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EC To Announce Poll Schedule For Five States Today

By LokMarg 9th October 2023

The Election Commission of India is set to announce the schedule for the upcoming Assembly elections of Mizoram, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Telangana on Monday.

The Election Commission will hold a press conference in this regard.

In Madhya Pradesh, the state will elect legislators from 230 Assembly constituencies. In the 2018 elections, Congress won 114 seats with a vote share of 41.5 per cent while the BJP came second and managed to win 109 seats. Its vote share was 41.6 per cent. However, in 2020, the Congress government lost the majority after the resignations of some MLAs belonging to a faction led by Jyotiraditya Scindia, who later joined the BJP. After this, the BJP formed the government in the state and Shivraj Singh Chouhan was reinstated as the Chief Minister.

The Congress party holds the majority in the Rajasthan Assembly, which comprises 200 seats, with Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot leading the state government. The previous assembly elections in the state were held in December 2018, when the Indian National Congress emerged as the single-largest party. Congress managed to win 99 seats, falling short by 1 seat to secure the majority mark. With a vote share of 39.8 per cent, Congress, however, formed the state government after an alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party and the support of independent MLAs. BJP managed to secure 73 seats and its vote share was 39.3 percent.

Telangana is set to witness a triangular contest between the BJP, the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi and the Congress in the upcoming assembly election. In the previous Assembly election held in 2018, BRS managed to win 88 seats out of 119 and had a dominant vote share of 47.4 per cent. Congress came at a distant second with 19 seats. Its vote share was 28.7 per cent.

Congress also managed to win 68 seats out of 90 in Chhattisgarh. The party garnered a vote share of 43.9 per cent. BJP won 15 seats and managed to gather vote share of 33.6 per cent.

In a 40-seat Assembly of Mizoram, Mizo National Front managed to win 26 seats with a vote share of 37.8 per cent. Congress secured 5 seats and BJP won a single seat. Zoramthanga is the current chief minister of the state. (ANI)

Ladakh-Kargil Polls: National Conference-Congress Combine Registers Absolute Majority

By LokMarg 8th October 2023

The alliance of the National Conference and the Congress won the 5th general elections of Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) on Sunday with an absolute majority.

The National Conference emerged victorious as the single largest party winning 12 seats while Congress secured 10 seats in the first-ever polls held since Ladakh was carved out as a Union Territory (UT) in 2019, Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council said.

The results of the 5th general elections of Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) are a boost to the INDIA bloc as this is the first election in Kargil post the formation of the alliance which has been formed to take on the BJP in the Lok Sabha polls scheduled to be held in 2024.

The Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) won 2 seats and INDP won 2 seats, officials said on Sunday.

The fifth Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC)-Kargil election was conducted on October 4.

The National Conference (NC), Congress, and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were in a tight contest.

The administration nominates four members with voting rights to the 30-member Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC)-Kargil.

Congratulating the party on their ongoing lead in the LAHDC election, Congress General Secretary in Charge of Communications Jairam Ramesh on Sunday said that the results coming in the council election are a direct impact of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra outreach in Ladakh in September.

“The national media of course will blank it out, but trends coming in show Congress leading convincingly in the elections to the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council, Kargil with an almost complete wipeout of the BJP. This is a direct impact of Rahul Gandhi

continuing Bharat Jodo Yatra in Ladakh last month,” Ramesh posted on X.

Congress leader KC Venugopal also extended his wishes to the winning candidates in the LAHDC Election adding that these results will mark the beginning of a new democratic dawn in Ladakh and Kargil.

“We have registered a resounding victory in the Ladakh-Kargil Autonomous Hill Council elections after 10 years! Along with our INDIA partner National Conference, we have swept the entire region in its first election after the abrogation of Article 370,” Venugopal posted on X.

“Rahul Gandhi ji’s Bharat Jodo Yatra last month across the region has given the people of Ladakh and Kargil the faith that the Congress and INDIA have a deep concern about the issues they face and the need for their democratic sentiments to be given a voice. Congratulations to all victorious candidates and I am confident this will usher in a new democratic dawn in Ladakh and Kargil,” the Congress leader added.

The counting of votes started for LAHDC elections amid high-security arrangements on Sunday.

This time, 65 per cent of voters turned up in the Kargil district as per the cumulative figure of 3rd round of voting for the 5th LAHDC elections. (ANI)

MCD Polls: 45% Voter Turnout Recorded Till 4 Pm

By LokMarg 4th December 2022

The overall polling percentage for the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), for all 250 wards, stood at 45 percent (approx) till 4 pm, the State Election Commission informed on Sunday.

In what could be termed a lukewarm response to a high-pitched campaign by the AAP and the BJP for the Delhi civic polls, the overall voter turnout on Sunday was only about 30 percent, a marginal improvement from an even poorer turnout of 18 percent till 12 noon and just 9 percent till 10.30 am.
The polling kicked off at 8 am and will end at 5.30 pm.

The incumbent BJP, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), and the Congress and locked in a keen three-cornered contest for the 250 MCD wards this year. The polling process kicked off amid tight security arrangements on a chilly Sunday morning in the national capital.

Seeking to put the AAP on the defensive during the campaign phase, the BJP released several video clips purportedly showing jailed Delhi minister Satyendar Jain receiving privileged treatment behind bars.

While one clip purportedly showed Jain receiving a personalised body massage, another showed the minister purportedly digging into a five-course meal.

While the BJP centered its civic poll campaign around the purported clips, claiming that the Jail minister was receiving privileged treatment behind bars at Tihar jail, the AAP denied the charge saying that Jain was only being administered physiotherapy on medical advice.

Over 1.45 crore people are eligible to cast their votes in the civic polls, the state poll panel had informed earlier, adding that a total of 1,349 candidates, across parties, are in the fray this year.

The state poll panel had further informed that it had set up 13,638 polling stations for civic elections, adding that a sizeable workforce of election functionaries and security agencies had put in a lot of effort in making the necessary poll preparations.

The counting of votes will be done on December 7. (ANI)