TMC loses 2 MLAs, 50 councillors to BJP in ‘first of seven phases’

With these defections, TMC loses hold over two assembly constituencies and three municipal bodies in West Bengal

Days after the Trinamool Congress lost a few of its recently held Lok Sabha seats to the Bharatiya Janata Party, two of its MLAs and more than 50 councilors abandoned to the national party on Monday. One MLA of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), as well, escaped. The BJP said mass migration of Trinamool pioneers to the BJP will occur in “seven stages” — this being the first.

While the TMC lost Subhrangshu Roy (Bijpur MLA) and Tusharkanti Bhattacharya (Bishnupur MLA), the CPI-M saw the takeoff of Debendra Nath Roy, an administrator from Hemtabad. Roy’s dad Mukul Roy, who was once considered as a nearby comrade of TMC supremo and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, had joined the BJP in 2017. A previous railroads serve, the senior Roy, before, had been addressed by the CBI regarding the Saradha chit reserve trick. His child was suspended from the TMC on Monday for hostile to party exercises.

The director and the bad habit executive of the sheets of the Naihati, the Halishahar and the Kanchrapara districts, alongside more than 50 councilors, as well, joined the BJP. A bunch of TMC pioneers at the Panchayat level likewise changed their loyalty. “Amid the decision crusade, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that 40 MLAs from West Bengal are in contact with us and Derek O’Brien (TMC pioneer in the Rajya Sabha) had tweeted that it won’t occur. Today, more than 50 councilors and three MLAs have joined the BJP,” said the BJP’s West Bengal in-control Kailash Vijayvargiya. They joined the BJP at its home office in Delhi.

“Much the same as the seven-stage Lok Sabha decision, we will have joining of pioneers from the TMC to the BJP in seven stages. Today was only the main stage,” he said. “This is the finish of Mamata’s oppression. Our all the best with her that she remains till 2021, however in the event that her kin continue leaving her, at that point I can’t support her.”

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.

Modi begins talks for forming new cabinet after big election win for BJP

The BJP would have the first back-to-back majority in the lower house of parliament for a single party since 1984. Votes will be fully counted by Friday morning.

Head administrator Narendra Modi will hold chats on Friday to shape another bureau to handle a stammering economy and different difficulties confronting his second term subsequent to winning a major larger part.

Official information from the Election Commission demonstrated Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party had won 296 of the 542 seats available to all and was ahead in seven more, up from the 282 it won in 2014. The BJP would have the first consecutive greater part in the lower place of parliament for a solitary gathering since 1984. Votes will be completely tallied by Friday morning.

After a hostile and a polarizing decision battle, the center moves back to an economy that is abating, even as the U.S.- China exchange war seethes and worldwide oil costs tick higher. “While the macroeconomic picture looks steady and encouraging, numerous significant portions need support from the administration,” BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav wrote in a segment in the Indian Express every day.

Click Here: Lok Sabha Elections 2019 Results 

“India can’t totally remain protected from the progressing exchange war between the U.S. what’s more, China or the geo-vital clash between the U.S. furthermore, Iran,” he included. Later on Friday Modi will meet with his priests to talk about shaping another bureau, an administration representative said. He has not yet set an introduction date for the organization, however BJP authorities said he was required to move rapidly to assemble another bureau.

A prompt choice will be whether to keep senior BJP pioneer Arun Jaitley as account serve notwithstanding his weakness, or allocate Railways and Coal Minister Piyush Goyal to the activity of driving Asia’s third biggest economy. Goyal, 54, had ventured into the job twice in the Modi government when Jaitley was sick. Goyal exhibited a break spending plan before the decision and a full spending plan is expected after the new government gets down to business…

Alarming lessons from Facebook’s effort to stop fake news in India

Particularly challenging for would-be fact-checkers, from Facebook Inc. to Google, is the country’s 23 official languages

Companies News: The world’s biggest decision has moved toward becoming something of an experiment in how innovation monsters handle counterfeit news following quite a while of outrage. It’s not working out so well. India has upwards of 900 million voters in a race that finishes this week, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision alliance set out toward obvious triumph.

Especially trying for would-be actuality checkers, from Facebook Inc. to Google, is the nation’s 23 official dialects. Facebook has employed contractual workers to confirm content in 10 of those dialects, however those staff members are spread slender and posts in excess of twelve different dialects – Sindhi, Odia and Kannada among them – are totally unvetted.

