Tag: Assembly elections

Tripura Records 13.69% Voter Turnout Till 9 am: EC

Tripura Records 13.69% Voter Turnout Till 9 am: EC

By LokMarg

Tripura recorded 13.69 per cent voter turnout till 9 am in the ongoing polling for 60 Assembly seats, the Election Commission (EC) informed on Thursday.

Polling started at 7 am and will continue till 4 pm.
According to the latest data shared by the Election Commission, West Tripura saw 14.56 per cent voting till 9 am, while Dhalai logged 13.62 per cent, Gomati 12.99 per cent, Khowai 13.08 per cent, North Tripura 12.79 per cent, Sepahijala 13.61 per cent, Unakoti 13.34 per cent and South Tripura 14.34 per cent.

Chief Minister Manik Shah is the BJP candidate from West Tripura’s Town Borodowali.

The fate of the 259 candidates will be sealed in the ongoing polls for 60 Assembly seats.

The polls this year will see a triangular contest, with the Congress-CPM fighting in alliance and the Trinamool Congress also fielding candidates in several seats. The Tipra Motha, an alliance of regional outfits, is the dark horse in the ongoing election and could emerge as the kingmaker in the event of a hung Assembly.

The BJP has declared candidates for 55 assembly seats, leaving the remaining five seats for its ally, the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT).

The Left-Congress alliance declared candidates for all 60 seats.

According to Election Commission, there are over 28.14 lakh registered voters this year of which 14,15,233 are men, 13,99,289 are women and 62 belong to the third gender.

Polling is underway in a total of 3,337 polling stations.

Adequate security arrangements have been made for the polls, with 97 all-women police stations. As many as 94,815 voters are in the age group of 18-19 years while 6,21,505 belong in 22-29 age group. The highest number of voters is in the 40-59 age group, at 9,81,089.

A total of 259 candidates across parties are fray for the ongoing Assembly polls.

Tripura is the first state to go to the polls this year while polling for Nagaland and Meghalaya assemblies will be held on February 27.

Five more states will go to polls this year, ahead of the Lok Sabha elections in 2024. (ANI)

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When Will India Have 'China Pe Charcha': Kharge

Nothing For Poor But Election Speech: Kharge

By LokMarg

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday said that the Budget 2023 was prepared keeping an eye on the upcoming Assembly elections adding that it has nothing to offer for the poor people of the country.

He further said that the ruling government has failed to control inflation and the budget is not for common people.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget 2023 today in Lok Sabha. This was the third time in a row that the government presented the budget in a paperless form.

Speaking to ANI, the Congress President said that no steps have been taken for jobs, to fill government vacancies and MNREGA.

“The budget was presented by the Modi government keeping in view the upcoming Assembly polls in three-four states. This was an election speech and they had prepared that 15 days ago. There is nothing in the budget for poor people and to control inflation. No steps for jobs, to fill government vacancies and MNREGA,” said Kharge on Union Budget 2023.

Lambasting the BJP at the Centre for not presenting any vision to create jobs, Kharge said that the government failed to fill vacancies at existing government offices.

Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal said that the Budget 2023 does not reflect the real sentiments of the people such as unemployment and price rise.

He further said that the Union Budget is filled with fancy announcements whose implementation is under question.

“This budget is not addressing the real sentiment of the country that is unemployment and price rise. It only had fancy announcements that were made earlier too but what about implementation? Only insurance companies were benefited from PM Kisan Yojana not farmers,” said KC Venugopal.

Highlights of the budget presented by the Union Finance Minister included big incentives under the new income tax regime. The IT rebate limit in the new regime has been increased from

Rs 5 lakh to Rs 7 lakh and the new tax regime will be the default tax regime, the Finance Minister said. Capital expenditure outlay has been increased by 33 per cent to Rs 10 lakh crore, accounting for 3.3 per cent of the GDP.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed the “first budget of Amrit Kaal” and said that it would lay a strong foundation for building a developed India.

The Prime Minister said that the budget gives priority to the deprived and will fulfill the dreams of the aspirational society, the farmers and the middle class.

“The first budget of Amrit Kaal will build a strong foundation for building a developed India. It gives priority to the deprived. This budget will fulfil the dreams of an aspirational society including poor people, middle-class people, and farmers. I congratulate Nirmala Sitharaman and his team for this historic budget,” PM Modi said in a televised address.

