Election Financial News

Rahul Gandhi on Sunday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of trying to do "match-fixing" in the Lok Sabha polls and asserted that if the BJP succeeds in its endeavours, the country's Constitution will be changed and people's rights taken away. Addressing the INDIA bloc's 'Save Democracy' rally at the Ramlila Maidan here, the former Congress chief said this is not an ordinary election but one to save the country's democracy and Constitution. «When pressure is put on umpires and captain, players are bought off and the match is won, in cricket, it is called match-fixing. We have Lok Sabha polls before us. Who selected the umpires? Before the match started, two players were arrested… Narendra Modi is trying to do match-fixing in these polls,» Gandhi said. The BJP is raising the slogan of getting 400 seats, but without EVMs, match-fixing, pressure on opposition leaders and buying media, they will not be able to cross even 180 seats, he claimed.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Mukesh Kumar Meena said the Election Commission is striving to increase the polling percentage in about 20 urban Assembly constituencies where it is lower than the national average of 68 percent. Visakhapatnam, Nellore, Kurnool town, Rajamahendravaram, Vijayawada and others are some of the constituencies 'exhibiting urban apathy' towards exercising franchise. «Our (overall) per cent of polling is on the higher side at 79 per cent, but still there are certain urban areas where it is below the national average. We are now trying to increase the percentage in these places so that our overall voting percentage also goes up. We appeal to the people to vote,» said Meena in a PTI interview.

Modi, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav on Sunday claimed that his guarantee is like Chinese goods and is only meant for polls, as he urged people not to fall for the BJP's «propaganda» in the Lok Sabha polls. Addressing the INDIA bloc rally at the Ramlila maidan in Delhi, Yadav alleged that an «undeclared emergency» was prevailing in the country and asserted that the opposition will not let the RSS agenda to be implemented in the country. Yadav also sang lines from a Govinda-starrer movie with a play on the lyrics «tum toh dhokebaaz ho, vaada karke bhool jaate ho», to allege that Prime Minister Modi did not fulfil his promises made in the last election. The former Bihar deputy CM charged that the Enforcement Directorate, CBI and IT department are cells of the BJP.

BJP) on Sunday announced the name of Damodar Agarwal as its candidate from the Bhilwara constituency in Rajasthan for the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Damodar Agarwal has replaced the sitting BJP MP Subhash Chandra Baheria. The Congress has fielded CP Joshi for the seat. Earlier, the BJP has fielded Kanhaiya Lal Meena from the Dausa constituency, while Indu Devi Jatav has been fielded from Karauli-Dholpur. Manju Sharma has been fielded from Jaipur, Mahima Vishweswar Singh from Rajsamand, Bhagirath Chaudhary from Ajmer, Rao Rajendra Singh from Jaipur Rural, Shubkaran Choudhary from Jhunjhunu and Priyanka Balan from Ganganagar in the state.

Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, at the INDIA bloc rally here on Sunday, claimed the country was moving towards becoming an «autocracy» as he appealed to people of the country to throw the BJP out of power. Addressing the INDIA bloc's rally at the Ramlila Maidan, he hit out at the BJP and said, «We are not here for an election campaign, we are here to save democracy… you level allegations and send people to jail. What kind of government is this?» he said. «When two of our sisters are fighting, how can the brother stay behind? So we are here for our sisters, Kalpana ji and Sunita ji. Not just us, the whole country is with you,» Thackeray said, referring to former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren's wife Kalpana Soren and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's wife Sunita Kejriwal. Both Arvind Kejriwal and Hemant Soren have been arrested by federal agencies in different cases of corruption.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday mocked the BJP's target of winning 400-plus seats in the Lok Sabha polls and challenged the saffron camp to win at least 200 constituencies. Banerjee also asserted that she won't allow the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act in the state. She cautioned people that applying for CAA would turn an applicant into a foreigner and urged them not to apply for it. «The BJP is saying „400 paar“, I challenge them to cross the 200 seats benchmark first. In 2021 assembly polls, they gave a call of 200 plus seats but had to stop at 77,» she said.

