Election Financial News

Basavaraj Bommai and Jagadish Shettar and AICC President Mallikarjuna Kharge's son-in-law Radhakrishna Doddamani are among the 227 candidates facing the polls in the 14 constituencies in north Karnataka on Tuesday. Ministers Lakshmi Hebbalkar, Shivanand Patil, Eshwar Khandre and Satish Jarkiholi and seeking to launch their sons and daughters in electoral politics with the LS polls. About 2.59 crore electors will cast their vote at 28,269 polling stations where voting will take place between 7 am to 6 pm.

Andhra Pradesh): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said he was taking legal advice on how to return the money of poor people 'looted' in corruption. Referring to the seizure of «mounds of cash» by the Enforcement Directorate from the domestic help allegedly linked to the secretary of a Jharkhand minister, Modi wondered why such persons were «close to the Congress' first family.» «They have made the worker's house a godown of corruption. This is not the first time as a bigger seizure was made from an MP (in Jharkhand) earlier also and it was such a big cache that even machines were tired of counting.» The PM was addressing a rally at Vemagiri here, which was attended by TDP leader Nara Lokesh and Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan.

Pappu’ has been a common pet name in India, especially the North. In certain context, it is also used to denote a foolish or an ill-witted person. The BJP successfully used the name as a political tool in the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections to discredit Congress leader and Member of Parliament (MP) Rahul Gandhi.

As 94 Lok Sabha seats go to polls on Tuesday in the third phase of the ongoing elections, voter turnout will again be under scrutiny. The election season has had a disappointing start, with overall turnout in the first two phases lower than it was in 2019. This trend has sparked concerns over whether Indian voters are less inclined to cast their ballots amid the scorching summer heat.

Rahul Gandhi also challenged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to inform the people if he increases the reservation limit beyond 50 percent. "This is the main issue in this elections...," he said. In its manifesto for the Lok Sabha Elections 2024, the Congress guarantees that it will pass a constitutional amendment to raise the 50 percent cap on reservations for SC, ST and OBC.

Also Read: Tamil Nadu police arrest YouTuber Savukku Shankar over defamatory remarks against women cops According to a NDTV report, the deceased have been identified as Charukavi, Gayathiri, Sarvadarshith, Praveen Sam and Venkatesh. Venkatesh was a resident of Andhra Pradesh while the other four belonged to Tamil Nadu. "The group had accessed the closed Lemur Beach through a coconut grove.

Abhay Jain on Monday said some BJP leaders had requested him to withdraw his candidature from Indore Lok Sabha seat in Madhya Pradesh, a claim dismissed by the ruling party as «fictional» and «publicity driven». Incidentally, Jain had contested the 2023 assembly polls from Indore-1 against BJP heavyweight (and eventual winner) Kailash Vijayvargiya and had lost his deposit. Jain is contesting the Lok Sabha poll as an independent since his Janhit Party, an umbrella body of former RSS pracharaks, is yet to get recognition from the Election Commission.

Keshav Prasad Maurya on Monday said both Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will be defeated in Kannauj and Rae Bareli, respectively in the Lok Sabha elections. Addressing a gathering in support of BJP candidate from Shravasti, Saket Mishra, Maurya said the manner in which Akhilesh's wife Dimple Yadav was defeated in 2019 from Kannauj, the same will be his fate this time. «Rahul will also taste defeat from Rae Bareli,» he said. The BJP leader expressed confidence of the saffron party winning more than 400 seats in the general elections.

“snatch your property" and “distribute it among selected people" like when it was in power, the Karnataka BJP's animated video showed caricatures of Rahul Gandhi and Siddaramaiah placing an egg with "Muslims" written on it in a nest along with three eggs marked as "SC, ST and OBC." The video further showed the caricature of Rahul Gandhi feeding "funds" only to the bird that hatched out of the "Muslim" egg. The case against the BJP leaders has been registered under the Indian Penal Code’s (IPC) section 505(2) (statement conducing public mischief), and the Representation of People Act’s Section 125 (promoting enmity between classes). “We have registered a case against JP Nadda, Vijayendra, and [Amit] Malviya on the complaint filed by KPCC member Ramesh Babu.