Noting that PM Vishvakarma Kaushal Samman will bring a huge change in the lives of ‘Vishvakarmas’, the Prime Minister said that for the first time schemes relating to their support has been incorporated into the budget. (ANI)

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Sukhu Oath CM Himachal

Sukhu Took Oath As The 15th CM Of Himachal

By LokMarg

Congress leader Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu, who climbed the political ladder up from the grassroots level in Himachal Pradesh, took oath as the 15th Chief Minister of the hill state at a ceremony in Shimla on Sunday.

The oath-taking ceremony took place at 1.30 pm on Sunday at Raj Bhavan, Shimla.
A loyalist of the Gandhi family, Sukhu is a four-time MLA (58) and former chief of Congress in the state.

Sukhu is known as an affable and approachable leader who has a vast network in the hill state due to his long years in the organization. He also holds a broad organizational experience in the state owing to his connection with the grand old party for many years.

He was the party’s state unit president from 2013 to 2019 and spoke his mind even if it was not to the liking of the party’s tallest leader Virbhadra Singh, a six-time Chief Minister.

Sukhu has been in favor of promoting and grooming younger Congress leaders in Himachal Pradesh.

With Congress chief ministers over the past four decades coming from Rampur Bushahr, Congress central leadership was apparently keen to expand its choice.

Sukhu will be the first Congress leader from “lower Himachal” to come to the top post.

Sukhu belongs to a middle-class family. He was active in politics from his student days and fought elections as an NSUI candidate. He was president of NSUI and the Indian Youth Congress in the state. He fought and won elections for Shimla Municipal Corporation. Sukhu won the assembly election for the first time in 2003 from Nadaun.

Sukhu was chairman of the Congress Campaign Committee for the assembly elections in which the party focused on local issues and made lucrative promises including an old age pension scheme.

He will be the second chief minister from Hamirpur district after BJP’s Prem Kumar Dhumal.

Congress won the Assembly polls in the state, winning 40 seats. (ANI)

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Manipur Violence Modi Silent

Jairam Ramesh Calls Modi ‘Prachar Mantri’

By LokMarg

As the Indian National Congress (INC) registered a victory in the Himachal Pradesh Assembly election, veteran leader of the party Jairam Ramesh took a dig at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), saying that the party failed to retain the government in the state despite the PM Narendra Modi’s high voltage campaign.

Taking a jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP national President who hails from the hill state, Ramesh said that Congress managed to win the elections even after the PM’s high voltage campaign in the home state of the BJP President JP Nadda.
He also called the PM a “Prachar Mantri”.

“The Himachal Pradesh result is a definite morale booster for the Congress. The PM (Prachar Mantri)’s high voltage campaign in the home state of the BJP President failed significantly. The pledges made to the people of Himachal by the Congress will be fulfilled,” Jairam Ramesh wrote in his tweet on Thursday.

While the BJP bagged 25 seats in Himachal, the Congress party is tipped to win 40 of the 68 Assembly seats, keeping the alternative government tradition.

In Himachal Pradesh, Independent candidates won three seats while the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) failed to open its account in the state. The others in the fray, including Independents, combined to garner a further 10.4 percent vote share in the hill state.

The Congress, which had not projected a chief ministerial candidate for the hill state, has planned to hold a meeting of its victorious MLAs in Chandigarh, amid fears of ‘poaching’ by the BJP.

Jairam Ramesh, while commenting on the result of the Gujarat Assembly election, called it a “disappointing” result and added that only Congress was the “only alternative” in Gujarat.

“The result in Gujarat is disappointing. Congress was up against- a 3 party alliance of BJP, AAP, and MIM -the campaign of provocative polarisation –machinery of state and Centre,” Ramesh said adding that the vote shares for the Congress in Gujarat is for rebuilding and revival for the party.

The BJP today registered a phenomenal victory in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state.

The Congress was seen as putting up a token campaign in Gujarat, where it won 77 seats in 2017.

According to the latest information from the Election Commission, BJP is poised to win 156 seats in the 182-member Gujarat assembly having already won 142 seats and leading on 14 seats. Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has made its entry into the state assembly having won five seats. The party has increased its vote percentage to 12.82 percent in an indication of its growing presence in the state. (ANI)

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BJP Cong In HP

BJP Wins One Seat In HP; Cong Lead 38 Seats

By LokMarg

Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Rakesh Kumar won the Himachal Pradesh assembly election from the Sundernagar constituency on Thursday, the Election Commission of India (ECI) said.