These six guarantees promised by Kejriwal included: 1 . 24-hour electricity throughout the country 2. Free electricity for the poor in the entire country.

Tata Motors, Bajaj Auto, Adani Ports, Coal India, and Hero Motocorp witnessed extraordinary growth, with each of them vaulting over 100 per cent. Surprisingly, out of all Nifty 50 stocks, only two - Hindustan Unilever and HDFC Bank - concluded the fiscal year in the red, experiencing a decline of over 10 per cent each. Also Read: FY24 Review | Bajaj Auto, NTPC, among top 10 Nifty 50 performers, deliver hefty 80-140% returns in last 12 months The midcap and smallcap indices outshone the benchmarks by a significant margin.

Editor’s note: This article was updated on November 20th 2023 to take in the results of Argentina’s presidential election. On November 19th Argentina elected Javier Milei, a self-described “anarcho-capitalist", to be its next president. He defeated Sergio Massa, the economy minister in the current Peronist government. Mr Milei owes his victory to the troubled background against which the election took place.

Siddaramaiah hasn't entered the electoral contest here but the battle for Mysuru Lok Sabha seat is certainly seen as one between him and scion of the erstwhile royal family. For four days from March 24, Siddaramaiah camped in Mysuru — his home district — personally overseeing the poll preparations of the Congress ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. Springing a surprise, the BJP fielded the scion of the erstwhile Mysuru royal family Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar, replacing the MP Pratap Simha. Congress Karnataka unit spokesperson M Lakshmana is the party candidate here with some leaders in the outfit projecting the electoral contest as 'Common man versus Raja (king)'.

Lok Sabha election rally in Uttar Pradesh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday referred to the people of the country as his family members and said his government has given a new flight to their aspirations. The prime minister will hold a rally in Meerut on Sunday where the BJP has fielded actor Arun Govil of TV serial 'Ramayan' fame as its candidate. According to sources, apart from Govil, Rashtriya Lok Dal president Jayant Chaudhary, who recently joined the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance, will share the dais with the prime minister. In a post on X in Hindi, PM Modi said, «In the last 10 years, our government, through its work, has given a new flight to the aspirations of my family members across the country. To give further speed to this, the countrymen have once again made up their mind to go with the BJP-NDA in the Lok Sabha elections.» «Will get the privilege of receiving blessings from the public around 3.30 pm today in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh,» he said.

Uttar Pradesh minister Swami Prasad Maurya, who recently parted ways with the Samajwadi Party, on Sunday said he will contest the Lok Sabha elections from Kushinagar as a candidate of his Rashtriya Shoshit Samaaj Party. Claiming that he held talks with the INDIA bloc constituents from Uttar Pradesh over seat sharing but got no response, Maurya also announced that S N Chauhan will be his party's candidate from the Deoria Lok Sabha seat. The names of other candidates of the party would be announced soon, he added. Kushinagar and Deoria Lok Sabha seats will vote in the seventh and final phase of the general elections on June 1.

Ramlila Maidan in the national capital. The protest forced the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government at the centre to promise an anti-corruption watchdog - Lok Pal. Arvind Kejriwal took oath for the first time as Chief Minister of Delhi, with the support of the Congress party, at the Ramlila Maidan on December 28, 2013.

Narendra Modi is poised to launch the Bharatiya Janata Party's election campaign for the Lok Sabha polls in Uttar Pradesh, commencing from Meerut on Sunday. "In the last 10 years, our government, through its work, has given a new lease of life to the aspirations of my family members across the country. To give further impetus to this, the countrymen have once again decided to go with BJP-NDA in the Lok Sabha elections.

