This setback has come after an array of its biggest leaders which include Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, UP Chief Minister Yogi Aditiyanath who came to the state more than once…reports Asian Lite News
At a time when the Kerala unit of the BJP decided to sit down to discuss the rather poor performance in the just held assembly polls when it not only saw the one seat that they had in 2016 disappear, but also saw a dip in the total votes, a top BJP state leader made no bones of the dismal performance who said that strategies adopted in North India won’t work in Kerala.
What has hurt the party and has come as a shocker is their vote percentage which saw a fall from 15.01 per cent in the 2016 Assembly polls to a 12.47 per cent after votes were counted on Sunday for the 140-member Kerala Assembly.
If there is any solace for them is they managed to come second in nine constituencies.
This setback has come after an array of its biggest leaders which include Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, UP Chief Minister Yogi Aditiyanath who came to the state more than once and others who came once included Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Smriti Irani, to name a few.
Bihar BJP workers .
Former State BJP president C.K. Padmanabhan who was the party candidate against Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan at Dharamadom constituency in Kannur came a distant third with over 14,000 votes.
He spoke to the media on Tuesday and said this is a victory for the work of Vijayan.
“The people of Kerala wished a second term for Vijayan and we all should welcome the verdict of the people,” said Padmanabhan.
“If anyone thinks that the strategy adopted in North India will work in Kerala, then it will not work out and all should first understand that,” added Padmanabhan.
He was also critical in the manner in which the present State BJP president K. Surendran who contested in two constituencies and opined that it was not needed.
Kevadia: Prime Minister Narendra Modi (Photo: IANS)
“Correctional steps will have to be taken, if things do not go the way the party wishes,” said Padmanabhan.
The state leadership which had a first round meeting to find out what had happened, after raising huge hopes that the BJP will form the new state government and it required only 35 seats in the 140 member Kerala assembly and it even had declared Metroman as the Chief Minister.
At its meeting the only decision that was taken was to constitute a committee which will look into the reasons for this debacle.
On Monday, Vijayan rubbed further salt into the wounds of the ‘wounded’ BJP leadership here when he alleged that in 90 of the 140 constituencies the BJP has lost its vote as compared to the 2016 assembly polls and added that in 10 seats this was the reason for the Congress led Opposition getting to the present tally of theirs to 41 seats.
Pakistan is currently in the midst of a deadly third wave of the coronavirus that has forced the government to impose lockdown…reports Asian Lite News
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) plans to launch an agitation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after Eidul Fitr in protest against the government’s failure to control inflation and unemployment.
“We are going to launch an agitation against the government after Eidul Fitr for its failure to control growing inflation and unemployment if the current coronavirus situation subsides,” The News International quoted Sardar Muhammad Yousuf, the senior vice president of PML-N, as saying on Sunday.
Sardar Yousuf, who is also the PML-N parliamentary leader in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, said that a delegation of the senior party leaders met Shahbaz Sharif in Lahore and finalised an agitation strategy after Eid.
“Shahbaz Sharif would address public gatherings at divisional level in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after the Eid. And if the COVID-19 prevails with the same pace then he would address workers conventions at the planned cities,” he said.
He further stated that PML-N’s President Shahbaz Sharif was committed to pulling the country out of the prevailing crises as the Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government has lost the public mandate, The News International reported.
“Our street agitation would mostly be focused on the high inflation and unemployment as people couldn’t afford two times meals because of the wrong government policies,” said Yousuf.
Meanwhile, over 3,000 children in Pakistan between the age of 1 to 10 years had tested positive for COVID-19 in April, according to data issued by the federal health ministry.
The data showed that 3,315 children between the ages of 1 and 10 years and 12,162 boys and girls between the ages of 11 and 20 years contracted COVID-19 in April, Geo News reported.
Pakistan is currently in the midst of a deadly third wave of the coronavirus that has forced the government to impose lockdown in many areas.
The total tally of COVID-19 cases of the country with the new cases now stands at 834,146. (ANI)
In this year’s elections, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party put up eight Muslim candidates, the Congress fielded 17…reports Asian Lite News
For the first time in 50 years, the treasury bench of the 126-member new Assam Assembly will not have any Muslim member even as 31 members from the community, the second-highest in 38 years, have been elected in the recently concluded elections.
In this year’s elections, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party put up eight Muslim candidates, the Congress fielded 17, while the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) nominated 19 Muslims and a Hindu candidate.
Of the 31 Muslims elected to the new House, the second-highest after the controversial 1983 elections during the height of the Assam agitation, 16 are from the Congress and 15 from the AIUDF.
Karim Uddin Barbhuiya(Twitter)
In the outgoing House, the NDA comprising BJP, Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and Bodoland People’s Front (BPF), had 86 members with Aminul Haque Laskar being the Muslim representative.
Laskar, 55, who was the Deputy Speaker in the Assembly, could not retain his Sonai seat in the Bengali-dominated Barak Valley where he was defeated by Karim Uddin Barbhuiya of AIUDF by a margin of 19,654 votes.
The AIUDF was one of the main allies of the Congress-led 10-party ‘Mahajot’ (grand alliance) that won 50 seats against the 75 seats won by the BJP led alliance. Jailed anti-CAA activist and prominent peasant leader Akhil Gogoi, the president of the newly floated Raijor Dal, won the remaining seat from Sibsagar as an Independent candidate.
Congress paid the price of pact with AIUDF in Assam
The Congress and the AIUDF won 29 and 16 seats, respectively, improving their 2016 performance by three seats each.
Other partners of the Mahajot, BPF got four seats while the CPI-M won one seat.
Apart from 1983, the number of Muslim members in the Assembly has usually hovered around the 25-mark.
According to political analysts and commentators, the alliance with the AIUDF shattered Congress’ dream to capture power in Assam, though the grand old party performed better this time as compared to 2016, when it was defeated by the BJP after 15 years.
Political observers categorically said that the Congress paid the price for the coalition with the Muslim-based body, AIUDF, in Assam.
Aminul Haque Laskar(Twitter)
The BJP and few other non-BJP parties had accused the AIUDF and its leadership of patronising “illegal immigrants” and most Assamese people had accepted the logic, they said.
According to Census 2011, Muslims account for 34.22 per cent population in the state, while Hindus and other religions account for the rest of the 3.12 crore total population of Assam.
Of the 126 Assembly seats, religious minorities decide the electoral fate in 23 seats, mostly in western and southern Assam, and play a crucial role in about seven more Assembly seats in different districts.
Of Assam’s 34 districts, 12 per cent or more Muslim population resides in 19 districts and in six districts the Muslim population constitutes 50 per cent or more.
46-year-old Gogoi bagged the Sibsagar constituency by a decisive margin of 11,875 votes without hitting the poll campaign…Sujit Chakraborty
Jailed anti-CAA activist and prominent peasant leader Akhil Gogoi has become the first lawmaker in Assam to win an election from jail after his octogenarian mother and prominent rights leaders of the country campaigned for him.
Without hitting the poll campaign, 46-year-old Gogoi clinched the Sibsagar constituency, defeating his nearest BJP opponent Surabhi Rajkonwari by a decisive margin of 11,875 votes.
Gogoi secured 57,219 votes (46.06 per cent) while Rajkonwari bagged 45,344 votes (36.5 per cent) and Congress nominee Subhramitra Gogoi managed 19,329 votes (15.56 per cent).
The founder president of the newly floated Raijor Dal (RD), Gogoi was arrested in December 2019 on sedition charges after he spearheaded the massive protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) in Assam.
Akhil Gogoi(Wikipedia)
The weeks long violent agitations against the CAA had rocked Assam in which five people were killed in police firing.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) took up Gogoi’s case for his alleged involvement in the violent anti-CAA demonstrations across the state.
Besides the Raijor Dal, the Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) was also formed as a consequence of the anti-CAA agitations.
Both the parties in alliance had fielded over 100 candidates across Assam, but only Gogoi has emerged victorious.
An inmate of the Central Jail in Guwahati, Gogoi is currently undergoing treatment at the Gauhati Medical College and Hospital.
Akhil Gogoi(Twitter)
Gogoi’s 84-year-old mother Priyoda Gogoi and son Nasiketa had spearheaded his election campaign before the first phase of elections in eastern Assam on March 27.