According to the ECI, BJP’s Rakesh Kumar won the seat with a total of 29432 votes. However, Congress Sohan Lal managed to gain 21307 votes while the independent candidate Abhishek Thakur could record 14704 votes by the time the counting of the votes in the constituency ended.
As per the latest trends by the ECI, the BJP is currently leading in 26 seats after registering victory in one of the 68 assembly seats in Himachal Pradesh. However, the competition still seems tough as Congress continues to lead in 38 seats.

Three assembly seats in Himachal Pradesh continue to be led by independent candidates.

BJP’s rebel Hiteshwar Singh who was earlier leading the Himachal assembly election as an independent candidate from Banjar is now trailing as Congress’ Khimi Ram’s total votes so far were counted as 13273, followed by BJP’s Surender Shourie’s 12261 votes.

However, another BJP rebel candidate Hoshyar Singh from Dehra continues to lead the contest with 16390, followed by Congress candidate Dr. Rajesh Sharma at 9381 and Ramesh Chand of BJP at 8198.

Meanwhile, the BJP rebel KL Thakur is also leading in Nalagarh with 21715 votes.

As per the ECI, another Independent candidate from Hamirpur, Ashish Sharma is also leading in the Assembly constituency. “I’m awaiting the final results, and will take any decision (on extending support to another party) after the results are out”, he said.

The Chief Minister of the state, Jai Ram Thakur is currently leading in Seraj’s 37227 votes while the Congress’ Chet Ram votes are still in four digits as he gained 9755 votes so far.

BJP’s Suresh Bharadwaj, who is also fighting the ‘outsider’ tag in Kasumpti is trailing with 15540 votes as Congress’s Anirudh Singh is leading at the seat with 23136 votes.

The counting of votes for Assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh began at 8 am on Thursday.

In Himachal, there are 68 counting halls in 59 locations across the state.

The elections for 68 assembly seats in the state were held on November 12 and around 75.6 percent polling percentage was recorded.

The hill state witnessed an intense campaign with BJP trying to return to power for a second consecutive term and Congress backing on its ’10 guarantees’ that the party listed out in its manifesto to take them home. The emergence of the Aam Aadmi Party as the third major political force in the state has intensified the electoral battle.

Besides these three, parties like the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India (CPI), and Rashtriya Devbhumi Party (RDP) are also in the fray.

Both BJP and Congress have claimed victory in the state which has had a tradition of changing governments for the past several years. If BJP wins then it will beat the anti-incumbency and change the trend of the alternate government in the state.

Notably, in the 2017 Assembly elections, the BJP formed the government by winning 44 seats while Congress secured 21 seats. (ANI)

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Gujarat Poll BJP

Gujarat Poll: BJP Shatters All Records, Leads In 150 Seats

By LokMarg

Bharatiya Janata Party is currently leading on 152 seats in the latest trends as the counting of votes is progressing, thus clearly indicating that the party is simultaneously breaking its own record of 127 seats and also shattering the highest previous electoral record of 147 achieved by the Madhav Singh Solanki Congress government in 1985.

The BJP is leading on 152 seats, according to the latest trends on all the 182 seats by the Election Commission till 11 am.
The BJP, if manages to win 152 seats in the state, will not only thrash its own record of winning the highest ever by the party in the 2002 Assembly elections with 127 seats but also break the record of getting the highest number of seats in the Gujarat Assembly elections in 1985 by the Congress’ Madhav Singh Solanki government which had won 149 seats.

The exit polls had suggested that the BJP will come to power for the seventh time in the state with a thumping majority.

The counting of votes for the Gujarat Assembly elections began on Thursday at 8 am.

The counting in Gujarat began at 37 centres in 33 districts.

Gujarat Chief Electoral Officer P Bharathi said that 182 counting observers, 182 election officers, and 494 assistant election officers are on duty for the counting process. There will be an additional 78 Assistant Election Officers for the counting of votes. In addition, 71 additional Assistant Election Officers have been assigned responsibility for the electronically transmitted postal ballot system in the previous polls

Assembly elections in Gujarat were held in two phases on December 1 and 5 respectively.

The approximate voter turnout in Gujarat by the end of the second phase of the Gujarat elections was recorded at 59.11 percent.

During the first phase of polling on December 1, Gujarat saw an overall turnout of 63.14 percent. While polling for 68 assembly seats in Himachal Pradesh was held on November 12.

Meanwhile, the exit polls have indicated a clear win for the incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Gujarat.

