Election Financial News

RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav on Monday said Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's goof-up in wishing another «CM term» for Prime Minister Narendra Modi showed a «sense of imminent defeat» in the NDA camp. Yadav was referring to the JD (U) supremo's gaffe at an election rally in Patliputra Lok Sabha seat on Sunday, when he wished Modi, who was at the helm of Gujarat before becoming the PM, to become 'mukhya mantri' (chief minister) once again. Other leaders present on the stage realised the gaffe, following which he corrected his statement. «Dil ki baat zubaan pe aa jaati hai (what was in his mind slipped out of his mouth). What the CM said is correct… Modi ji is not going to become the PM again,» Yadav said while addressing a rally in Jagdishpur with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi sharing the stage. «We know that our respected chacha ji (Nitish) wants from his heart that BJP is removed from power at the Centre so that Bihar develops without any bias. We are taking forward his campaign. Nitish ji used to say earlier that those who have come in fourteen (2014) will go in twenty-four (2024)… Modi-led NDA will be completely routed,» Yadav said.

India Express cited sources as saying that Radhakishan Rao admitted to his involvement in conducting surveillance on politicians and others under the directions of the then Telangana Special Intelligence Bureau (SIB) chief T Prabhakar Rao.Meanwhile, NDTV reported that Rao claimed devices belonging to media "industry bigwigs, retired cops, and politicians [including from then-ruling BRS] were hacked and monitored".

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been a bit player in Punjab politics, playing a second fiddle to its senior alliance partner the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) since 1996. But this time, it decided to come out of SAD's shadow and fight the Lok Sabha elections on its own. The SAD had walked out of the alliance over the farm bills but both were considering coming together again which did not happen. While testing the waters in Punjab on its own, where it ranks fourth after the AAP, the Congress and the SAD, the BJP finds odds are stacked against it. It faces backlash from protesting farmers in a state where traditionally the BJP has not had any core voters of its own. In the absence of its alliance partner, the SAD, it might not have much traction in rural areas. Yet, the state BJP leaders are quite upbeat. They are hopeful of winning at least four seats of the total 13, double the number they have been winning in the state in the past few Lok Sabha elections. What explains their optimism when the party doesn't have any voter base of its own and the dominant farmer community has turned against it?

London: Akshata Murty, Britain's Indian First Lady, has begun getting proactive as her husband hit the campaign trail in a tough race ahead for the governing Conservatives, starting with a supportive message to say she's with him «every step of the way» hours after a rain-soaked Rishi Sunak announced July 4 as the general election date on the steps of 10 Downing Street. The 44-year-old businesswoman has used her Instagram handle to post campaign messages in favour of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who is hoping to prove all the pre-election surveys forecasting a drubbing for the Tories wrong. The couple, who met while studying at Stanford University in the US and are among the richest incumbents of Downing Street in history in large part down to Murty's Infosys shares worth millions of pounds, are expected to work as a team through the course of the just over five-week-long campaign.

polling stations, mostly located in North and South 24 Parganas districts of West Bengal, were damaged due to the impact of Cyclone Remal, a senior poll official said on Monday. The disaster also adversely affected preparations for the upcoming seventh and final phase of polling scheduled on June 1, he added. «Most of these polling stations have been badly hit by the cyclone. They are submerged in water or have sustained other types of damage,» the official told PTI. Polling for the nine Lok Sabha seats — Dum Dum, Barasat, Basirhat, Jaynagar, Mathurapur, Diamond Harbour, Jadavpur, Kolkata Dakshin, and Kolkata Uttar — is scheduled on Saturday. Among these, several assembly constituencies under Diamond Harbour and Basirhat seats were hit by the cyclonic storm.

Also Read: Modi says INDIA bloc performing 'mujra' for vote bank; Priyanka Gandhi quips 'no PM ever used such words'"The INDIA team is holding a meeting on June 1. I have told them I can't join as we have election on 10 seats in West Bengal on the same day.

Also Read: Amit Shah gives ‘Modi guarantee’ on reservation, says BJP won’t allow anyone to abolish SC/ST/OBC quota“When I raised the issue of caste census, Narendra Modi said, there are only two castes in India – rich and poor. If there are only two castes, then how did Narendra Modi become OBC?," asked Rahul Gandhi."50 per cent population in the country is backward, 15 per cent Dalit, 8 per cent Adivasi..

Nifty 50 tops 23k mark; can Indian stock market sustain gains? Experts weigh inMany experts believe the Nifty 50 is currently overvalued, and a negative surprise in the Lok Sabha election results could trigger a significant market correction. However, if the election outcome aligns with expectations and India's economic growth maintains its momentum, the Nifty 50 may sustain its current valuation.Mint spoke to several experts to take their views on the current valuation of the Indian stock market.

Is the Indian stock market fairly valued or overvalued? Experts weigh inSharma emphasised that if the BJP fails to secure 250 seats, the market may experience a sudden downfall of 10-20%. He further said India boasts the world's "most costly" stock market.“It is also why foreign investors are being skittish about coming in.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday hit out at the Modi government on the state of the economy, exports and the rising trade deficit besides the 'Make in India' programme and accused him of practising «fake» nationalism by making China its biggest trade partner. "Narendra Modi ji speaks about Mangalsutra, Mutton, Machhali, Mughal and Mujra, but does not talk about 'Make in India'? Why Modi ji does not utter a single word on the economy in his numerous election speeches? The answer lies in his Government's abject failure," Kharge said in a post on X. «The 'Make in India' programme has flopped, the PLI Scheme floundered and exports are in a free fall,» he alleged. Drawing a parallel between the Congress-led UPA and 10 years of the BJP-led NDA government, he said the manufacturing growth (at constant 2015 USD) during the Congress-UPA rule from 2004 to 2014 was 7.85 per cent while that during the Modi's NDA rule from 2014 to 2022 was 6.0 per cent.

injunction was filed on Monday against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) leader and Prime Minister Modi Narendra Modi over defamatory remarks on the Indian corporate house, Adani Group. This comes amid heavy campaigning by both star leaders, who have time and again included Adani Group in their election campaign speeches. The plea in Delhi Court seeks to restrain alleged defamatory statements including when Rahul Gandhi accused the Centre of waiving loans worth Rs 15-16 lakh crore for industrialists, including Gautam Adani.

