The party has decided to hold small public meetings of not more than 500 people to be addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and senior central leaders….reports Asian Lite News
Concerned with the rising case of Covid, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday decided not to hold big rallies in poll bound West Bengal.
The party has decided to hold small public meetings of not more than 500 people to be addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and senior central leaders.
In a statement the BJP said that all these small public meetings will be organised in open spaces following all the Covid guidelines.”Assembly polls in West Bengal are going on and the completion of this constitutional and democratic process is also very important.
West Bengal polls (Twitter)
“Keeping this in mind, the BJP Chief J P Nadda, has decided that only in West Bengal small public meetings of all the central leaders including the Prime Minister ANarendra Modi will be held in which not more than 500 persons will be allowed to attend,” the BJP said in a statement.
The BJP said it has decided to stop big rallies in West Bengal as it is much needed to break the chain of Covid infections.
Yesterday former Congress president Rahul Gandhi cancelled his political rallies in West Bengal. After Gandhi’s announcement,the Trinamool Congress announced that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will not be campaigning in Kolkata and she has also decided to hold rallies for not more than 30 minutes in other districts.
Kevadia: Prime Minister Narendra Modi (Photo: IANS)
Of the eight phases of West Bengal Assembly, polling has taken place in five phases and voting for eight and final phase will take place on April 29. Counting of votes for the West Bengal Assembly will take place on May 2.
On Sunday, Nadda held a virtual meeting of the party national office bearers and state unit presidents to discuss the growing cases of Corona in the country.
The BJP Chief asked them to start the campaign of “Apna Booth Corona Mukt” (My Booth Corona Free) and make it a success.
Nadda also directed all state units of the BJP should immediately set up a ‘Corona Helpdesk’ and also start a ‘Corona Helpline’ to help the people in their states.
After the Covid pandemic struck, Achuthanandan has been rarely seen in public domain, with visitors kept at bay…reports Asian Lite News.
Former Kerala Chief Minister and one of India’s tallest Communist leaders, V.S. Achuthanandan, failed to cast his vote on Tuesday for the first time in state Assembly elections.
The 97-year-old, who is a sitting legislator from Malampuzha in Palakkad district, is now staying at his son’s residence in the state capital, while his vote is at his home at the Ambalapuzha Assembly constituency in Alappuzha district.
Following some technical issues, he and his wife were unable to register for postal voting and on Tuesday, his health condition was not suitable for the three-hour journey to his home and hence, he could not cast his vote. However, his son and other family members went and cast their votes at Amabalapuzha.
After the Covid pandemic struck, Achuthanandan has been rarely seen in public domain, with visitors kept at bay.
In the 2016 Assembly polls, he, as the Leader of Opposition, was the one who led the Left’s campaign but after their victory, Pinarayi Vijayan became Chief Minister.
Achuthanandan was given the title of ‘Kerala Castro’ and was made Chairman of the Administrative Reforms Commission – a post which was created for him and came with cabinet status.
A seven-time legislator, Achuthanandan recently resigned from the post, vacated his official residence and started living with his son.
In the poll campaign this time around, he failed to make a single public appearance, nor was his picture seen in any poster, with only Vijayan’s images predominating.
In a political career that began in the 1940s, Achuthanandan first became a legislator in 1967 from Alappuzha district, the then fortress of the Communist movement, but when he was all set to become the Chief Minister in 1996, he suffered the worst-ever jolt in his political career by losing the Assembly elections.
However, it was only after his loss, his stock as a politician rose hugely and he went on to become the biggest crowd puller in Kerala politics.
In 2006, he led the Left to victory and became Chief Minister, but in the 2011 poll, he almost created history by retaining power, but the Oommen Chandy-led UDF scrapped through, with a thin margin of just two seats.
The 16 constituencies in South 24 Parganas recorded the lowest turnout at 65.57 per cent till 3 pm…reports Asian Lite News.
Ongoing mass electoral process in some states of India is about to windup in few hours. Despite Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee complaining of ‘blatant’ misuse of Central forces, as many as 68.04 per cent cent of the voters turned out to exercise their franchise till 3 pm during the third phase of Assembly elections in West Bengal on Tuesday, according to official data received here.