BJP has been in power in Gujarat for 27 years with Prime Minister Narendra Modi remaining in the Chief Minister’s post for the longest time before becoming the Prime Minister. Congress gave a tough fight to the ruling BJP in the last assembly elections in 2017. However, AAP may spoil the game for Congress by taking away a significant vote share in their favour. (ANI)

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Gujarat Poll BJP

Gujarat Poll: BJP Candidate, Who Saved Lives In Morbi Tragedy Leads

By LokMarg

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Kantilal Amrutia, who reportedly saved several lives when a bridge collapsed in Morbi in October, is leading from the seat in the votes count for the Gujarat Assembly polls.

According to the latest data by the Election Commission received till 11.30 am, Amrutia is leading on the seat having secured 37,598 votes. Congress candidate Patel Jayantilal Jerajbhai is trailing on the second spot with 23,328 votes so far while the third spot is held by Aam Aadmi Party’s Pankaj Kantilal Ransariya with 8,147 votes.
The BJP candidate has got 54.19 percent votes so far, according to the EC data.

In the total tally from the Gujarat Assembly poll, BJP, at this time, is leading on 152 seats, Congress on 17, and AAP on 7 seats.

The campaigning in the constituency took place amid the allegations of mismanagement against the BJP in connection with the Morbi tragedy.

The Opposition tried to use the tragic issue to slam the government in a high-decibel campaign, however, the trends suggest that they failed to influence the voters on the issue.

The tragedy was called by the Supreme Court an “enormous tragedy”.

Earlier in November, the locals, while speaking to ANI had said that the Morbi tragedy was unlikely to dent the BJP’s chances in the state elections as they believed that the party was not responsible for the tragedy.

The incident took place weeks ahead of the announcement of the elections in the state, triggering speculations of a political setback for the ruling BJP in the state due to the massive mishap in Morbi.

But people are of the opinion that they have been witnessing development under the BJP for a number of years and one should not judge the performance of the party based on a single tragic incident.

In the Morbi incident, a total of 134 persons, including women and children, died when a British-era cable bridge over the Machchu river collapsed on October 30.

BJP fielded five-time MLA Kantilal Amritiya, popularly known as Kanabhai, who had won the Morbi assembly seat in 1995, 1998, 2002, 2007, and 2012.

Morbi is dominated by Patidars and by naming Kanti Amrutiya as the party’s candidate, BJP’s prospects are unlikely to get upset. (ANI)

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Himachal Trends: Cong Past Halfway Mark; BJP Rebels Lead In 3 Seats

By LokMarg

The vote counting trends of the Election Commission of India show that the Bharatiya Janata Party’s rebels are leading from their respective constituencies in Himachal Pradesh as Independent candidates. However, Congress is leading in 34 seats and BJP in 31.

BJP’s rebel Hiteshwar Singh is leading the Himachal assembly election as an independent candidate from Banjar with 8585 votes. However, Congress’ Khimi Ram gained 8574 votes so far, and BJP’s Surender Shourie is trailing with 7424 votes.

Another BJP rebel candidate contesting as an Independent candidate from Dehra is leading with 10903 votes so far. Besides, Congress candidate Dr. Rajesh Sharma is ahead of BJP’s Ramesh Chand by receiving 5848 votes by 10.55 am.

Meanwhile, the BJP rebel KL Thakur is also leading in Nalagarh with 12378 votes.

The Chief Minister of the state, Jai Ram Thakur is currently leading in Seraj’s 23136 votes while the Congress candidate for this seat, Chet Ram votes are still in four digits as he gained 5524 votes so far.

BJP’s Suresh Bharadwaj, who is also fighting the ‘outsider’ tag in Kasumpti is trailing with 6629 votes as Congress’s Anirudh Singh is leading at the seat with 11143 votes.

Surprisingly, in Theog, Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPIM) Rakesh Singha is leading in Theog constituency with 4340 votes with Congress and BJP candidates trailing behind with 4407 and 2302 votes.

As BJP is looking to establish a footing in the Haroli seat which has been represented by Congress’s Mukesh Agnihotri since 2003, the latter is leading with 10514 votes, and BJP’s Ram Kumar trails with 8610 votes.

According to the ECI, in Shimla, Harish Janartha of Congress is leading with 8071, and BJP’s Sanjay Sood is still trailing with 7172 votes in the recently held assembly elections.

The counting of votes for Assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh began at 8 am on Thursday.

In Himachal, there are 68 counting halls in 59 locations across the state.

The elections for 68 assembly seats in the state were held on November 12 and around 75.6 percent polling percentage was recorded.

The hill state witnessed an intense campaign with BJP trying to return to power for a second consecutive term and Congress backing on its ’10 guarantees’ that the party listed out in its manifesto to take them home. The emergence of the Aam Aadmi Party as the third major political force in the state has intensified the electoral battle.