Mishra has seen the size of the test direct. The chief at Vishvas News, Facebook‘s biggest Indian-language reality checking contractual worker, went through about fourteen days as of late chatting with web clients in little urban communities. She found a great many people are so new to web based life they have no idea about false substance. They share stories unpredictably, with stunning rate. “Being the ‘first’ to share things in their circles gave them a surge,” she says.

Facebook, Twitter Inc. furthermore, Google parent Alphabet Inc. are finding the brutal reality that disinformation and despise discourse are much more testing in developing markets than in spots like the U.S. or then again Europe. Another classification of clients, as of late computerized, accept practically whatever they get – particularly in the event that it originates from family or companions. Several millions read in dialects the American tech mammoths haven’t started to screen..

Cash, goods worth Rs 3,400 crore seized during Lok Sabha elections 2019: EC

909 posts on social media platforms were removed; 647 confirmed cases of paid news, says poll panel

After the finishing of the seventh and last period of surveying on Sunday, the Election Commission said money, medications, alcohol and valuable metals worth Rs 3,449.12 crore were seized by requirement offices since the Lok Sabha surveys were reported on March 10. This is thrice of what offices seized amid the 2014 Lok Sabha survey process. In 2014, law implementation offices made seizures worth Rs 1,206 crore, the EC’s chief general (race use) Dilip Sharma said.

Law authorization offices between March 10 and May 19 caught Rs 839.03 crore in real money, alcohol worth Rs 294.41 crore, drugs worth Rs 1,270.37 crore, valuable metals, including gold, worth Rs 986.76 crore and “complimentary gifts”, including sarees, wrist watches, went for inciting voters worth Rs 58.56 crore were seized.

EC authorities said they coordinated web based life stages, including Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp, to expel a few that were found to damage the EC’s code. They said web based life stages expelled 909 posts. Facebook evacuated 650 posts, Twitter brought down 220 posts, ShareChat expelled 31, YouTube five and WhatsApp three.

Of the 650 posts brought somewhere around Facebook, 482 were political messages posted amid the “quietness period”. The “quiet period” begins 48 hours before the hour set for determination of surveying in a specific stage. The seventh period of surveying found some conclusion at 6 pm on Sunday, so the “quietness period” had started at 6 pm on Friday for this stage…

Read Full Story: Lok Sabha elections 2019 

Modi slams Cong over Pitroda’s ‘hua toh hua’ remark on 1984 riots

Narendra Modi will campaign in Punjab’s Hoshiarpur today, while Rahul Gandhi will address rallies in Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP attacked the Congress over Rahul Gandhi’s nearby helper Sam Pitroda’s “hua toh hua (what occurred, occurred)” comment on the 1984 enemy of Sikh uproars on Thursday. “The Congress, which ruled for a most extreme period, has been obtuse and that is reflected by the three words verbally expressed yesterday… These words have not been verbally expressed simply like that, these words are character and attitude and aims of the Congress,” PM Modi said at a rally in Haryana’s Rohtak.

“Also, which were these words? These were ‘hua toh hua’,” PM Modi included, rehashing the expression. “Hua toh hua,” rehashed PM Modi and told the get-together that they should ponder what the Prime Minister was stating. “We can comprehend self-importance of the individuals who run the Congress in these three words-‘hua toh hua’,” he said.

Mr Pitroda, who is responsible for the Congress’ abroad units, had gotten over the BJP’s recommendation that the 1984 enemy of Sikh uproars occurred on the requests of previous head administrator Rajiv Gandhi. “I don’t think along these lines, this is additionally another untruth. Shouldn’t something be said about 1984 at this point? What have you done over the most recent five years, talk about that. What occurred in 1984, occurred. What have you done? (Abdominal muscle kya hai ’84 ka? Aapne kya kiya 5 saal mein, uski baat kariye. ’84 mein hua to hua. Aapne kya kiya?),” Mr Pitroda told news office ANI.