Congress, sources in the party said it has received fresh notices from the Income Tax department, raising a tax demand of Rs 1,745 crore for the assessment years 2014-15 to 2016-17. With this latest notice, the Income Tax department has raised a total demand of Rs 3,567 crore from the Congress. According to sources, the fresh tax notices relate to 2014-15 (Rs 663 crore), 2015-16 (around Rs 664 crore) and 2016-17 (around Rs 417 crore). The authorities have ended the tax exemption available to political parties and have taxed the party for the entire collections, they added. The Congress has also been taxed for «third-party entries» made in diaries seized from some of its leaders by probe agencies during raids, the sources said.

Telangana, all 24 liquor production points have been brought under CCTV surveillance to keep a check on the illegal flow of alcohol in the run-up to the May 13 Lok Sabha elections. Chief Electoral Office Vikas Raj said to prevent unwarranted liquor distribution during the elections, the state Excise Department is monitoring the sale of alcohol and will inform the Election Commission if there is a spike of more than 20 per cent in its production. The official said all the belt shops (unauthorised satellite shops) of liquor were shut down and the illegal network of distribution was stopped to a large extent. «For the first time in Telangana state, 24 production points (for liquor--distilleries and breweries) all of them were brought under CCTV.

₹1,745 crore for the assessment years 2014-15 to 2016-17, the party said. With this, the total notice for assessment years 1994-95 and 2017-18 to 2020-21 now stands at ₹3,567 crore. The fresh notices were issued on Friday evening after the Congress accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) being indulged in tax terrorism to financially cripple opposition parties ahead of Lok Sabha elections that are scheduled to take place in seven phases beginning from April 19.

'PM Modi aims to transcend divisive politics of caste, religion': FM Sitharaman PM Modi on Sunday cited a report in Times of India that said, 'RTI reply shows how Indira Gandhi ceded the island to Sri Lanka'. The PM on the X platfrom wrote, "Eye-opening and startling! New facts reveal how Congress callously gave away Katchatheevu". PM Narendra Modi added, "Weakening India’s unity, integrity, and interests has been Congress’ way of working for 75 years and counting".

elections. Celebrations over the passage of the landmark Bill were no less in Kerala, where over 1.40 crore voters are women and 50 per cent seats are reserved for them in local bodies. Although the Women's Reservation Bill would be implemented only after 2029 Lok Sabha polls, female politicians widely expected that they would get a remarkable representation in the candidates' list of the general elections. On the contrary, they continued to get a raw deal in the southern state from the parties that had waxed eloquent about the passage of the historic Bill. While the major fronts, the CPI(M)-led LDF and Congress-led UDF, have given three and one seat respectively to women, the BJP-led NDA has set aside five seats for their female politicians in the upcoming LS polls.

Nirmala Sitharaman reported total assets valued at Rs 2.53 crore in 2022, consisting of immovable property worth Rs 1.87 crore and movable property totaling Rs 65.55 lakh, as per her assets and liabilities declaration as a Rajya Sabha member. However, she also disclosed liabilities amounting to Rs 26.91 lakh. It's likely that these figures have undergone changes over the past couple of years due to her investments or loan repayments.

Tamil Nadu BJP chief K. Annamalai has shed light on India's wavering approach to the Katchatheevu island dispute with Sri Lanka. The decision to cede Katchatheevu has been a source of contention in Tamil Nadu, particularly for fishermen who continue to face arrest by Sri Lankan authorities. As the Lok Sabha elections near, the documents are likely to reignite the debate surrounding the island's ownership and the impact on Indian fishermen. According to a TOI report, the documents show that Sri Lanka is making up for its small size by pursuing the 1.9 square kilometer of territory around 20 km from the Indian beach with tenacity. This is based on claims that New Delhi disputed for decades before finally giving in to. Soon after independence, Ceylon, then known as Sri Lanka, asserted that the Indian Navy, then known as the Royal Indian Navy, could not hold exercises on the island without its consent. The island hosted an exercise by the Ceylon Air Force in October of 1955.