Also Read: Actor Govinda joins Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena, over a decade after 'big mistake' claim. Here's what ‘inspired’ him On Sunday, before the road show was set to begin, Govinda addressed some media personnel. However, after uttering 'respected', the actor blanked on the name of the candidate and turned to BJP leader Uma Khapre, seated beside him, for assistance.

Supreme Court on Monday granted anticipatory bail to Umar Ansari, son of gangster-politician the late Mukhtar Ansari, in a case of alleged violation of the model code of conduct during the 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections. A bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and PK Mishra asked Umar Ansari to appear before the trial court which will enlarge him on bail. During the hearing, senior advocate Garima Prashad, appearing for the Uttar Pradesh government, said Ansari has not been appearing before the trial court in the case. She said it is a case of inciting people in a congregation and the co-accused, who appeared before the trial court, have got regular bail.

Amit Shah on Monday accused the Congress and the TMC of maintaining stoic silence during terror attacks in the country in the UPA regime as they «were afraid of offending their vote banks». While the 10 years of BJP-led NDA government is characterized by a «tough stance» on terror and no compromise on the issue of national security, the Congress-headed UPA regime of which TMC was also an ally was soft on terror, he claimed. He was addressing a rally at Durgapur in Bardhaman-Durgapur constituency. «The Congress and TMC because of their vote bank politics didn't utter a word when terror strikes took place in the country during the Congress regime (UPA regime from 2004-2014). The TMC was then part of the Congress government. They were afraid that their vote bank would take offence if they took a tough stance on terror,» Shah said.

Baramati, the home turf of Maharashtra's powerful Pawars, goes to polls on May 7 (Tuesday) during Phase 3 of the Lok Sabha elections. The constituency, the traditional bastion of the Pawar family, has been among the headlines this time owing to a fierce turf war being played out between two family factions. The see-saw family feud has intrigued and captivated voters, but has also left many of them confused and baffled. The battle for Pawar legacy in Baramati took an interesting turn when Ajit Pawar decided to field his wife Sunetra against his sister Supriya Sule. Baramati Lok Sabha seat: Candidates This is a direct fight between NCP's Sunetra Pawar, the wife of Ajit Pawar, and NCP (SCP) candidate Supriya Sule, the daughter of Sharad Pawar.

Congress failing to field a strong candidate in the Gandhinagar Lok Sabha constituency, the BJP is eyeing a record winning margin of more than 10 lakh votes for its sitting MP and Union Home Minister Amit Shah. In the past, this predominantly urban constituency has been represented by BJP stalwarts L K Advani and Atal Bihari Vajpayee. While the seat has been a pocket borough of the BJP since 1989, it did witness interesting contests when the Congress chose high-profile candidates like T N Seshan and Rajesh Khanna. This time, the Congress has fielded its former Gujarat women's wing chairperson Sonal Patel against Shah, who had won by more than 5.5 lakh votes in the 2019 polls. Local BJP leaders said the party aims to raise this margin of victory to more than 10 lakh votes. In 2019, BJP's C R Paatil defeated his Congress rival by more than 6.9 lakh votes from Navsari in Gujarat. It was the highest margin of victory in the country in the 2019 elections.