Association Minister Arun Jaitley addressed whether the Congress president will evacuate his “Master (educator)” from the gathering. He said Sam Pitroda’s response is “intelligent of the absence of regret” of the Congress over the 1984 mobs. The BJP had refered to the Nanavati Commission report to approve its case, which has incensed the Congress. BJP pioneer Tajinder Pal Bagga recorded a police grumbling against Mr Pitroda for his comments…(Read Full Story)

PM Modi insulted a martyr, says Rahul on ‘Rajiv Corrupt No 1’ remark

Rahul Gandhi will campaign in Bihar, Amit Shah in West Bengal and Priyanka Gandhi in Haryana for the 6th phase of Lok Sabha elections 2019.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi is set to campaign in Bihar today for the 6th phase of Lok Sabha elections 2019. He will address a public rally in Chaibasa and later hold a roadshow in Dhanbad. Meanwhile, AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will visit Ambala, Hisar and Rohtak. Priyanka will seek votes for party candidates Kumari Selja and Bhavya Bishnoi. Later in the evening, she will hold a roadshow in Rohtak in support of party candidate, three-time MP Deepender Singh Hooda.

This would be Priyanka Gandhi’s first visit to the state after her entry into active politics. BJP President Amit Shah will address four public meetings in West Bengal and Bihar today. His first rally will be in Ghatal Lok Sabha constituency, follwed by a public meeting in Medinipur and Bishnupur in West Bengal. In the evening, Shah will campaign in Pataliputra Lok Sabha constituency.

Click Here: Lok Sabha Elections 2019

Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Monday slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for showing disrespect to his mentor LK Advani. Addressing a public rally in Sadar under the Chandni Chowk Lok Sabha seat during campaigning for party candidate JP Agarwal, Gandhi said being a Congressmen, he has only “love for Modi” despite the Prime Minister having insulted his father Rajiv Gandhi.

Gandi said that Modi insulted everyone — from youths to farmers. “Respect is part of our culture and Modi does not respect anyone but Modi himself.” The Congress President said Modi spoke about and insulted his father in a political rally. “He is a PM, but insulted a martyr. I am a congressman, a Congress leader. The more you hate me, the more would I love you,” he said. At a rally in Uttar Pradesh on Saturday, Modi had targeted the former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi by calling him “bhrashtachari No.1” (Corrupt No.1).

I don’t want to share dais with expiry-PM as elections are on: Mamata

Mockery and insult were the hallmark of election speeches

Lok Sabha Elections 2019: Extensive violence but also high turnout marked the fifth phase of polling for 51 constituencies across seven states in the Lok Sabha elections on Monday. The phase saw 62.56 per cent polling, according to the EC.

Violence was reported from West Bengal with Barrackpore and Bongaon seeing pitched violence between Trinamool party workers and others. Two polling booths in Jammu and Kashmir’s Shopian were set on fire this morning. A grenade attack was reported in Pulwama where 40 CRPF men were killed in Febr­uary. 14 seats in Uttar Prad­esh, 12 in Rajasthan, seven seats each in West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh, five in Bihar and four in Jharkhand voted on Monday. Polling was held in Ladakh, Pulwama and Shopian districts in J&K. Top BJP and Congress leaders, including UPA Chairp­erson Sonia Gandhi, Uni­on Minister Rajnath Singh, Cong­ress President Rahul Gan­dhi, were among the key candidates.

Mockery and insult were the hallmark of election speeches. Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee declared that she did not return Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s calls to discuss Cyclone Fani, as she did not “want to share the dais with expiry-PM”. This was after Modi charged Banerjee with “playing politics” over cyclone relief. Banerjee’s conduct stood out in sharp contrast to Naveen Pat­naik, also from the Opposition Biju Janata Dal in Odisha, which bore the brunt of the cyclone, as PM visited Odisha and did an aerial survey and spoke to Patnaik on the management of the aftermath of the cyclone. At a rally in Bengal’s Tamluk, Modi said, “I tried to talk to Mamata Didi before the cyclone hit, but such was her arrogance that she refused to talk to me.”

In a Hindi tweet later he said: “I waited, expecting her to call me back. But she did not. Still, I called her again. I was worried about the people of Bengal, and wanted to speak to Mamata Didi. But Didi did not speak to me the second time either.” At a rally from Bengal’s Bishnupur, Banerjee said she could not take the call as she was in Kharagpur to monitor the ground situation…

Inhuman treatment given to Pragya Thakur over suspicion not fair: Ramdev

Describing himself as someone who doesn’t belong to any particular political party, the yoga guru Monday said the country was facing all sorts of challenges at present

Politics News: Yoga guru Ramdev has come out in support of the BJP’s Bhopal candidate and Malegaon blast case accused Pragya Singh Thakur, saying it was unfair to subject her to cruelty in jail for nine years on the basis of a suspicion.