Karnataka Forest Minister Eshwar Khandre on Monday said the state government will pay the hospitality bill of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had come to Mysuru in April last year to commemorate 50 years of Project Tiger, which runs up to Rs 80 lakh. In a statement, the minister's office said it is a tradition of the state government to host dignitaries like the Prime Minister and the President when they come. But due to Assembly elections in Karnataka in April last year, the state government was not involved in planning of the programme (Project Tiger) since the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) was in force. Speaking to reporters, the minister said that the prime minister had visited Myrusu-Bandipur on the eve of commemoration of 50 years of Project Tiger. At that point of time, the MCC was in force. Elections were declared. So, it was purely a Central government programme. Initially, they had planned to spend around Rs 3 crore but the expenditure incurred was around 6.33 crore. So, balance 3.3 crore has to come from the National Tiger Conservation Authority. «The state government's forest department had written to them (authority). They informed that the hotel bill (Rs 80 lakh) should be reimbursed by the state government and we have decided to reimburse. So, there is no issue,» he added.

MUMBAI : Investors in India’s equity markets seem to have regained confidence about political and economic continuity heading into the last leg of the national election. One clear indicator of this is that the net value of the marketwide options' open position plunged from ₹4.96 trillion on 7 May to ₹91,149 crore on 24 May, a day ahead of the sixth phase of the election. The last phase of voting will be held on 1 June, and the election results declared on 4 June.

Also Read: Rahul Gandhi takes ‘paramatma’ jibe at PM Modi during Bihar rally: ‘If ED asks him about Adani then…’"In the first year, they will revoke the abrogation of Article 370. In the second year, they will bring back triple-talaq.

NEW DELHI:New Delhi: A high-ranking British delegation has cancelled its visit to New Delhi ahead of general elections in the UK, two persons aware of the development said, throwing talks on a planned free trade agreement into uncertainty.British prime minister Rishi Sunak has called elections on 4 July.Also read | The team was scheduled to arrive on Tuesday (28 May) to finalize terms on contentious issues such as work visas for Indians, duty relaxations, and imports of British-made electric vehicle, they said.New Delhi had been hopeful of progress on the trade agreement with the UK, frequently sending out teams of Indian officials to London for talks.The most recent was in the second week of May, during which the Indian deputy chief negotiator returned with reports of significant advances on mobility—an Indian demand—and electric vehicles.“The British officials have cancelled their visit without providing a 'specific reason. It is assumed that the announcement of elections may have led to the cancellation of their trip," one of those cited above said.“The deal was progressing very positively.

Anantnag-Rajouri seat of the Valley voted in the sixth phase of polling on May 25 marking the end to elections in all five seats of Jammu and Kashmir. Four other seats – Udhampur, Jammu, Srinagar and Baramulla – voted in earlier phases of Lok Sabha Elections 2024.Also Read: Kashmir News: Redrawn Anantnag-Rajouri breaks turnout record with over 54% polling in Phase 6, highest after 1984“This active participation is a huge positive for Assembly elections to be held soon so that the democratic process continues to thrive in the Union Territory," said Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar in a statement.The Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha constituency recorded about 54.

₹22,000 crore in the month of May so far.The total selling by FPIs in the domestic equities since the beginning of 2024 amounted to over ₹19,000 crore so far, as per data available on National Securities Depository Ltd (NSDL).Meanwhile, the highest FPI outflows was seen in the financial services stocks worth ₹9,687 crore during the first fortnight of May 2024 (May 1 to May 15). This was after FPIs selling of ₹12,550 crore in the sector during April 15 - April 30.

Mint analysis of the last seven years of data for PMAY-G (2017-18 to 2023-24), spanning both terms of the government, indicates the scheme was starkly back-loaded. Of the sanctioned 25.3 million houses in this period, 22 million have been built. Striking, nearly 68% of them were built in just three years —2019-20 to 2021-22 – and the pace has been slow in the past two fiscal years.

IPL season victory, KKR set a record for the fewest losses suffered by a team in a single tournament.With an 8-wicket victory over SRH in the tournament final, KKR, led by Shreyas Iyer, claimed their third championship.The Knight Riders only gave up three losses in the IPL 2024, and that's a record in itself. No other team in IPL history conceded only three games while becoming the champion.

Amit Shah slammed the INDIA alliance and said that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will not cross 40 seats and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh will not get even four seats on June 4.As reported by PTI, Shah was addressing a political rally in Uttar Pradesh's Kushinagar. He said that in 5 phases of Lok Sabha polls, Modi has crossed 310 seats.

HAMIRPUR: The Sujanpur assembly by-election in Himachal Pradesh is seeing a repeat of the 2022 election with two old rivals Rajinder Singh Rana and Ranjit Singh up against each other, except that they have swapped their parties this time. While Rana is a Congress rebel who recently switched to the BJP, Singh, a retired captain, joined the Congress after Rana was given a BJP ticket for the Sujanpur bypoll. Rana, who contested the 2022 election on a Congress ticket and defeated Singh by a slender margin of 399 votes, had raised the banner of revolt against Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu. He was among the six Congress MLAs who voted in favour of the BJP nominee in the Rajya Sabha polls and had to face disqualification.