Rights activist Medha Patkar, Magsaysay award winner Sandeep Pandey, many students of Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University and intellectuals and activists from different parts of the country and Assam had come to Sibsagar campaign for Gogoi.
Hundreds of volunteers and members of the Raijor Dal took Priyoda Gogoi to the doorsteps of the voters and heavily campaigned against the new citizenship act, which was approved in the Parliament in 2019, granting automatic citizenship for non-Muslims from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan, who came to India before December 31, 2014.
Pinarayi Vijayanalso tore into the Congress-led opposition, the BJP as well as a section of the media….reports Asian Lite News
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who broke a four-decade-old trend of one term governments in the state as he led his Left Democratic Front to a successive second stint in power, on Sunday dedicated the victory to the people and said they are humbled by the response of the people who supported them and this will be the booster to start work on building a resilient Kerala.
He also tore into the Congress-led opposition, the BJP as well as a section of the media.
Addressing the media at his home base in Kannur when the tally of the victory showed 99 seats for the Left, with the Congress-led Opposition ending up with 41 seats and the BJP which had one seat in the 2016 Assembly polls, failed to get any seat this time, a beaming Vijayan said: “I wish to state that this was a great political fight and this is no doubt a victory of the people and belongs to the people.
“All along after the elections was announced, I had mentioned what is in store and I also said why I have that confidence. Then, I said we believe in the people and people believe in us and that’s why I said we will win more seats than the last time. And it has happened and it happened with the help of the people who beloved in our capabilities as they know, it is only the Left which can work for the welfare and also the development of the state.”
“We are deeply honoured by the support of the people who placed their full support on us and it was because of them that we were able to do this. We assure you the people that they can fully trust us and we see ‘power’ as not something to enjoy or to engage in corruption. We have a detailed manifesto which explains everything what we will do as we are one who will promise only what can be done,” he added.
Taking on the BJP, Vijayan said the state saw all its top leaders descend here for the campaign and heard what all was said.
“They even went to the extent of saying that they, without even having the need for the mandatory majority for forming a government, will form the government. When it came to money power, none could match them and what one could see was the ill-effects of having huge money. The victory also shows that our state is not a ground for communal elements like some states in the country,” he said.
Turning towards the Congress, he said the very existence of the Congress-led UDF is now under a cloud and this has to be discussed.
“Just see what happened when the state suffered a few disasters… what was the role of the Congress-led UDF. When the national agencies came calling here based on few allegations, instead of standing for the interest of the state, they were trying to attack us. The people saw all this and rightfully they did what any person would do and gave us their confidence. So in the best interest of the state, instead of joining hands for the progress of the state, the opposition was out to play spoil sport and the people acted,” said Vijayan.
He then made a blistering attack on a section of the ‘right wing’ media which was “wrongly portraying what we did”.
“Some media houses thought, that everything is under their control and at the tip of their pen. Lot of canards was being spread which were blatant lies and some even launched personal attacks. I wish to tell you (media) that the people know and gauge everything and you do not have any powers, which you think you have,” Vijayan said.
“The media should introspect and we will only be glad if you engage in constructive criticism, which in fact it will be good for us… But that is not what is happening. All what I have to say to you is it is time that you introspect and apply a course correction in the scheme of things that you do. All should understand that we are passing through tough times and hence priorities should be reworked,” he added.
Vijayan said on Monday that he he will submit his resignation to the Governor and then it would be the party which decides on when and how the next step is.
With the successive poll victories in Lok Sabha and Assembly polls, Stalin has established himself as an undisputed leader…reports Asian Lite News
For the 68-year-old M.K. Stalin, affectionately called “Thalapathi” (Commander) by members of his DMK, the wait to lead Tamil Nadu as its head will soon get over.
The DMK, led by Stalin, a former Deputy Chief Minister, is all set to come to power after a 10-year hiatus, and has even gained a majority on its own.
With the successive poll victories – the first one was the 2019 Lok Sabha polls – and now the Assembly polls, Stalin has established himself as an undisputed leader within and outside the party.
Stalin has to wait for some more days for his coronation as Chief Minister.