“Sadhvi Pragya was made to suffer rigorous imprisonment for nine years. There is nothing wrong in restraining her if she makes an inappropriate statement but the inhuman treatment given to her in the jail purely on the basis of suspicion was not fair,” Ramdev told reporters in Haridwar on Monday.

He was replying to a question about Sadhvi Pragya Thakur‘s remarks against the then Mumbai Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) Chief Hemant Karkare, who died fighting terrorists during the 26/11 Mumbai attack. Karkare was investigating the 2008 Malegaon blast case.

Addressing BJP workers in Bhopal, Thakur had claimed that Karkare died during the attacks as she “cursed” him for torturing her Describing himself as someone who doesn’t belong to any particular political party, the yoga guru Monday said the country was facing all sorts of political, economic and religious challenges at present.

“After overcoming these challenges, the country will become a world leader by 2040,” he claimed. Ramdev further said it was wrong to assume that poverty and unemployment were the only issues. “Ram and nationalism are equally important,” he added.

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…

Click Here: Lok Sabha Elections 2019 

BJP manifesto highlights: Rs 25-trn agri push, pension for small traders

BJP manifesto for 2019 Lok Sabha elections promises Rs 25-trillion expenditure on rural economy. Small traders to be given pension benefits after 60 years of age

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday released its poll manifesto for the Lok Sabha elections 2019. BJP president Amit Shah highlighted the government’s achievements while Home Minister Rajnath Singh read out the key promises in the manifesto. He also headed the committee that drafted it.

Here are the key takeaways of the BJP’s manifesto for Lok Sabha elections 2019:

• Agri loans available on credit cards up to Rs 1 lakh at zero per cent rate of interest
• Collateral-free credit up to Rs 50 lakh for entrepreneurs
• Promotion of Startups through creation of a ‘Seed Startup Fund’ of Rs 20,000 crore.
• 10 per cent material procurement for the government by MSMEs having at least 50 per cent women in their workforce
• Micro, small and medium enterprises to given Rs 1 trillion worth of credit by 2024.
• A pucca house to every family who are either living in a kuchha house or have no access to housing by 2022.
• Expand Ayushman Bharat to include all Anganwadi workers and ASHA workers
• ‘Jal Jivan Mission’ to be launched to ensure piped water supply to every household in India by 2024
• Double the number of MBBS doctors by 2024
• Expenditure of up to Rs 25 trillion on rural economy
• BJP manifesto says it is committed to ensuring 33 per cent reservation for women in Parliament and state Assemblies through a constitutional amendment.
• Every Gram Panchayat to be connected through a high speed optical fibre network by 2022.
• Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana (PM KISAN) that provides Rs 6,000 a year to landholding farmers owning up to 2 hectares of land will be extended to all land-owning farmers irrespective of their landholdings.
• BJP manifesto also reiterates the party’s position for the abrogation of Article 370. Committed to scrap Article 35A

Read Full Story: BJP manifesto highlights

Original promoter of NaMo TV denies running channel on PM Modi anymore

The channel was originally run by a Gujarat based company whose promoter denies being behind the channel’s re-appearance on the airwaves.

Current Affairs: One of the original promoters of a company that first aired NaMo TV, a channel dedicated to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has said that he or his company isn’t involved in running the channel anymore. NaMo TV beamed on major direct-to-home networks Sunday.

“We were earlier involved with NaMo TV. We are not running it anymore,” Sujay Mehta told Business Standard over the phone from Ahmedabad. Mehta was asked when and to whom he transferred operations of NaMo TV. He replied, “I am not involved anymore. I do not know anything.”

The BJP hasn’t officially claimed ownership of NaMo TV, but the party’s official social media posts have urged people to watch Narendra Modi’s speeches on the channel. On March 31, when the channel suddenly appeared on TV, the BJP posted on social media, “Capture the colours of elections. Watch the dance of democracy. Say NaMo again with NaMo TV. Tune in to get real-time coverage of PM Modi’s election campaign and a lot more fascinating content.”