As many as 78,564,74 voters in 31 Assembly constituencies spread across three districts — South 24 Parganas, Hooghly and Howrah — are out to cast their votes during the third phase on Tuesday.
According to Election Commission data, around 68.04 per cent polling was recorded in the first five hours of polling, much on the lines of Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the elections held on March 27 and April 1, respectively.
Hooghly district, where eight constituencies are going to the polls, recorded the highest turnout at 72.6 per cent, followed by Howrah district where 68.37 per cent polling was recorded in seven constituencies.
The 16 constituencies in South 24 Parganas recorded the lowest turnout at 65.57 per cent till 3 pm.
Long queues of voters could be seen at most of the polling stations. So far, voting has been peaceful barring a few instances of allegations and counter allegations between the Trinamool and the BJP.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee complained of blatant misuse of Central forces in the third phase of polling.
“The blatant misuse of Central forces continues unabated. Despite us repeatedly raising this issue, @ECISVEEP continues to be a mute spectator while men in uniform are being misused at several places to openly intimidate TMC voters & influence many to vote in favour of one party,” Banerjee posted on her official Twitter handle.
The blatant misuse of Central forces continues unabated. Despite us repeatedly raising this issue, @ECISVEEP continues to be a mute spectator while men in uniform are being misused at several places to openly intimidate TMC voters & influence many to vote in favour of one party. pic.twitter.com/l6t28mxwBO
There were complaints of violence and voter intimidation both from the Trinamool and BJP camp. While the BJP leaders claimed that the mother of one of their supporters was killed by Trinamool ‘goons’ at Goghat in Hooghly on Monday night, the Trinamool on its part claimed that its candidate from Arambagh, Sujata Mondal, was chased by BJP ‘goons’ at Arandi 1 gram panchayat.
Mondal happens to be the wife of BJP leader Saumitra Khan and had joined the Trinamool recently. The ruling party also alleged that their candidate from Khanakul in Hooghly, Munshi Najbul Karim, was beaten up by BJP supporters. The party is likely to lodge a complaint with the EC on Tuesday afternoon.
Earlier on Tuesday morning, the Election Commission suspended a sector officer after three EVMs and four VVPAT machines were found at Trinamool leader Goutam Ghosh’s residence. According to reports, sector officer Tapan Sarkar, who was in-charge of Sector 17 in the Uluberia seat, had spent the night at a relative’s house who happened to be Goutam Ghosh. The EVMs and VVPAT machines with Sarkar were part of the reserve stock. The commission has said that these EVMs won’t be used for voting on Tuesday.
A three-cornered battle between the Trinamool, the BJP and the COngress-Left combine is on the cards in the 31 Assembly seats where polling is underway on Tuesday.
The total number of voters in these constituencies is 78,564,74, including 4,049 service voters, 39,972,18 male electors and 38,590,13 female voters. There are a total of 10,871 polling stations, including 8,480 main and 2,391 auxiliary booths.
The number of 80 plus voters is 1,26,177 while 64,083 are PWDs (persons with disabilities) voters. A total of 243 voters belong to the third gender, while there are two overseas voters.
In total, 205 candidates, including 13 females, from different political parties are in the fray in the third phase of polling. Prominent candidates among them are BJP leader Swapan Dasgupta, Trinamool minister Ashima Patra and CPI(M) leader Kanti Ganguly.
Marking all the 10,871 booths as ‘sensitive’, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has deployed 618 companies of Central forces for the third phase of polling besides retaining another 89 companies of Central forces from the second phase, which are already stationed in South 24 Parganas, pushing up the number of forces to 707 companies – the highest deployment in the ongoing Assembly elections so far.
The AIADMK government later took over that house to convert it into a memorial after Jayalalithaa’s death in 2016…reports Asian Lite News.
V.S Sasikala alleges that her name was removed from the voters list and it was not informed to her. At a time when eligible voters of Tamil Nadu are casting their vote to elect a new government in the state, V.K.Sasikala, the close aide of late Chief Minister J.Jayalalithaa, could not vote as her name was removed from the electoral rolls, said her counsel Raja Senthoor Pandian.
According to him, Sasikala’s name figured in the Thousand Lights assembly constituency.
She was residing at Jayalalithaa’s residence at Poes Garden here.
The AIADMK government later took over that house to convert it into a memorial after Jayalalithaa’s death in 2016.