His earlier coronation as the DMK’s second President in 2018 was a smooth affair.
DMK’s then General Secretary K. Anbazhagan then said 1,307 party officials had proposed and seconded Stalin’s candidature.
Stalin was given the role of Working President in January 2017 after his father and party patriarch M. Karunanidhi was largely confined to his home due to age-related ailments.
Born on March 1, 1953 to Karunanidhi and Dayalu Ammal, Stalin was named after the Russian leader Joseph Stalin who died on March 5, 1953 – four days after Stalin’s birth.
Legend has it that Karunanidhi wanted to name him ‘Ayyadurai’ – after DK founder ‘Periyar’ E.V. Ramasamy and DMK founder C.N. Annadurai.
Like his multi-faceted father who entered public life at the age of 14, Stalin too started his political journey by becoming an ordinary member of the DMK at the age of 14 and campaigning for the party in the 1967 polls.
A year earlier he had formed a youth forum: Gopalapuram Youth DMK.
Stalin came to public notice at large when he was jailed under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) for opposing the imposition of Emergency by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
He became the party’s Youth Wing Secretary in 1984 and continued to hold that post for a long time.
It was in 1984 that Stalin made his electoral debut from Thousand Lights constituency in Chennai but lost. He finally entered the Assembly in 1989.
The other electoral loss for him was in 1991 at the same seat.
Till date, Stalin has won six Assembly polls – four times from Thousand Lights and twice from Kolathur constituency. His seventh victory comes in 2021.
Stalin was the Local Administration Minister in the Karunanidhi government (2006-11) and became Deputy Chief Minister in 2009 and stayed in the post till 2011.
As the aged Karunanidhi was not able to move much, the mantle of being lead campaigner fell on him in 2016 Assembly polls.
The DMK won 89 seats and narrowly missed the victory to the AIADMK then led by J. Jayalalithaa.
Stalin became the Leader of the Opposition. But the party suffered a shock defeat losing the security deposit in the by-election from R.K. Nagar constituency in Chennai, a seat held by Jayalalithaa. The by-election was won by T.T.V. Dhinakaran, a rebel AIADMK leader who later floated the AMMK.
Before becoming a state minister, Stalin was the Chennai Mayor in 1996-2001 and 2001-02. He was also the party Treasurer.
During his Mayorship, the Chennai Corporation built several flyovers to ease the traffic flow. The AIADMK government headed by Jayalalithaa had, however, arrested Stalin for alleged corruption in building the flyovers. But it did not affect his career. Even Karunanidhi had once openly declared that if he had a chance then he would announce Stalin as his successor.
But Stalin’s elder brother and former Union Minister M.K. Alagiri – then incharge of the party affairs in the southern districts – opposed it and said he cannot think of anybody else as his leader other than Karunanidhi.
Later, Alagiri was dismissed from the party for anti-party activities.
Meanwhile, Stalin started taking strong hold of the party reins following the indisposition of Karunanidhi.
The Alagiri-Stalin rivalry plagued the DMK for a long time but Karunanidhi kept a fragile peace till his passing away.
Stalin is married to Durga, a believer, and the couple have two children – Udayanidhi and Senthamarai.
Udhayanidhi, an actor turned politician, also made successful electoral debut this time from the Chepauk-Thiruvallikeni Assembly constituency.
Stalin also had acted in two movies and in two television serials.
Succeeding Karunanidhi, an illustrious leader, Stalin did not try to show himself as a leader different from his father, and in all his election campaign speeches, always said he is the son of Karunanidhi.
Roping in political strategist Prashant Kishor to chart the party’s victory route, Stalin continued with the campaign of painting the Narendra Modi-led Central government as “anti-Tamil” and “anti-states”.
The party also successfully built a public perception that it would win the polls and the AIADMK government was subservient to the Central government.
Stalin also carried out hard bargaining for seats with allies and made many of them contest under the party’s Rising Sun electoral symbol.
On the other factors that worked for the DMK in the assembly elections, a political analyst told IANS, were the anti-incumbency against the AIADMK government, the anti-BJP sentiment, alliance arithmetic, the steady cultivation of the perception that it will win the polls over a long period of time, and caste neutrality.