NaMo TV was aired by Mehta, a homoeopath, through a company called New Hope Infotainment incorporated in 2012. The channel was reportedly first aired in October 2012, a couple of months before assembly elections in Gujarat. The company was registered at the same address where Mehta runs his homeopathy clinic in Vastrapur locality of Ahmedabad…

WhatsApp unveils ‘tipline’ service to curb misinformation ahead of LS polls

The latest move follows a number of campaigns by WhatsApp to educate users on fake news

Current Affairs: WhatsApp on Tuesday propelled another administration that enables clients to submit for audit messages they believe are deceiving or convey unconfirmed data, in the most recent of a progression of ventures to check deception on the informing stage.

WhatsApp said its beginning ‘tipline’ administration. Clients can send suspicious messages to the ‘tipline telephone number’ to approve the genuineness of cases in those messages, which might be as content, pictures or recordings. The administration will react by arranging the said data as “genuine, false, deceptive, debated or out of extension and (may) incorporate whatever other related data that is accessible”, WhatsApp said in an announcement. Starting at now, it bolsters Hindi, Telugu, Bengali and Malayalam dialects, other than English.

WhatsApp, its parent firm Facebook and other online networking destinations are feeling the squeeze from neighborhood specialists to be progressively proactive in recognizing and expelling questionable substance on their stages, particularly as India gets ready to go surveys this month. Deception and phony news circled over WhatsApp and Facebook bunches have been behind brutality and other untoward occurrences in India before…

I-T, CRPF personnel carry out raids at Karnataka minister Puttaraju’s house

‘I’m not stopped by the assaults, which are race related. I might want to know which BJP pioneer’s home in Karnataka has been struck,’ Puttaraju, who is in-control pastor of Mandya locale, said

Current Affairs: In a pre-dawn swoop Thursday, Income Tax officials along with CRPF personnel carried out raids at the residences of Karnataka Minor Irrigation Minister C S Puttaraju and his nephew.

Speaking to a private news channel, JD(S) leader Puttaraju said three teams of Income Tax officials and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel carried out raids at his Chinnakurli residence in Mandya and his nephew’s house in Mysuru.

The development came a day after, Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy raised fears about possible raids on Congress and JD(S) functionaries in the state. He had claimed that CRPF personnel were brought from various parts of the country to carry out the raids in the state.

Raids on Congress and JD(S) leaders can take place early Thursday morning using CRPF jawans instead of taking the help of the Karnataka Police in order to maintain secrecy, Kumaraswamy had claimed on Wednesday.

“Three teams of I-T officials and CRPF soldiers comprising eight soldiers carried out raids at my Chinnakurli residence in Mandya and my nephew’s residence in Mysuru,” Puttaraju told the channel.

The minister said he was not afraid of the raids and instead, it had instilled confidence in him.”I’m not deterred by the raids, which are election-related. I would like to know which BJP leader’s house in Karnataka has been raided,”

Puttaraju, who is in-charge minister of Mandya district, said. The JD(S) has assigned him to oversee the electioneering of HD Kumaraswamy’s son Nikhil Kumaraswamy, who is fighting his maiden election from the Mandya Lok Sabha seat…

Election 2019: How the BJP engineered a seamless generational transition

The party has managed to bring about this transition without bickering or protests

In the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the vice-president’s post looks like another version of the highfalutin “marg darshak mandal” that was created in 2014 to seat the 75-plus leaders who could not find a place in the Narendra Modi government or the party organisation. A vice-president’s post is enshrined in the BJP’s constitution, but with time, it became an ornamental office for the “less important”. In other words, an individual appointed as a vice-president—and the position has once redoubtable chief ministers and central ministers as occupants—is likely to be taken less seriously than a general secretary or a spokesperson. Interestingly, the BJP spokespersons have gone on to rise by virtue of tirelessly defending the indefensible.

So, within days of the BJP losing the assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan, the former chief ministers, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Raman Singh and Vasundhara Raje were kicked up as vice-presidents. This despite Chouhan losing MP by a wafer and Vasundhara putting in a reasonably creditable showing amidst strong negative sentiments against her government.

