Heena Sharma Blog

Chief Minister Edapaddi K Palaniswami-led AIADMK government can breathe a sigh of relief as his party won eight seats and leading in one, out of the 22 assembly seats in the by-polls, which could help it survive with a majority on the floor even though Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) won 11 seats and was leading in two seats. This was the trend as of 8.30 a.m. on Friday, according to Election Commission of India. While this is a good news for the ruling faction, the disappointment was the poor performance of the party and its alliance partners including Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Lok Sabha election in the state. It was a clear sweep by DMK-Congress alliance which was leading in Lok Sabha seats. AIADMK won one Lok Sabha seats, while DMK and its alliance bagged the rest. DMK alone won 23 Lok Sabha seats in the state. Tamil Nadu bypolls and Lok Sabha elections in 2019 are closely watched for two reasons. All the main parties – AIADMK, DMK, AMMA and MNM -- went for ele...

Never since Indira Gandhi’s famous 1971 electoral triumph had an incumbent prime minister returned with a majority. Never since 1984 had a party crossed the 300-seat mark. On Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi became the first ever non-Congress prime minister to return to power after a full term, and also the first in 48 years to return with a majority. The BJP, at the time of filing this report, was leading in 303 seats, and in 353 seats along with its allies. The last time a party crossed the 300-seat mark was in 1984, when the Congress won more than 400 seats in the wake of Indira Gandhi’s assassination. The scale and spread of the BJP’s victory are impressive. Apart from winning an unprecedented majority, the BJP vote share in 12 states is more than 50 per cent, including in big states such as Karnataka, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. In Uttar Pradesh and Tripura, the BJP vote share is 49 per cent. The Congress, expected to challenge the BJP at least in ...

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has surged to a majority on his own in India’s general election, with his Bharatiya Janata Party establishing a commanding lead in vote counting. "India wins yet again," Modi said in a tweet. "Together we grow. Together we prosper. Together we will build a strong India." BJP supporters have begun celebrating in the streets as the party extended its lead in more than 299 seats -- easily ahead of the 272 seats needed to form government and more than the 282 the party won in 2014. The opposition Congress party is ahead in 51 seats, official election commission results show as of 2:46 pm local time. Follow our TOPLive blog coverage here. After the initial euphoria over the prospects of a landslide victory, gains in Indian assets are evaporating fast. The Sensex, the benchmark equity index, is close to erasing its climb to a record. The outcome is a validation of Modi’s hardline Hindu nationalism and populist economic policies, ...

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has reaffirmed its status as India’s pole party, beating principal opponent, the Congress, by leaps and bounds as it did in 2014. The party has yielded very little space to regional forces that at one point looked like standing up to some competition against the BJP and even aspiring to form a federal front as a third alternative. Riding high on the charisma, credibility and ideological convictions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, complemented by the unflagging diligence and unerring strategising and planning by the BJP president, Amit Shah who showed remarkable resilience in accommodating allies punching above their weight and a formidable party machinery that was reinforced by the apparatuses spawned by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the BJP comfortably secured a majority of its own, going by available trends and looked like cushioning its own strength with the gains made by its partners. The biggest achievements of the Modi-Shah duo...

Watching the Modi wave sweep most of India in Lok Sabha election on Thursday, social media users were convinced counting day is the real season finale of " Game of Thrones ". As the ruling party, led by current Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is on its way to a landslide victory for a second consecutive time, Twitter users weighed in on the comeback of BJP from a prism of their favourite show, which ended its eight season run last Sunday on a divisive note. One of the social media users borrowed the introductory style of rulers in the show for Modi as the one true leader in Westerosi jargon. "All hail His Grace, Narendra of the House Modi, First of his Name, Ruler of Bharatiyas, Lord of the North, South (partly), East, West and North East, Protector of the Realm, Breaker of Chains, Harbinger of Vikas, Scourge of traitors and Baap of all seculars #ModiAaRahaHai," one tweeted. Drogon may have melted the The Iron Throne to liquid metal in the series finale b...

India began counting hundreds of millions of votes in its general election on Thursday, with a coalition led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party taking an early lead, TV channels and the Election Commission said. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA), led by Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), is expected to surpass the 272 seats needed to command a majority in the Lok Sabha, six of seven exit polls showed on Sunday. The NDA led in 235 seats, with the opposition United Progressive Alliance ahead in 95, at 9 a.m. local time (0330 GMT), about an hour after the counting of about 600 million votes began, TV channel NDTV said. Official data from the Election Commission showed the BJP ahead in 101 seats, with the main opposition Congress Party ahead in 40. There are 542 seats available. Trends are expected to be known by noon and final results are due by Thursday evening. The NDA’s predicted margin of victory is larger than surveys indicated in the run-up to the vote, w...

With only the last phase of polling of the seven scheduled left, a recent report by Ambit Capital suggests that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is likely to win 190-210 seats on a pan-India basis. The report, co-authored by Ritika Mankar Mukherjee and Sumit Shekhar of Ambit Capital, pegs the total seats for Narendra Modi – led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the current form between 220 - 240, with the state of Uttar Pradesh (UP) causing a big dent in the total tally. The electoral alliance between the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), the Samajwadi Party (SP), and the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) is certain to dent BJP’s seat count in UP, Ambit says. “ Our meetings with politicians, small businesses and academicians in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh suggest that the BJP is headed for a big loss in the state. With the Modi wave clearly ebbing and the Samajwadi Party – Bahujan Samaj Party (SP – BSP) alliance having more than 40 - 50 per cent voteshare, the BJP is set to secure only 30-35...

