Heena Sharma Blog

Business tycoons like Ratan Tata, N Chandrasekaran, the Ambani brothers, and Sajjan Jindal were conspicuous by their absence at the polling booths for Assembly elections that recorded 63 per cent turnout on Monday. Their spokespersons said these leaders had unavoidable prior commitments, forcing them to stay out of the city on the important day. The island city alone sends as many as 38 legislators to the 288-member House. Those who did cast their votes included Mahindra group chairman Anand Mahindra, HDFC Chief Executive Keki Mistry, Marico Chairman Harsh Mariwala, and M&M Managing Director Pawan Goenka who also appealed to citizens to cast exercise their domestic right. The polls saw a voter turnout of around 63 percent, almost matching the 63.38 percent polling recorded in the last elections held in 2014. According to official sources, Tata and Chandrasekaran and Jindal were not in town. Jindal, however, took to Twitter to appeal to voters to exercise their rights...

The Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) is split but not fully out because Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, its founder and leader (until recently), stands isolated as the party is back with the Bharatiya Janata Party in Assam after a brief ‘estrangement’ to Mahanta’s surprise and disapproval. He turned to small regional outfits on the political periphery to support him but interestingly, even the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU), of which he was once the spearhead, was indifferent to his appeal. The trigger for Mahanta’s dissent was the AGP’s decision last week to return to the National Democratic Alliance and contest the Lok Sabha polls together after “walking out” of the coalition last January to protest the BJP’s doggedness to pass the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019, in Parliament. Eventually, the Centre put it aside, after the entire north-east rose up in arms because the proposed law would have legalised the citizenship rights of foreigners of every religious denomination liv...

Karnataka election result 2018 will be declared today. Backing the exit polls, the Satta Bazaar is of the opinion that Modi wave is still intact and is betting big on a BJP win. LIVE updates Karnataka Election 2018 : The Karnataka Assembly election 2018 result will be known on Tuesday as counting of votes began at 8 am. According to the procedure, postal ballots are being counted first. According to TV reports, early trends show Congress leading in 75 seats, the BJP in 99, the JD(S) in 41, and others in two seats. "All arrangements have been made for counting of votes in 222 seats from  8am  onwards at 38 centers in 30 districts, including five in Bengaluru where polling was held in 26 of the 28 segments," Chief Electoral Officer Sanjiv Kumar said. A record 72.36 per cent of the 50.7 million (5.07 crore) electorate cast their votes, with 27,908 electors in defence services exercising their franchise through postal ...

Karnataka election result 2018 will be declared soon. Backing the exit polls, the satta bazaar is of the opinion that the Modi wave is still intact and it is betting big on a BJP win. LIVE updates Karnataka Election : The high-stakes battle for the 222-seat Karnataka Assembly ended on Saturday and India will soon know the outcome. The counting of votes is underway, and according to the procedure, postal ballots were counted first. Initial trends are expected to be in by 9 am. "All arrangements have been made for counting of votes in 222 seats from 8 am onwards at 38 centres in 30 districts, including five in Bengaluru where polling was held in 26 of the 28 segments," Chief Electoral Officer Sanjiv Kumar said. A record 72.36 per cent of the 50.7 million electors cast their votes, with 27,908 in defence services exercising their franchise through postal ballots. The Election Commission has deployed 16,662 personnel for counting of votes amid tight security. "Postal...