Sasikala, who was jailed for four years on corruption charges was released couple of months back.
Though she had said that she would get into active politics, Sasikala later announced that she would stay away from it.
Her counsel said officials in the poll body had informed him that Sasikala’s name was struck off from the electoral rolls in January 2019 after the rolls were revised.
Later the deadline for inclusion of Sasikala’s name in the voters list got over.
He also wondered why the Election Commission had not sent her a notice at Parapana Agrahara Prison in Bengaluru.
Jerusalem, Sept. 13, 2020 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gives a briefing on COVID-19 pandemic in Israel at his office in Jerusalem, on Sept. 13, 2020. Israel will reimpose a nationwide lockdown for three weeks, beginning on Friday, to slow a rapid resurgence of coronavirus infections, the government decided on Sunday. (Yoav Dudkevitch/JINI via Xinhua/IANS)
Netanyahu urged Naftali Bennett, leader of the far-right pro-settler Yamina party, and Gideon Sa’ar, leader of the right-wing New Hope party, to help him put together a coalition…reports Asian Lite News
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called on his right-wing rivals to join forces to form a right-wing government coalition under his leadership.
In his first remarks since the March 23 inconclusive elections, Netanyahu on Wednesday urged Naftali Bennett, leader of the far-right pro-settler Yamina party, and Gideon Sa’ar, leader of the right-wing New Hope party, to help him put together a coalition, reports Xinhua news agency.
“It is time to put our differences behind us,” he said in a televised statement.
According to Netanyahu, together with allied parties and Yamina and New Hope, he could form a coalition of 65 members and gain a firm majority in the 120-member Parliament.
Naftali Bennett(Twitter)
“Let’s form a stable right-wing government that would last for years,” the long-time leader said.
Sa’ar however, has rejected Netanyahu’s call.
The New Hope’s main campaign promise was to replace Netanyahu.
On Wednesday night, Sa’ar repeated his promise and said he will not join a government with Netanyahu as Prime Minister.
Earlier on Wednesday, President Reuven Rivlin called for “unusual collaboration” in forming a new government to solve the country’s lingering political stalemate.
The elections on March 23, Israel’s fourth in two years, ended once again with no clear winner.
Sources said there has been a lack of coordination between the state’s Congress unit president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and state in-charge Jitin Prasad…reports Asian Lite News
In the first phase of the Assembly polls in West Bengal, no high-profile leader of the Congress came for campaigning even as the party is contesting the elections in the state in alliance with the Left.
Sources said there has been a lack of coordination between the state’s Congress unit president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and state in-charge Jitin Prasada, as Chowdhury has been taking decisions regarding the elections and leaders from Delhi drafted for the state are not being kept in loop.
Prasada has hence returned from Bengal and close aides say that he is miffed with the way Chowdhury is managing the election-related affairs.
The Congress is contesting on 92 seats in the state that went to the polls in the first phase on March 27 (Saturday).
Jitin Prasada and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury jointly were to spearhead the campaign in the state.
Prasada, when asked about the campaign programme of top party leaders including Rahul Gandhi and his sister Priyanka, said “once the programme is finalised, we will inform the media”, while other leaders insisted: “Ask Adhir”.
The Congress is contesting on 92 seats in the state(Twitter)
According to sources, leaders who are in the star campaigner list are also not excited to go for campaigning as there is no positive feedback from the state.
The ruling Trinamool Congress in the state, and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are in direct contest while the Left is trying to win back its rural support, and the Congress is trying to retain its last tally of 44 in 2016 elections.
The first sign of cracks emerged during the ticket distribution which was delayed and after many hiccups it was finalised, but not before differences surfaced within the party.
Another concern for the Congress is that till elections in Kerala gets over, it cannot go full-throttle in West Bengal as it’s difficult for the party to praise the Left in Bengal and criticise in Kerala.
In Kerala, former party president Rahul Gandhi has been attacking the Left.
The Congress in its manifesto has assured NYAY promised a monthly support of Rs 5,700 to 20 per cent of the most economically backward families.
The Congress is contesting on 92 seats in the state(Twitter)
The manifesto also promised Rs 5,000 a month as interim relief to families of migrant workers till they get employment.
The Congress’ vote share had declined to 4 per cent in the 2019 General Elections, but it still remains an important factor in some districts such as Puralia, Malda and Murshidabad.
The polling in West Bengal will be held in eight phases till April 29 and the counting of votes will be done on May 2.
Issrael moves towards a political deadlock amid Netanyahu’s bloc lacks majority…reports Asian Lite News
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may struggle to secure enough seats in Parliament to stay in power, incomplete results of Tuesday’s election suggested, even as he claimed victory in the country’s fourth elections in two years.
His announcement came within two hours of exit polls on Israel’s main three TV channels which indicated no immediate winner in the unprecedented elections amid a prolonged political deadlock.
“A huge victory to the right-wing and the Likud (party) under my leadership,” Netanyahu wrote on Twitter on Tuesday night, Xinhua news agency reported.
He said his right-wing Likud party is “by far” the largest party in Israel, after the polls suggested it won about 31 seats.
With about 90 per cent of votes counted, his right-wing bloc is course to win 59 seats – two short of the threshold, the BBC reported.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
In a surprise development, an Arab party which is projected to win five seats could hold the balance of power.
The final outcome will among other things determine the course of Israel’s relations with the Palestinians.
The Arab party, Raam, has not declared whether it will support the efforts of Netanyahu – an unnatural ally – to form a government or those of the bloc opposed to him remaining in office.
Those parties have garnered 56 seats, according to the latest tally, and although backing from Raam could give them a sufficient number to form a government, they are fragmented and unlikely to be able to agree to work together.
If neither grouping can form a majority coalition, the country could face its fifth general election since April 2019.
Israel’s electoral system, a form of proportional representation, makes it almost impossible for a single party to win an election outright.
Ballot papers in Nesher(Wikipedia)
Based on the latest results, to stay in office, Netanyahu would need to secure the support of both Raam and a small right-wing nationalist party, Yamina.
Like Raam, Yamina’s leader, Naftali Bennett, has not announced which side he will throw his weight behind.
“I will do only what is good for the State of Israel,” he said after the voting ended on Tuesday night.
He added that he had told Netanyahu that Yamina would await the final results before deciding on its next steps.
“A huge victory to the right-wing and the Likud (party) under my leadership,”said Netanyahu…reports Asian Lite News
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed victory in the country’s fourth elections in two years.
The announcement came fewer than two hours after exit polls on Israel’s main three TV channels indicated no immediate winner in the unprecedented elections amid a prolonged political deadlock.
“A huge victory to the right-wing and the Likud (party) under my leadership,” Netanyahu wrote on Twitter on Tuesday night, Xinhua news agency reported.
He said his right-wing Likud party is “by far” the largest party in Israel, after the polls suggested it won about 31 seats.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara cast their ballots(Twitter)
“It is obvious that a clear majority of the citizens of Israel are right-wing and they want a stable and strong right-wing government that will take care of Israel’s economy and security,” Netanyahu added.
In a bid to form a government coalition, Netanyahu talked over the phone with leaders of three right-wing parties that already vowed to join a coalition under his leadership. Exit polls projected that they have won some 53-54 seats together.
Naftali Bennet, leader of the pro-settler Yamina party, said he also held a talk over the phone with Netanyahu.
Polls projected Yamina won about seven seats. If Bennet, a former close ally of Netanyahu, will decide to join the longtime leader’s coalition, they could form a coalition of 61 seats in the 120-seat parliament.
One seat was won by P.C. George whose party does not belong to any political front…reports Asian Lite News.
At the end of the last date of withdrawal of nominations, Kerala now has a total of 957 candidates whose fate will be decided by 2,74,46,039 electorate on April 6 when the 140-member Assembly goes to the polls.
In Kerala, while the fight is between the traditional rival fronts — the present ruling CPI-M led Left Democratic Front and the Congress-led United Democratic Front, also in the running is the BJP -led National Democratic Alliance.
In the outgoing Assembly, the Left in 2016 had won 91 seats and secured 43.48 per cent while the UDF had 47 seats with 38.81 per cent votes while the BJP had just one seat and secured 14.96 per cent votes.
One seat was won by P.C. George whose party does not belong to any political front.
While the Left led by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, is trying to create electoral history by becoming the first sitting government to retain office, the Congress-led UDF is trying to wrest power and the BJP’s priority is to retain the lone seat that they won last time, though they claim that they would better their performance this time.
Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan
While Vijayan expects the results of the local body polls, held in December 2020, will repeat itself when it managed to retain the edge that they had in the 2015 local body polls, the UDF is expecting a repeat of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls when it won 19 out of the 20 seats.
The manifesto also promised to make Assam self sufficient in production of essential produce, “Assam Aahar Atmanirbharta Yojana” would be launched which would drive the state towards self sufficiency in essential food items within the next five years…reports Asian Lite News.
Only few more days are left for Assam Assembly elections. Ahead of polls, BJP President J.P. Nadda on Tuesday released the party’s manifesto focusing chronic flood management, protection and development of the Assamese culture, empowerment of youths and women, correction of the NRC and check infiltrations.
Announcing the ruling the BJP’s “Sankalp Patra”, Nadda said that there are 10 main focal issues in the manifesto to be implemented with letter and spirit after the party coming to power for the second time in Assam.
Accompanied by other central and state leaders including Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, Nadda lauding the efforts of NDA government, said that the party has been working tirelessly for the past five years for the inclusive development of Assam under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, supported by Home Minister Amit Shah and the vision implemented at the grassroots level by Chief Minister, other ministers and leaders.
Explaining the 10 commitments in the manifesto, the BJP President said that under the “Mission Brahmaputra”, new scientific approaches would be undertaken to stop floods in Assam and save the livelihood of people.
“Dredging would be done from Dhubri to Sadiya and build reservoirs to store excess water from Brahmaputra and its tributaries.”
He said that to empower the women under the state’s biggest flagship scheme “Orunodoi”, the monthly payments of Rs 830 would be increased to Rs 3,000 covering 30 lakh deserving families.
The BJP also promised to strengthen and protect ‘Namghars’ and ‘Satras’ (traditional Vaishnavite monasteries of Assam) and grants upto Rs 2.5 lakh to be provided to these traditional institutes.
“Namghars”, literally meaning prayer house, introduced by Srimanta Sankardeva, are places for congregational worship associated with the entire Assamese community and the Ekasarana sect of Hinduism, in particular, which is native to Assam.
While addressing the media, the BJP President said that to boost the future of Assam’s Children, free and quality education with trained teachers eould be provided every child under the ‘Mission Bala Unnayan’ in state government-run institutions.
Free bicycles would be given to all school students from Class VIII standard onwards.
Nadda said that under the 10 main commitments of the BJP, a process of correction and reconciliation of entries into the National Register of Citizens (NRC) under the Supreme Court mandate, would be initiated in a structured manner to protect genuine Indian citizens and exclude all illegal immigrants.
The apex court monitored the NRC published lists on August 31, 2019, excluding the 19.06 lakh people.
A total of 3,11,21,004 names were included in the NRC lists out of 3,30,27,661 applicants.
A majority of those left out from the list are believed to be Bengali Muslims and Hindus besides Gorkhas.
He announced that to safeguard Assam’s political rights, delimitation exercises would be undertaken to protect the political rights of the people.
The manifesto also promised to make Assam self sufficient in production of essential produce, “Assam Aahar Atmanirbharta Yojana” would be launched which would drive the state towards self sufficiency in essential food items within the next five years.
BJP workers .
“To make Assam ;India’s Fastest Job Creator’, two lakh government jobs would be provided to the youth of Assam every year and would also facilitate and enable the provision of eight lakh livelihoods in the private sector,” Nadda said.
He said that to promote the entrepreneurship, the BJP has promised to enable youths to shine and now the new pledge is to further empower them to dream big, scale newer heights and give them the push to become stakeholders in building an “Aatmanirbhar Bharat”.
“To empower Assam’s citizens with land rights, ‘Pattas’ would be given to all landless Indian citizens of the state in a phased manner,” he added.
In the last five years, the BJP government has claimed that it has given ‘Pattas’ to more than three lakh people.
Union Agriculture and Food Processing Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, who is the BJP’s Assam central observer, state BJP President Ranjeet Kumar Dass, Finance and Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma among other leaders were present in the manifesto release ceremony held at a hotel in Guwahati.
Elections for the 126-seat Assam Assembly would take place in three phases — March 27, April 1 and April 6.