Besides these three, parties like the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India (CPI), and Rashtriya Devbhumi Party (RDP) are also in the fray.

Both BJP and Congress have claimed victory in the state which has had a tradition of changing governments for the past several years. If BJP wins then it will beat the anti-incumbency and change the trend of the alternate government in the state.

Notably, in the 2017 Assembly elections, the BJP formed the government by winning 44 seats while Congress secured 21 seats. (ANI)

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Modi Inaugurates Meeting At BJP HQ

Modi Inaugurates Two-Day Meeting At BJP HQ

By LokMarg

Prime Minister Narender Modi on Monday inaugurated a two-day high-level meeting with officer bearers at BJP headquarters in the national capital.

The meeting is underway at BJP headquarters. PM Modi, BJP national president JP Nadda, the party’s State presidents, and general secretaries are among those present at the meeting.
Nadda will preside over the two-day meeting of the office bearers.

National General secretaries Dushyant Gautam, Bhupender Yadav, Baijant Panda, Tarun Chugh, and CT Ravi are participating in the meeting. Along with them, UP BJP president BJP president Bhupender Chaudhary, Uttrakhand BJP president Mahendra Bhatt, and other BJP state presidents are present at the meeting.

It is being told that in this meeting, the upcoming strategies of the party will be discussed.

According to the sources, the review of preparations in the states where assembly elections are going to be held next year, and various organizational activities from booth committees will also be discussed.

“In the meeting, a future strategy will be prepared by reviewing the preparations so far, the recent elections, the stay done by the leaders in different states, and the functioning of the state organizations so far, as well as various organizational activities, will be discussed,” the sources said.

Earlier today, the Prime Minister arrived in the national capital after casting his vote in the Assembly elections of Gujarat and was welcomed by the party president.

A senior BJP leader said earlier, “in view of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and 2023 Vidhan Sabha elections, in the two-day meeting, information about the government’s achievements and strengthening the organization will be shared. The functioning of the organization will also be reviewed in the meeting.”

Considering India’s G-20 presidency a major achievement, the party will also outline programmes linked with it to apprise the people about the country’s growing global influence under the leadership of PM Modi, he said further. (ANI)

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58% Polling in Last Phase

MCD Polls: 9% Of Voters’ Turnout Till 10:30 Am

By LokMarg

The cold Delhi winter affects the voting trends in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) elections as only around 9 per cent of voters’ turnout was recorded till 10:30 am on Sunday, as per the State Election Commission.

The voting for civic body polls is underway amid tight security across the national capital.
The voting for 250 wards began at 8 am and will conclude at 5:30 pm.

Over 1.45 crore people are eligible to vote in civic polls in which 1,349 candidates are in the fray, setting the stage for the high-stakes civic polls largely seen as a three-way contest between the BJP, the AAP and the Congress.

Delhi witnessed high-decibel campaigning by AAP and BJP which made top leaders, including

The counting of votes will be done on December 7.

According to data shared by the State Election Commission officials, the total number of voters in Delhi is 1,45,05,358 — 78,93,418 males, 66,10,879 females and 1,061 transgender persons. There are 250 wards in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).

Delhi State Election Commission has set up 13,638 polling stations for the elections.

The State Election Commission said a large workforce of election functionaries and security agencies have put humungous efforts to make necessary preparations for conducting elections at 13,638 polling stations spread across Delhi.

68 Model Polling Stations have been set up with facilities including a waiting area/lounge, distribution of candies/toffees to voters, a selfie booth and Civil Defence Volunteers to help PwD/senior citizens

68 Pink booths have been set up with facilities including all-female staff at the polling station, a feeding room for lactating mothers, a creche facility for small kids accompanying voters, swings for kids, selfie booth.

The Commission said it has made elaborate arrangements for “safe, secure and pleasant” voting experience. These measures are required to keep the electoral field free and to ensure that a level playing field is afforded to all political parties and candidates.

Both the AAP and the BJP have exuded confidence that they will emerge victorious in the polls while the Congress is trying to regain lost turf.

The BJP, which has governed the civic body in Delhi since 2007, is looking to maintain its winning streak while the Aam Aadmi Party, which has a majority in the Assembly, is looking to make inroads in the first municipal election in the capital after the delimitation of wards.

This is the first civic election after the fresh delimitation exercise. There were 272 wards in Delhi and three corporations- NDMC, SDMC, and EDMC in Delhi from 2012-2022 that later reunified into an MCD that had formally come into existence on May 22. (ANI)

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