Election Financial News

Rahul Gandhi on Thursday slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Centre and said that Congress bank accounts are frozen, hindering campaign work and support to workers and candidates. Rahul Gandhi termed this “criminal action done on Congress by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah." As reported by ANI, Rahul Gandhi said during a press conference in New Delhi, “The idea that India is a democracy is a lie. There is no democracy in India today.

Rahul Gandhi were also present at the press conference held at the Congress party headquarters in New Delhi. Kharge accused BJP of monopolising the poll resources while trying its best to prevent Congress party from contesting elections by targeting it financially.

Karnataka Chief Minister DV Sadananda Gowda has quit politics after being snubbed for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, he said at a press conference in Bengaluru on Thursday. «I am upset with BJP as the election ticket (from Bangalore North seat) has been given to someone else in my place,» Gowda said. Gowda, 71, reiterated that he was invited to join the Congress party in Karnataka, but confirmed that he would not be joining them.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member of parliament (MP) Varun Gandhi from the Pilibhit seat in Uttar Pradesh, which he represents. Pilibhit, along with seven other seats in Uttar Pradesh, will go to the polls on April 19 in the first phase of the Lok Sabha 2024 elections, for which the filing of nominations started on March 20. For quite some time now, speculation has been rife that Varun may not be fielded by the BJP in 2024 because he attacked some of his party’s policies over the past few years.

US Fed keeps benchmark rates steady at 23-year high-mark, projects 3 rate cuts in 2024: 5 key highlights As Mint reported, the policymakers sharply upgraded the US growth outlook for the year 2024 to 2.1 per cent from 1.4 per cent in December but left the headline inflation forecast unchanged. However, they slightly raised the outlook for annual core inflation, which excludes energy and food prices, to 2.6 per cent. Also Read: US Fed leaves key rates unchanged: Full text from Fed's monetary policy statement A rate cut by the Fed is a boost to the equity market as lower interest rates mean cheaper borrowing for businesses which helps them to expand their operations more easily, ultimately leading to increased profitability.

By Francesco Guarascio and Khanh Vu

Georgia lawmakers have made it harder for workers at companies getting state economic incentives to unionize, in what could be a violation of federal law

phase of the Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal, covering three constituencies, was issued on Wednesday. The constituencies slated for the first phase are Cooch Behar, Jalpaiguri, and Alipurduar, all of which were clinched by the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Voting for these seats in the northern part of the state will be held on April 19. The process for filing nominations by candidates for this phase began on Wednesday and it will continue till March 28, with the withdrawal deadline being April 2.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav on Wednesday claimed top leaders of Congress are not willing to contest Lok Sabha elections in any of the 29 constituencies in the state and said people will reject the opposition party which had questioned the existence of Lord Ram. Rajesh Mishra, the BJP nominee from Sidhi constituency, has become the first candidate in MP to file his nomination papers on the day the notification for the first phase of Lok Sabha elections was issued. «Congress has some tallest leaders in Madhya Pradesh but none of them is ready to contest the polls from 29 seats,» Yadav said while addressing a public meeting. In the first phase of elections, scheduled for April 19, polling will be held in six seats in MP.

EV policy, slashing customs duties on imported cars. This policy concession, announced ahead of the general elections, is an incentive for automobile MNCs, such as the world's largest EV manufacturer, Tesla, to make India a global hub for EVs. However, the policy comes with strings:

Congress alleging that unauthorised political advertisements are still being displayed in many places across the country. On 16 March, the Election Commission of India has declared the dates for the Lok Sabha Elections 2024, Model Code of Conduct (MCC) came into place, which bars any political advertisement from being displayed till the results are declared on 4 June. “The Election Commission of India has taken serious note of the non-compliance/partial compliance of its instructions and hereby directs all State/UT Governments to immediately remove all unauthorised political advertisements and ensure full compliance with its aforesaid instructions", the ECI said.

Top News of the Day: On 20 March, a series of events are set to take place right from politics to business. Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a telephonic conversation with both Russia's Vladimir Putin and Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy and reiterated India's stance of 'dialogue, diplomacy' on the Russia-Ukraine war. The Modi-government also cleared its stance on the pleas against the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023, in its affidavit.