He did not agree that the assembly poll victory was an extension of the DMK-led alliance’s victory in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
“That was a total rout for the AIADMK-led alliance. During the Lok Sabha elections, it was Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for the Prime Ministership that was on the centre stage,” the analyst said.
In 2019 there was an anti-Modi wave in Tamil Nadu. But in the 2021 Assembly elections, Stalin was at the centre stage but there was no wave in his favour to rout the AIADMK, the analyst said.
Be that as it may, with the 2021 Assembly election victory and heading the state government, Stalin has very many challenges facing him.
First and the foremost will be arresting the spread of coronavirus.
As an opposition leader, he had fired several salvos against Chief Minister K. Palaniswami. And now Stalin has to take control.
As he used to say, the state finances were in bad shape. And now it is his responsibility to set it right while fulfilling many of the populist poll promises that were made this time.
After years of maintaining an anti-BJP stance, Stalin has to navigate carefully the centre-state relations as a Chief Minister.
What is now certain is that Stalin may come out of his father’s shadows. And the long wait to become the Chief Minister will soon get over.
Political analysts categorically said that the Congress paid the price for the coalition with the Muslim-based body, All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), in Assam…reports Asian Lite News
The alliance with the AIUDF shattered Congress dream to capture power in Assam, though the grand old party performed better this time as compared to 2016, when it was defeated by the BJP after 15 years, experts and political commentators feel.
Political analysts categorically said that the Congress paid the price for the coalition with the Muslim-based body, All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), in Assam.
Social activist and political commentator Ajoy Kumar Dutta said that the Congress tried to win the hearts of the people in Assam using the sentiments against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, but the Assamese and the indigenous people of the state could not accept the alliance with the AIUDF, led by perfume baron and Lok Sabha member Badruddin Ajmal.
Badruddin Ajmal(Twitter)
Dutta, a Padma Shri awardee said: “Every action has an equal reaction. Once three-time Assam Chief Minister late Tarun Gogoi had said ‘who is Ajmal’, but after his death, his party allied with it. People feared that if the Congress came to power in Assam, it would be controlled by Ajmal’s AIUDF.”
The BJP and few other non-BJP parties had accused the AIUDF and its leadership of patronising “illegal immigrants” and most Assamese people had accepted the logic.
The BJP fought the 2016 Assembly polls with the slogan of “‘jati, mati, bheti’ (identity, land and homestead) and succeeded. This time, the saffron party campaigned for the protection of Assamese civilisation and traditional culture and again it achieved its goal.
Congress.
Except Bengali dominated southern Assam, the Congress-led ‘Mahajot’ (Grand Alliance) performed poorly in most parts of the state, especially in eastern Assam, known as the Assamese heartland.
Of the 15 seats in southern Assam’s Barak Valley comprising three districts — Cachar, Karimganj and Hailakandi — the Mahajot either won or is leading in 11 seats with the BJP and its ally ahead in four seats.
In the 2016 Assembly elections in Barak Valley, the BJP had won eight seats while the Congress had bagged seven seats.
Political commentator Sushanta Talukdar said that considering the AIUDF’s track record and role, the people of Assam could not accept the Congress’ alliance with the party, which is soft towards the “infiltrators and illegal migrants”.
“Most Assamese and indigenous people thought that the AIUDF is more dangerous than the CAA. So despite not support the new citizenship act, they could not accept the Congress’ stand to ally with Ajmal’s party,” Talukdar said.
Nagaon Election District, gearing up for the counting of votes(Twitter)
The results of the elections to the 126-member Assam assembly clearly indicate that the BJP has caused a permanent dent in the erstwhile traditional Congress stronghold among the tribals, lakhs of tea garden workers and the indigenous people.
It is also understandable that the saffron party’s inroad into this Congress bastion in 2016 was not a temporary phenomenon.
During the campaign, the BJP highlighted the “perfect NRC (National Register of Citizens)” while the Congress gave top priority to the CAA, even as both the national parties had common issues of empowerment of women, jobs to the youth and protecting the Assamese traditional culture.
