Election Financial News

Election Commission announced it would hold a press conference on Saturday at 3 pm to announce dates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, departments in the Central government went full throttle to approve projects and policies. Once the Election Commission makes the dates for the elections public, the Model Code of Conduct will kick in, curtailing government departments' abilities to make major policy decisions, with some decisions requiring prior permission from the poll body. According to a Times of India report, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and other offshoots of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways of India (MoRTH) were working into the night on Friday to issue letters of award for projects, which will ensure highway developers can start work.

Hyderabad, Ahead of the announcement of the schedule for Lok Sabha elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address a BJP rally at Nagarkurnool in Telangana on Saturday. Modi held a roadshow in the Malkajgiri Lok Sabha constituency here Friday evening. Modi would attend another rally at Jagtial in the state on March 18, Telangana BJP has said. The Prime Minister on March 5 inaugurated and laid the foundation for development projects worth more than Rs 7,200 crore at Sangareddy, about 60 km from Hyderabad.

Lok Sabha elections that are scheduled to take place in April or May this year. The chief minister lauded the 'Modi Ki Guarantee' (Modi's guarantee), saying that the promise of procuring 21 quintals of paddy at ₹3,100 per quintal has been fulfilled, ANI reported. He also said PM Modi guaranteed the formation of a five-member committee that will review the demands and problems of contractual workers.

Election Commission is set to announce dates from the upcoming Lok Sabha elections on Saturday, with a press conference scheduled for 3:30 pm. The poll body is also likely to announce the dates to polls for four state assemblies. This year's Lok Sabha elections could see voting take place over six or seven phases, likely starting in late April, with the results likely to be announced a month later, in May. The polls to elect the 18th Lok Sabha will see nearly 97 crore eligible voters exercise their franchise in over 12 lakh polling stations. April's elections will replace the Lok Sabha, whose term is ending on June 16, while state polls will see voting in Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim. Terms for Andhra Pradesh and Odisha are ending on June 11 and June 24, while both the Arunachal and Sikkim assemblies will see theirs end on June 2.

Lok Sabha elections date 2024 LIVE updates: CEC Rajiv Kumar-led Election Commission of India (ECI) is set to announce the complete schedule of Lok Sabha elections 2024 on Saturday. The election body will hold a press conference in New Delhi and will declare the crucial details about the upcoming general elections like dates, phases, announcement of results, etc.The announcement of the Lok Sabha election date 2024 comes two days after the appointment of two new Election Commissioners- Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu.

panel submitted its report on "One Nation One Election" to President Droupadi Murmu on Thursday. It backed the idea of simultaneous elections for the Lok Sabha and the state assemblies in the first phase. As per the panel's recommendations, this should be followed by synchronised local body polls within 100 days.

Telangana on Saturday, the BJP said in an official statement. The BJP is formulating strategies to win more seats in the Lok Sabha elections in the state this time. The party's top leaders have already focused on Telangana.

Vladimir Putin electronically submitted his vote in the presidential elections on the first day of Presidential elections, the state media TASS said. The Kremlin released video footage depicting Putin walking to a computer in his office, voting, and subsequently smiling and waving at the camera. A message displayed on the computer screen confirmed the successful casting of his vote.

The European Commission formally enquired into strategies adopted by big tech companies on March 14 to mitigate generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) risks capable of misleading election voters. The commission has given Big Techs an April 3 deadline to provide documents and information to its requests.

April 12, 2024. As the countdown to this highly anticipated date continues, expectations are sky-high for what promises to be an epic and thought-provoking cinematic experience that will captivate audiences worldwide.

By Tim Reid

Congress stronghold, the Secunderabad seat has seen a recent shift to the Bharatiya Janata Party with incumbent G Kishan Reddy looking to keep his seat for a second term, while the saffron party looks to consolidate its hold in the southern state. One of 17 seats in Telangana, the Hyderabad constituency is set to see a battle between the BJP and the BRS, with the Congress looking less likely to bother either party. Secunderabad Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Dates In 2019, the elections for the Secunderabad seat were held on April 11. With the Election Commission set to announce dates for the general polls soon, there is a high level of anticipation within party workers and the local populace. The poll body is set to announce the dates on March 16.

Asaduddin Owaisi, the current Member of Parliament. The younger Owaisi has been winning in the seat for the past four elections, with expectations high that he will continue his streak in the coming election set to be held in April-May this year. Hyderabad Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Dates Owaisi's fate in the year's election is set to be decided soon, with the Election Commission set to announce the schedule for the Lok Sabha polls shortly. There are high stakes at play in this year's general elections, with the Bharatiya Janata Party aiming for a record 400-seat haul in the 543-seat Sabha. Both observers and the general public are gearing up for what is likely to be a tense contest as the opposition tries to stem the saffron tide.

imports of yellow peas, which are used in place of chana, beyond April to keep the pulses inflation under control as the yield of chana is expected to be low on account of a decline in acreage and lower productivity, said an official. «Yellow pea imports are expected to help offset the anticipated shortfall in the supply of chana as the domestic crop is projected to be lower than that last year on drop in acreage and weather impacting the yields,» said the official, who did not wish to be identified. In early December 2023, the Centre allowed duty-free imports of yellow peas until March 2024 and later extended it till April as part of efforts to cool the prices of pulses which had kept food inflation high for the past few months.