The Opposition leaders in the states were chosen by Amit Shah, the BJP president. In Rajasthan, Gulab Chand Kataria, the incumbent, is a Vasundhara rival. There was not a whimper of protest, not even from Vasundhara who, in the past, mobilised her supporters when she sniffed a hint of challenge to her power. “Under her stewardship we lost two elections,” a BJP source said, forgetting that the Congress’s Ashok Gehlot, despite taking his party down the tubes the same number of times, bounced back to claim the top job a third time. The Modi-Shah dispensation brooks no shenanigans or shindy even from the “mighty”.

Click Here: Lok Sabha  Elections 2019

DMK promises to abolish NEET, bring back old pricing for petrol & cylinders

A separate budget for agriculture, loan waiver for students, free electricity are other poll promises for Lok Sabha 2019 elections

Lok Sabha Elections 2019: The M K Stalin-led Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) has promised to abolish the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), formerly the All India Pre-Medical Test, as part of its poll promise. The party, which has joined hands with the Congress for the upcoming LokSabha election has also promised to bring back the old pricing models for petrol & gas cylinders.

DMK President Stalin released the party’s election manifesto for the Lok Sabha polls scheduled for April 18 in the state. The other promises of the party include metro rail projects for Madurai, Trichy, Coimbatore and Salem, and permanent Indian citizenship for Sri Lankan refugees currently living in camps in Tamil Nadu.

The party also promised to release seven prisoners jailed in the Rajiv Gandhi assassin case, loan waivers for students, a separate budget for farmers at the Lok Sabha, free electricity for weavers, museum at Keezhadi, 0.5 per cent GDP for natural disasters, MNREGA up to 150 days….

Govt warning: Twitter execs to be jailed if offensive content isn’t removed

A parliamentary panel last month asked micro-blogging site Twitter to engage more with the Election Commission of India (ECI) ahead of general elections and address issues on a “real-time” basis.

Latest News: Top Twitter executives could not only face financial penalties but also face upto seven years in jail if they fail to remove content and accounts that are ‘objectionable and inflammatory,” Times of India reported quoting an unnamed official from the ministry of information technology.

Twitter has been asked to comply with the provisions under the Indian IT Act or else it would face action under Section 69A of the IT Act which gives the government power to seek the blocking of content or accounts that carry information seen as detrimental to the sovereignty and integrity of the country, or has potential to create public disorder. The warning from the IT ministry comes just as the micro-blogging site faced the heat from a parliamentary standing committee over perceived biases in blocking accounts ahead of elections.

As India heads for national elections, social media giants like Facebook and Twitter have been asked to not undermine or influence the political process. In fact earlier this week, Twitter went live with its ‘Ads Transparency Centre’ for India, that would allow people to view details of political advertisements in the country, including advertiser spends and impressions data.

A parliamentary panel last month asked micro-blogging site Twitter to engage more with the Election Commission of India (ECI) ahead of general elections and address issues on a “real-time” basis.The Twitter officials were told that there should not be any “international interference” in the Lok Sabha polls.

Lok Sabha Elections 2019: Priyanka Gandhi meets Rahul for ‘mission UP’

Priyanka attended the meeting at Rahul’s residence with other Congress leaders and discussed the strategy for Uttar Pradesh-East as she has been made the general secretary for the region

Lok sabha Elections 2019: The newly inducted Congress General Secretary for Uttar Pradesh East, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra returned to India on Monday. Soon after arriving in New Delhi, Priyanka met Congress president Rahul Gandhi at his Tughlaq Road residence.

Priyanka attended the meeting at Rahul’s residence with other Congress leaders and discussed the strategy for Uttar Pradesh-East as she has been made the general secretary for the region. Congress General Secretary for UP-West Jyotiraditya Scindia was also present during the meeting with Congress leaders. President of Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee Raj Babbar and party’s general secretary for Karnataka K C Venugopal were also present in the meeting. The meeting lasted for over two hours.

Priyanka Gandhi has been made in-charge of 43 out of 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh. When Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s name was announced as the Congress General Secretary for Uttar Pradesh-East, she was on a private visit abroad. She returned to India on Sunday. A Congress leader from Uttar Pradesh told ANI that many prominent party leaders of the state were telephoned during the meeting and were asked about the welfare measures and development works being carried out ahead of the Lok Sabha elections….