The Congress had promised ‘Five Guarantees’ to the voters in its manifesto, including restarting the process of NRC; repealing the CAA; Rs 365 daily wage to 10 lakh tea garden workers; 5 lakh jobs in five years; Rs 2,000 per month to housewives and 200-unit free electricity per household.
Elected MLAs of INC Assam(TWITTER)
The BJP’s ‘Sankalp Patra’ also promises to control floods in Assam, empower the women under the state’s flagship scheme ‘Orunodoi’, and increase the monthly payment of Rs 830 to Rs 3,000 covering 30 lakh deserving families.
The AIUDF, which won 13 seats in the 2016 Assembly polls, has won five seats this time besides leading in 10 seats, while the Bodoland Peoples Front (BPF), which had bagged 12 seats five years ago, has won one seat this time and is leading in two seats in the Bodoland areas of western Assam.
According to the latest tally of the Election Commission, of the total of 126 seats, the BJP has so far won 27 and is leading on 32 seats, while its ally Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) won six seats and is leading on four seats. The United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL) has won four seats and is leading on two seats.
The Congress has won eight seats and is leading on 23 seats, while its ally CPI-M is leading on one seat.
Raijor Dal (RD) President and jailed leader Akhil Gogoi, who is contesting from the Sibasagar constituency as an Independent candidate, is also leading.
The BJP had won 60 seats in the previous Assembly elections in 2016 while its ally AGP had managed 14 seats. The Congress had secured 26 seats while one seat went to an Independent candidate.
BJP retains Assam and wind Puducherry, MK Stalin set to be Tamil Nadu CM, reports Asian Lite News
The election juggernaut in four states and the Union Territory of Puducherry sprang a few surprises on Sunday. But the clear winners who emerged out of the two-month-long exercise were the chief ministers of Kerala and West Bengal.
If Pinarayi Vijayan scripted history becoming the first CM to win two consecutive terms in the state, Mamata Banerjee proved a giant killer as she upset the BJP’s protracted election campaign which saw Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP chief Nadda and the whole Un ion Cabinet holing 100s of rallies across the state. The BJP were left red-faced after the call, “Ab ki baar 200 par” (This time a win with over 200 seats).
The party’s calculation in Tamil Nadu also came a cropper after the DMK-led front is set the form the government. The win is the beginning of a new political innings for DMK leader MK Stalin, who has been actively campaigning against the ruling AIADMK. However, the victory may not be decisive as the AIADMK-led front has managed to give MK Stalin a tough fight.
However, the saffron party seems set to retain its government in Assam and form an NDA government in Puducherry.
Vijayan the winner
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, off late addressed by many in the social media as ‘Captain’, seems set to justify the title by creating history by leading the Left Democratic Front to its second consecutive victory, a feat which bucks an over 40-year-old trend in the state’s electoral politics.
As the counting of votes reaches the last few rounds across the state’s 140 Assembly constituencies, the LDF is leading in 98 seats, with the Congress-led United Democratic Front leading in 41 and the BJP in one seat — Palakkad where Metroman E. Sreedharan is leading by 1,700 votes, as against over 5,000 at one point.
The Left’s stunning performance can be attributed to no one other than Chief Minister Vijayan who led from the front.
In the 2016 polls, it was party stalwart V.S. Achuthanandan who led from the front and after the Left won, Vijayan stepped in to take the Chief Minister’s post, while Achuthanandan was given the post of ‘Kerala Castro’.
The Congress-led UDF, which had swept the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, will have to do a lot of introspection as they were banking on a backlash against the Left from the Hindu women voters, especially those who are devotees of Lord Ayyappa, over Vijayan altering the traditions of the Sabarimala temple in 2018. After getting knocked out at the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Vijayan decided to wait for the apex court directive and then decide.
Mamata edges past BJP in Bengal
The early trends in the West Bengal assembly polls show that though chief minister Mamata Banerjee is trailing behind BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari in Nandigram, ruling Trinamool Congress is having an edge over the BJP.
The initial trends of 292 seats show that the Trinamool is leading in 189 seats while the BJP is leading in 98 seats and the United Front (Sanjukta Morcha) is leading in rest of the 5 seats.