Kerala's Pathanamthitta constituency is set to vote in the Lok Sabha elections soon, with the Election Commission very close to announcing a date for the polls. This year's elections will likely see a tight contest in the Congress stronghold. Pathanamthitta is a newly formed constituency in the Central Travancore region of Kerala. In what is set to be only the fourth election in this specific constituency, the Communist Party of India, the Congress and the BJP are going to fight it out to place a member in the 18th Lok Sabha. Pathanamthitta Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Dates The scheduling of the Lok Sabha elections in Pathanamthitta is garnering significant interest with early reports placing likely poll dates between April-May. The eagerly awaited voting date for the Kerala constituency in the 2024 Lok Sabha election will pretty soon be disclosed by the Election Commission.

Election Commission of India (EC) readies to announce the Lok Sabha poll schedule, suspense persists on Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) assembly elections but the recent EC visit to J&K threw up two clear and opposite views, ET has learnt. Political parties have unequivocally sought simultaneous parliamentary and assembly elections in J&K in their discussions with EC. Many are learnt to have said that if the Centre is looking at a 'One Nation, One Election' plan, it should make a start with J&K which has been without an elected government since the PDP-BJP coalition collapsed in June 2018. However, both the administrative and security establishment have made assessments that indicate that conducting a simultaneous assembly poll will be hugely challenging.

Narendra Modi on Friday alleged that the INDIA bloc wanted to assume power only to engage in 'loot and corruption.' He attacked the Congress in Kerala over the solar case of 2013 and the DMK-Congress alliance in Tamil Nadu. Addressing a BJP rally in Kanyakumari, Modi alleged DMK-Congress have 'history of scams' and the aim behind their efforts to come to power is to 'loot the people.' He underlined that while the Centre has launched several infrastructure development projects in Tamil Nadu and the people benefited from a slew of welfare schemes, the DMK government was 'steeped in corruption.' Referring to the consecration of Ram temple at Ayodhya on January 22, Modi said the DMK government boycotted it and tried to 'prevent telecast' of the event. Modi said this showed the DMK government had 'no respect' for traditions and culture of India. He said in the run-up to the main event, he had visited several historical temples of Tamil Nadu. Modi also tried to take credit for restarting Jallikattu, though it was done by cultural organisations after the Supreme Court lifted the ban. He alleged that while the DMK-Congress dispensation was 'caught napping' when Sri Lankan authorities arrested some Tamil Nadu fishermen recently, he used diplomatic clout to bring them back safe, overlooking the point that the Centre oversaw external affairs. Referring to the attack on AIADMK leader J Jayalalithaa in the Tamil Nadu assembly several decades ago, Modi said it showed DMK 'did not respect' women.

Opposition parties on Friday accused the government of using pressure of investigative agencies and quid-pro-quo methods on business firms to help the BJP get the largest chunk of political donations through electoral bonds, and demanded a Supreme Court-monitored investigation into what they saw as corruption by the ruling establishment. The Congress also demanded a freeze on BJP's bank accounts. Citing the electoral bond data that State Bank of India provided to the Election Commission, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said the BJP received about half the total donations while the principal opposition party, Congress, got only 11%. «There are many dubious donors. Who are these people? Which companies are these? Why have so many companies donated only after ED, IT and CBI raids? Who put the pressure on such companies,» Kharge asked, and sought a Supreme Court-led investigation into «the saga of corruption». «It is quite worrying that while the accounts of the Congress party have been frozen, no action has been taken against the BJP which has illegally acquired crores and crores of money,» he said, referring to a lien the Income Tax Department imposed on its account. «Thus, along with an inquiry, we demand that accounts of BJP should be frozen with immediate effect due to the illegal nature of the funds received through the electoral bonds scheme,» he added.

Elections are in the air. Whether it's India's that's around the corner, Russia's currently underway, or Britain's and America's this winter, democracies take pride in conducting elections — even when some do it less freely and fairly than others. Incumbent Vladimir Putin, for instance, will be declared victor for the fifth — and third consecutive — time.

Guwahati: Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that in the last three years enough groundwork was done to dispel doubts about the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). Sarma said, “When I became chief minister, I became sure that CAA rules would come as the act was passed by parliament. We started groundwork to dispel doubts about CAA.In the last three years we have done a lot of ground work.” He added that the rules say very clearly— those who came after 2014, will not get the benefits of CAA. In 2014, National Register of Citizens (NRC) process was on in Assam. “In the context of Assam, since we have already captured the data — so you see there is no application from Assam and no agitation.”

Kavitha, daughter of former chief minister and BRS supremo K Chandrasekhar Rao, a day before the Election Commission is set to announce the schedule for the Lok Sabha elections, may have some psychological impact on party workers. Former minister T Harish Rao said at a press conference that the party will hold protests in the headquarters of all the assembly constituencies tomorrow. The Enforcement Directorate arrested BRS leader K Kavitha today in Hyderabad in connection with a money laundering probe linked to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam.