Election Financial News

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena president Raj Thackeray on Saturday claimed that had Prime Minister Narendra Modi not been there, the Ayodhya Ram temple would not have been built despite the Supreme Court's ruling. Talking to reporters here, Thackeray, who has declared unconditional support to PM Modi for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, said MNS will prepare a list of leaders the 'Mahayuti' alliance can contact for poll coordination. Thackeray, however, parried questions on whether he will address rallies for the Mahayuti, Maharashtra's ruling alliance of BJP, Shiv Sena and NCP. Thackeray said he met his party men, office-bearers and frontal organisations, and asked them to canvass for Mahayuti-backed candidates, hoping that MNS leaders will get due respect.

Editor’s note (March 18th 2024): This article has been updated to take in the latest developments. Running for the American presidency is a full-time job. “There was essentially no day or night" from the first presidential debate in September 1976 to election day, griped James Fallows, now a journalist, who worked on Jimmy Carter’s campaign. Donald Trump, now sure of the Republican Party’s nomination for this year’s election, will have to combine that gruelling endeavour with his role as a defendant in four criminal trials.

Donald Trump on Monday will become the first former U.S. President, and the first leading presidential candidate, to be put on criminal trial. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg will try to prove to a jury that Mr.

Congress in Kerala on Saturday claimed that Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was attacking the grand old party and Rahul Gandhi to hide his government's administrative failures and to help the BJP in the Lok Sabha polls in the state. Leader of Opposition in the state assembly V D Satheesan said that for the past more than 30 days, Vijayan has been reading out the same speech attacking the Congress and Gandhi, while avoiding the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Satheesan said that the Congress has only one question to ask the Marxist veteran — «how will you defeat communalism and fascism at the national level without us?»

Narendra Modi engaged in a lively interaction today with some of India's leading gamers, delving into the realm of gaming and its future prospects. During the discussion, PM Modi made a playful reference to the opposition, employing the term 'noob,' commonly used in gaming circles to describe someone new or inexperienced. «If I use this word (noob) during elections, people will wonder who am I referring to… If I say it, you will think of a particular person,» PM Modi said. In the conversation, the Prime Minister also explored avenues for government support to bolster the gaming industry's growth trajectory. He sought insights into the challenges faced by gamers in India, particularly distinguishing between skill-based games and those promising quick financial gains. The gamers raised concerns about the need for clarity on different game categories and highlighted issues related to video game addiction.

eastern front has deteriorated significantly in recent days" in the face of a heightened Russian offensive, Ukraine's commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrsky said Saturday. Syrsky, who took over as commander-in-chief in February after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky fired his popular predecessor, Valery Zaluzhny, said Russians also had superior weapons. He spoke of «a significant intensification of the enemy's offensive after the presidential elections in Russia,» in the middle of March and added that decisions were being taken «to strengthen the most problematic defence areas with electronic warfare and air defence».

Tamil Nadu, the Congress posed several questions to him on Saturday, asking why is he so eager to privatise the Salem Steel Plant and why the ruling BJP has not set up a single educational institute in the southern state. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh also asked Modi whether the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Madurai is merely a publicity stunt. «Today's questions for the PM as he heads to Tamil Nadu: AIIMS Madurai: Premier institute or publicity stunt? Why hasn't the BJP set up a single premier educational institute in TN? Why was the PM so eager to privatise Salem Steel Plant,» Ramesh asked in a post on X. Accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of giving «jumlas» (rhetoric), he said the saffron party proudly announced the establishment of the AIIMS, Madurai in the 2015-16 Union budget and for four years since the announcement, no action was taken.

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh claimed that Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma «would have been nowhere» without the grand old party which had given him «identity and position» during its rule in the state. The Congress general secretary, in an interview with PTI here, claimed that Sarma was among the first to quit the grand old party when it lost power and join the «washing machine of BJP». «The Congress gave him identity and position, along with authority and responsibility, during the tenure of former chief minister Tarun Gogoi but he chose to betray the party when it was not in power. It is a matter of great sorrow that those given a responsible position turn out to be opportunists. But that has not shattered our self-confidence,» he said. «Opportunists» leaving the Congress actually work in the party's favour, making way for ideologically committed youngsters, the Rajya Sabha MP said.

Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Uddhav Thackeray, chief of Shiv Sena (UBT) has in a retort to Prime Minister Narendra Modi recalled the BJP leader's "fake degree" controversy, as per an ANI report. Referring to Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah labelling his faction of the Shiv Sena as "fake", Thackeray said that the Maharashtra-based party was founded by Bal Thackeray and is "not your degree", it added. He was speaking at a campaign rally in Boisar on April 12.

‘Uri is our reply’: Jaishankar affirms India's stand on cross-border terrorism "Narendra Modi came (to be Prime Minister) only in 2014, but this problem did not begin in 2014. It started in 1947, not even after the Mumbai terrorist attacks (of 26/11). This started in 1947.

Trump turned to one of his favorite themes on Friday — the specter of immigrants improperly voting in federal elections. House Speaker Mike Johnson came to the former president's Florida compound to announce that he would introduce a bill to stop those who are not citizens from voting in elections. Trump has made baseless claims about this subject before, like in 2016, when he blamed his loss of the popular vote on voting by immigrants, and then appointed a commission to investigate the issue. It disbanded without identifying a single case of a noncitizen casting a vote. He and other Republicans have recently revved up their conspiratorial claims about the issue with the influx of migrants across the southern border under Biden, contending Democrats are letting them in to add them to the voter rolls.

Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray has hit back at the recent remark of Prime Minister Narendrea Modi labelling the party as «fake». Thackeray, in his response to PM Modi said that his party is not like «your degree». The Shiv Sena (UBT) chief said that his party was founded by Bal Thackeray to fight for the rights of the people.

Congress has fielded against Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Gujarat's Gandhinagar Lok Sabha constituency, said she was not at all hesitant to fight the upcoming election against the senior BJP leader. The 62-year-old leader, who is All India Congress Committee (AICC) secretary and the party co-incharge of Mumbai and western Maharashtra, claimed that anti-incumbency prevails as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has failed to fulfil the aspirations of people. She also accused the ruling party of intimidating Congress workers in her constituency and sought a «level-playing field» in fighting elections. In an interview to PTI, Patel said, «I had not asked for a ticket from the party as I was busy with Congress's affairs in Maharashtra, where I am co-incharge of Mumbai and Western Maharashtra. But the party fielded me from Gandhinagar and I accepted it.»

₹50 crore" to Congress MLAs to jump to the saffron party. According to a report by India Today TV channel, the chief minister alleged that the BJP is trying to break the elected Congress government by purchasing MLAs. "They have been trying to break my government for one year.

Amit Shah, is set to headline a rally in Noida on Saturday evening. The rally aims to strengthen support for the party's candidate and incumbent MP, Dr Mahesh Sharma. Senior party officials disclosed that the event, scheduled at Shivalik Park in Sector 33-A, anticipates a turnout exceeding 30,000 attendees.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is scheduled to unveil its election manifesto, known as the "Sankalp Patra," on April 14 in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP President JP Nadda, Home Minister Amit Shah, and Defense Minister Rajnath Singh, according to sources. The manifesto committee, chaired by Defense Minister Rajnath Singh, has already held two meetings. The BJP has received over 1.5 million suggestions for its manifesto, including more than 400,000 through the NaMo app and over 1.1 million through videos. According to party sources, the BJP's manifesto will focus on development, a prosperous India, women, youth, the poor, and farmers. The party pledges to fulfil only those promises that are achievable. The theme of the manifesto will be «Modi's Guarantee: Developed India 2047,» with a focus on cultural nationalism.

Omar Abdullah is contesting Lok Sabha elections from Baramulla constituency of northern Kashmir and his colleague a prominent Shia leader Aga Ruhulla will contest from Srinagar constituency. Abdullah dared the BJP to field its candidates directly on three seats in the Valley and not support the proxies and was confident that if the BJP candidates won’t lose their security deposit, he will quit politics. The NC’s announcement has made the contest interesting as Sajad Lone of People’s Conference is fighting from Baramulla constituency, who enjoys support from Altaf Bukhari of Apni Party while People’s Democratic Party youth leader Waheed Para is fighting from Srinagar. “Our fight is not against any candidate or individual in north Kashmir. My fight is against those powers who are supporting this candidate from behind. Central government and the BJP is focussing on north Kashmir and I want to defeat these forces in north Kashmir.Now we know they are openly BJP candidates.They are openly dancing to the tunes of BJP ,” said Abdullah. The NC leader claimed that the BJP leader Tarun Chugh had recently come to meet Bukhari at his home in Srinagar and Lone was summoned there and given directions. “Let BJP field its candidates directly here and seek votes in the name of BJP and what they did here. See how many votes they will garner. Stop using A team, B team and C team here. If you have done much then please field BJP candidates and if they don't lose their security deposit i will quit politics,” he said.

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi took a break from his hectic campaigning in Tamil Nadu for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections and visited a sweet shop in Singanallur. The owner, Babu, expressed his surprise at the sudden and unannounced visit of the Congress leader. «We were pleasantly surprised when Rahul Gandhi came by. He was probably visiting Coimbatore for a meeting. Since he likes (Gulab) Jamun, he bought a kilo of the sweet. He sampled the other sweets on display as well. I was happy that he came by. Our staff, too, were happy to see him. He was here for 25-30 minutes. We had no clue he would stop by and were all taken by surprise. We asked him not to pay but he insisted. He paid the whole amount,» the shop owner told ANI. Earlier, Rahul Gandhi had criticized the BJP, labeling the Centre's electoral bond scheme as the «single biggest act of corruption done by anybody in the world». He made these remarks at a public meeting in Coimbatore, where he accused the BJP of operating a «washing machine» to cleanse the political system.

Nippon Steel, as expected, taking the merger one step closer to completion even as political opposition to the deal mounts. U.S. Steel said that over 98% of the votes were in favor of the deal under which Nippon will pay $55 per share, an amount that represented a hefty premium when the takeover was announced in December.

Lok Sabha elections for about 5,000 people, who are presently sheltered in camps. All arrangements to enable displaced people to vote have been made in accordance with the guidance received from the central government, polling officials told ANI. Speaking to on Friday, Imphal West Deputy Commissioner Kiran Kumar said, «Considering the violence and the displacement caused by the ethnic clashes, we have arranged special polling stations to enable the internally displaced people to vote. Twenty nine such polling stations have been opened ahead of the general elections.»

Congress leader and AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is set to participate in the party's campaign rally here in Tripura on April 16, a day before Prime Minister Narendra Modi's rally at Swami Vivekananda Maidan here in Agartala. The senior Congress leader will lead a roadshow that will cover most of the city areas in support of CPIM-supported INDIA bloc candidate Asish Kumar Saha. Saha also happens to be the president of the Congress party's Tripura state unit. Sharing details of her visit, Congress MLA Sudip Roy Barman said, «She is scheduled to land here at the MBB airport in Agartala at 2.50 PM. She will lead a road show that will snake through different parts of the city, including Durga Chowmuhani, Colonel Chowmuhani, Paradise Chowmuhani, among other top landmarks and public places. She will fly out of the state after the event on the same day.»