Bengaluru traffic police have issued a warning to commuters regarding potential traffic congestion near the bustling Majestic area, in anticipation of the third phase of Lok Sabha elections slated for May 7. With fourteen Lok Sabha constituencies in Karnataka gearing up for polls, a significant number of individuals from North and central Karnataka are expected to depart Bengaluru to cast their votes on Monday. To accommodate the surge in travelers, the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) has deployed additional buses for those heading to their hometowns to participate in the electoral process. Consequently, a heightened volume of buses is foreseen, which may lead to congestion around the Majestic area. In a statement, Bengaluru traffic police urged the public to be mindful of the situation, stating, «An appeal to the public, Due to the 2nd phase of Lok Sabha election in Karnataka state, a large number of people are going to their hometowns and KSRTC has left additional buses from Majestic / Kempegowda Bus Stand. There is a possibility of traffic congestion.» In light of the potential congestion, alternative routes have been advised:

«Actually, the intrinsic opportunity for the jewellery business of Titan is very-very strong. And I think post the election, there will be a certain stable demand as well,» says CK Venkataraman, MD, Titan Company. If I put the numbers in perspective for our viewers and looking at what brokerages have said, brokerages are of the view that for Titan it is an okay quarter, it is not like a grand quarter. Perhaps, they were expecting a bit more. They are of the view that gold prices and competition has increased which in a sense was the problem point for Titan for the quarter gone by and could linger along for next couple of quarters. Is that true? Actually, we have certainly been investing a fair amount in growth. Growth has been our focus mantra for a while. And yes, the kind of sales growth that the quarters saw and what was announced also a few weeks back, the margin growth, I guess was not in line with that expectation.

(This story originally appeared in on May 06, 2024)

low voter turnout in the first two phases of 2024 general elections a «myth», an economist at the country's largest lender SBI has said comparing the absolute number of votes cast is a better way to analyse the turnout. Soumya Kanti Ghosh, the group chief economic adviser at SBI, said there has been 0.4 per cent increase in the absolute number of votes cast in the first two phases. «The unending debates propagated around supposedly low voter turnout in the first two phases of the General Elections 2024 is a myth. A better measure of votes cast is the absolute number of voters,» he said in a report. The Election Commission has been working to increase the voting percentage in the remaining phases of the polls.

Britannia's executive vice-chairman and managing director Varun Berry said commodity prices could increase post elections especially for wheat and sugar, its key raw materials but aims to clock a double-digit volume growth even at the cost of slight margin erosion. «On the commodity situation, the crop seems to be fine as far as wheat is concerned and the government holding has been reasonably low and there will be government buying. Beyond the election, I think it will be slightly inflationary,» Berry told analysts. «Post election and post monsoon, I would think we would be aiming towards double digit volume growth.» The Nusli Wadia-controlled company has also undertaken a route to market project to multiply adjacent businesses while continue to build its core biscuits portfolio. As part of its new initiative, the company will focus more on aligning its service towards high potential retail outlets with multiple salesmen, building AI enabled predictive ordering and upgrading the salesforce automation. The pilot is planned for the second half of the current fiscal and will be completed in a year.

Lok Sabha elections 2024 progress, Phase 3 is set to take place on May 7, with 93 seats across 12 states and Union Territories up for voting. This phase will see some key contests featuring prominent candidates from various parties. Several states will witness crucial contests, marking the culmination of electoral battles in these regions. In this phase, 2 seats in Goa, 26 seats in Gujarat, 7 seats in Chhattisgarh, and 14 seats in Karnataka will be up for grabs. Notably, the elections in Karnataka had already commenced in the second phase on April 26, with 14 seats in the state going to the polls. Additionally, voting will take place for two Lok Sabha seats in Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. Furthermore, the electoral landscape will see action in 4 seats in Assam, 5 seats in Bihar, 8 seats in Madhya Pradesh, 11 seats in Maharashtra, 10 seats in Uttar Pradesh, and 4 seats in West Bengal. Among the prominent candidates whose electoral fortunes will be decided in this phase are Amit Shah from Gandhinagar, Shivraj Singh Chouhan from Vidisha, Jyotiraditya Scindia from Guna, Pralhad Joshi from Dharwad, Basavaraj Bommai from Haveri, and Badruddin Ajmal from Dhubri.

said at an election rally. TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee urged the people of West Bengal to vote against those trying to tarnish the state's reputation. The Diamond Harbour MP asked the public to reject anyone seeking to discredit Bengal just to gain a few votes.