Tamil Nadu's main opposition party AIADMK on Wednesday finalised seat sharing arrangement for the Lok Sabha polls with allies DMDK, SDPI and Puthiya Tamizhagam. Announcing the electoral pacts here at the party headquarters, AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami said the DMDK would contest from Tiruvallur (SC), Central Chennai, Cuddalore, Thanjavur and Virudhunagar Lok Sabha constituencies. Puthiya Tamizhagam has (PT) been allocated Tenkasi constituency and SDPI the Dindigul segment, Palaniswami said. The poll pacts were signed with DMDK general secretary Premalatha Vijayakanth, PT chief K Krishansamy and SDPI's state unit chief Nellai Mubarak.

India does not tolerate terrorism. The country also teaches lessons to those who threaten with terrorism. The world can see India's response against those who wounded us with terrorism,” said Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the CNN-News18 Rising Bharat Summit in New Delhi Wednesday. Talking about the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls, the prime minister said, «there is a mood of debate ahead of elections. And this is the beauty of democracy.” »The BJP is planning for the first 100 days of our next term," PM added.

Indian equities are poised to lure more foreign inflows after the general elections, with the economy’s promising growth prospects and the Federal Reserve’s rate cuts acting as catalysts.

Vladimir Putin and Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Modi reiterated India's commitment to an early and peaceful resolution to the ongoing conflict between the two countries, the officials said, adding that both the leaders said they saw the Indian prime minister as a «peace-maker». «Both Putin and Zelenskyy also invited Modi to visit their countries after the elections in India get over,» an official said. The prime minister has in the past cited invitations extended to him by foreign leaders to visit their countries as their endorsement of the view that he is set to retain power in the Lok Sabha elections, which start on April 19 and will be over in the first week of June.

Election Commission on Wednesday asked state governments to take down all unauthorised political advertisements from government, public and private properties and send a compliance report in the next 24 hours. In a letter to the Union Cabinet Secretary and chief secretaries of all states and union territories, the EC said that despite its letter issued on March 16 when the model code of conduct for the Lok Sabha elections came into force, it has received complaints that such defacements have not been removed. The Congress had recently raised the issue with the poll panel. «All unauthorised political advertisements, in the form of wall writings, posters, papers or defacement in any other form, cutouts, hoardings, banner flags were ordered to be removed in a time bound manner from public spaces like railway stations, bus stands, airports, railway bridges, roadways, government buses, electric/telephone poles, municipal/local bodies' building and a strict compliance in this was to be ensured,» it reminded the governments.

have registered for using CUET-UG scores for their admission in UG programmes. More are joining...." Earlier in the day, the UGC chairman outlined the initiatives taken by the higher education regulator in the country for conducting the Common University Entrance Test for Undergraduates (CUET UG) 2024. Kumar said to improve the overall testing experience for candidates appearing in CUET UG 2024, the difficulty level of the entrance exam has been reduced to moderate, accessibility enhanced, and logistical challenges have been reduced to make the test stress-free for the candidates, reported ANI.

Narendra Modi-led government has alleged that the pleas just seek to stir up a political controversy on “bare, unsupported and pernicious statements". In an affidavit filed by Centre in the Supreme Court, the Live Law reported that the Union Ministry of Law has rejected the allegations of the petitioners claiming that Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu were ‘hastily’ appointed to pre-empt SC orders. "To indicate, as the petitioners suggest, that selection committees without judicial members, would invariably be biased is wholly incorrect," the affidavit read.

Edappadi K Palaniswami exuded confidence that the AIADMK-led alliance would sweep the polls. The party, which had faced the elections by itself in 2014, had won 37 of the 39 seats in the state, he recalled and said it was capable of repeating the performance. The opposition party named candidates for 16 seats, including North Chennai, South Chennai, Arakkonam, Kancheepuram and Villpuram, both reserved constituencies, among others.

₹435 for a quintal of wheat and ₹200 per quintal of rice supplied to Nafed and NCCF for processing these and then selling under the Bharat brand. The government already sells Bharat atta (flour) and rice at a subsidized price of ₹27.50 and ₹29 a kg. However, sales of the Bharat brand have been tepid.