Harish Rawat-led government in the state.

Goa election result 2017: In Goa, too, BJP is seen as the largest party with 15-20 of the 40 Assembly seats. The Congress could be a close second, while AAP, a debutant in the state, could get 2-4 seats.

Manipur election result 2017: Exit polls for Manipur have a split verdict. While some show BJP forming government in the state, others expect the Congress' Okram Ibobi Singh returning for a fourth term. Iron Lady Irom Sharmila, contesting her first election, is expected to have a weak debut.

Results of Assembly elections 2017 in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Goa, Manipur and Uttarakhand will be declared on March 11. Join us on Business Standard for election result 2017 updates today.

10:34 AM

AAP's Elvis Gomes is trailing in Goa

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Punjab election result - Latest Trends: SAD-BJP 27, AAP: 25, Congress: 62, Others: 02

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Punjab election result: A happy birthday for Amarinder Singh as Congress takes state

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UP elections result - Latest Trends: BJP-279, SP-Congress 77, BSP-26, Others-16

10:29 AM

Manipur Elections result: Manipur CM Okram Ibobi Singh has won from Thoubal seat

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Punjab election result - Latest Trends: SAD's Bikram Singh Majithia leading from Majitha by 6,549 votes

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UP elections result - Latest Trends: BJP-278, SP-Congress 79, BSP-27, Others-13 

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UP elections result - Latest Trends: Status known for 313 out of 403 constituencies

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UP polls 2017: Open to 'all possibilities' to prevent BJP, says Akhilesh

Exit polls indicated the BJP emerging as the largest single party in UP

With exit polls predicting a hung Assembly, Uttar Pradesh  election2017 Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday did not completely rule out a post-poll tie-up with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) to prevent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from coming to power in the state.

As exit polls indicated the BJP emerging as the largest single party in the key cow belt state but falling short of the magic figure of 202 in the 403-member House, Akhilesh told BBC he was open to "all possibilities" to prevent the saffron party from coming to power.

"No one will want President's rule imposed in the state and BJP run the government through the remote control.

"SP-Congress will get enough seats, will form government on its own. But if required let us see," he said.

Replying to a question about whether he was ready for a post-poll alliance with the BSP, Akhilesh said, "I will not yet speak about alliance. Samajwadi Party (SP) and Congress will get enough seats to form the government.

"However, as I have always referred to the BSP chief as a relative, it is natural for people to think we might take their help or might go with them.... But it is difficult to say this as of now". Akhilesh, also the Samajwadi Party president, has always referred to Mayawati as 'Buaji' (aunt).

With the counting of votes barely two days away, the SP president's remark is likely to trigger speculation about the possibility of a realignment of political parties.

Throughout the bitter, recrimination-filled campaign, Mayawati never attacked Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, who had a word of praise for the BSP chief when he said his respect for her was intact. He had said he considered BJP and not BSP dangerous for the country.

When reached for comments, senior Congress leader Sanjay Singh said it was better not to say anything about it "at this stage".

With the counting of votes barely two days away, the SP president's remark is likely to trigger speculation about the possibility of a realignment of political parties.

Throughout the bitter, recrimination-filled campaign, Mayawati never attacked Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, who had a word of praise for the BSP chief when he said his respect for her was intact. He had said he considered BJP and not BSP dangerous for the country.

When reached for comments, senior Congress leader Sanjay Singh said it was better not to say anything about it "at this stage".

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