The 2021 assembly election has been a major test for the ruling Trinamool Congress as the saffron brigade had put in all its might to make its footmark for the first time in West Bengal. But if early trends are taken as an indication, then Mamata Banerjee seems to have an edge over her rival.
The trends available from different sources indicate that Trinamool Congress is leading in 178 of the 292 seats while the BJP is leading in 108 seats. United Front – an alliance of Left Front, Congress and the newly formed Indian Secular Front, is leading in rest of the 6 seats.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee
There was no election in two assembly constituencies as the respective candidates died before the polls. Presently the counting of postal ballots is going on where mainly the government officials on election duty and voters above 80 years of age exercised their franchise.
There is one aspect which can make chief minister Mamata Banerjee happy. As counting of the postal ballots show Trinamool having an edge over the BJP, it is also indicative that the government employees who turned their face away from the ruling party are showing signs of coming back into the Trinamool fold. In the last Lok Sabha elections, on the basis of postal ballots, the BJP was ahead in 41 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats.
Looking at the overall picture, it now appears that the Left is maintaining the same ground as in 2016, when they won 91 seats…reports Asian Lite News.
Present CM of Kerala, Pinarayi Vijayan is ready for a comeback for another 5 years in the state. ith counting of votes in the Kerala Assembly elections picking pace, and reaching the halfway mark in many of the 140 constituencies, the indications are that the Left is set to rewrite the state’s electoral history by becoming the first government to retain power.
According to present indications, the Left Democratic Front is leading in 93 seats while the Congress-led United Democratic Front in 44 and the BJP in three seats.
The Left’s stunning performance can be attributed to no one other than Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan who led from the front.
In the 2016 polls, it was party stalwart V.S. Achuthanandan who led from the front and after the Left won, Vijayan stepped in to take the Chief Minister’s post, while Achuthanandan was given the post of ‘Kerala Castro’.
Vijayan, despite running into numerous troubles in various issues, stood his ground and boldly went forward. His writ ran large when it came to selecting party candidates, with seven ministers and 26 legislators left out.
Meanwhile, of the 48 seats that the UDF is leading in, its second-largest constituent, the IUML is leading in 12.
E sreedharan
Of the NDA, ‘Metroman’ E. Sreedharan is fighting hard and in one particular booth in his constituency Palakkad, he has got all the votes and at the moment, he is leading by around 5000 votes.
Looking at the overall picture, it now appears that the Left is maintaining the same ground as in 2016, when they won 91 seats.
However, its new ally Kerala Congress-Mani’s leader Jose K.Mani, son of late legendary K.M. Mani whose party was in the Congress-led UDF till last year before switching over to the LDF, was trailing badly by over 10,000 votes in Pala, represented by his father for over half a century.
What will be painful for him is a few of the other candidates from his party are leading.
State Power Minister M.M. Mani, who won the 2016 polls with a slender margin of around 1000 votes, is now leading by a huge margin of 20,000 votes and said this result was on the cards “as there has never been a better government in the state than Vijayan’s”.
The pattern right from the start of the counting of votes was the UDF was unable to move above the 60 seat mark and in many of these constituencies, it is leading with a slender margin and if it continues, then there could be more shocks and the Left might well end up with 100 seats or more.
On the other hand, the AIADMK-led alliance is leading in 89 seats, as per Election Commission data…reports Asian Lite News.
As the counting of votes for the single-phase Tamil Nadu Assembly elections is underway with the DMK-led alliance in the lead in a majority of Tamil Nadu’s 234 Assembly constituencies, party cadres have started to assemble at the party headquarters here.
The party cadres are visibly happy as DMK is expected to maintain the lead and finally win the poll to capture power in the state after a gap of 10 years.
According to Election Commission data, the DMK is leading in 117 seats, while of its allies, Congress leads in 13 seats, the CPI, the CPI-M and the VCK in two seats each, taking the tally to 136 seats, as against the halfway mark of 118 seats.
On the other hand, the AIADMK-led alliance is leading in 89 seats, as per Election Commission data.
DMK President M.K. Stalin and his son Udhayanidhi Stalin are comfortably leading in their Kolathur and Chepauk-Thiruvallikeni seats, respectively.