Makkal Needhi Maiyam (MNM) founder Kamal Haasan has stoked a possible controversy, saying free India's first "terrorist was a Hindu," referring to Nathuram Godse who killed Mahatma Gandhi. Addressing an election campaign here last night, the actor-politician said he was one of those "proud Indians" who desires an India with equality and where the "three colours" in the tricolour, an obvious reference to different faiths, "remained intact." "I am not saying this because this is a Muslim-dominated area, but I am saying this before a statue of Gandhi. Free India's first terrorist was a Hindu, his name is Nathuram Godse. There it (terrorism, apparently) starts," he said. Haasan said he had come here "seeking answers for that murder," referring to Gandhi's assassination in 1948. "Good Indians desire for equality and want the three colours in the tricolour to remain intact. I am a good Indian, will pro...

Congress leaders including from former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh claimed that several surgical strikes were conducted by army during the previous UPA rule. “ Multiple surgical strikes took place during our tenure, too. For us, military operations were meant for strategic deterrence and giving a befitting reply to anti-India forces than to be used for vote garnering exercises, Singh had said in an interview to a newspaper. Congress leader Rajiv Shukla had told reporters at an AICC briefing last week that six surgical strikes were conducted during the period of Manmohan Singh government. PM Modi in a rally slammed the Congress for telling "lies" aand said the party does surgical strikes only "in video games". Read More Article Source -> Business Standard

When voting for Phase 3 of Lok Sabha elections 2019 ends on Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government might heave a sigh of relief. The region going to the polls today is the one where, according to data, the Modi government is the least popular and gets the least credit for its 'tough on Pakistan' stance, especially with the Balakot air strike. Voting in all five states of South India — Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana — will have concluded on April 23. Together, these states account for 129 parliamentary constituencies, or close to a fourth (23.75 per cent) of the total. While Uttar Pradesh might be the state that will decide the fate of the Modi government, the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies' (CSDS') National Election Study pre-poll survey, conducted towards the end of March this year, shows that Modi might face the toughest time in winning over voters in South India. Among all regions, South India ha...

As part of the second phase of Lok Sabha elections in the country, polling began on Thursday morning in 38 Parliamentary Constituencies in Tamil Nadu. Sources said the polling process was delayed by at least one hour in a few booths in Tamil Nadu owing to technical glitches in the Electronic Voting Machines. Polling for Parliamentary Constituencies and by-poll for 18 Assembly Constituencies are being held in Tamil Nadu simultaneously. Voting was delayed in various constituencies including Choolaimedu, Guindy, Ashok Nagar, and Virugambakkam among others in Chennai, according to sources. In some booths in Chennai, voters who appeared without booth slips were not allowed to enter, which escalated tension. Polling for the two elections is otherwise going on as normal, with many political leaders, candidates and eminent personalities casting their votes in the morning. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, BJP leader Tamilisai Soundararajan, and former Union Finance ...

Prime Minister Narendra Modi Tuesday slammed Congress president Rahul Gandhi for his "why are all Modis thieves" barb, adding using derogatory language has become synonymous with the " naamdar " (dynast). Addressing a rally here, Modi said it has become a fashion for the "naamdar" to speak in derogatory terms. "Is this the language to speak? We have to throw out such people. Abusive language is the norm. The Sahu community here would have been called Modi in Gujarat. Are they all thieves," Modi said. Targeting the Congress, Modi said naxal influence in the area where BJP MLA Bhima Mandavi was killed by them, had been considerably reduced. "Why did this happen now," he said, referring to the naxal attack which claimed Mandavi's life. Mandavi and four security personnel were killed last Tuesday when their convoy was attacked by naxals in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district. Modi claimed that the Congress was "ha...

Of the candidates contesting the first phase of Lok Sabha elections , 213 (17%) have declared they are facing criminal cases, of which 146 (12%) face serious criminal charges, as per an analysis of candidates’ affidavits by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR). About a third (32%) or 401 of 1,266 candidates whose affidavits were studied have declared assets worth Rs 1 crore or more. Among the major parties, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) are notable for having all (25 from TDP and 17 from TRS) ‘crorepati’ candidates. Nearly half of all candidates have declared they have a graduate degree or above, while 1.5% have declared they are just literate, and 5.2% that they are illiterate. About a third of candidates are aged between 25 and 40 years, while more than half are between 41 and 60 years. The first phase of polling began on April 11, 2019. ADR studied the affidavits of 1,266 of the 1,279 candidates who are contesting during this ...

Some policemen on election duty here were served meals in packets labelled " Namo Foods ", following which officials clarified that those were procured from Namo Food Shop and not from any political party. The food packets, brought in the boot of a hatchback car, were distributed around 9.30 am among personnel deployed in Sector 15A here, the officials said. "Misinformation is being spread that some policemen have been distributed food from a political party. This is absolutely wrong. At local level, some food packets were procured from Namo Food Shop and not from any political party," Senior Superintendent of Police, Gautam Buddh Nagar, Vaibhav Krishna said. "Some people are spreading wrong and politically motivated rumour. There is no official order to procure food from any particular food outlet," he said, and appealed to people not to pay heed to rumours being spread via social media. Read More Article Source -> Business Standard

Two opinion polls in lead up to the Lok Sabha elections 2019 predict that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) -led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will come back to power, while one says the ruling alliance will fall five seats short of the magic number of 272. Three days ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, a survey by Time Now- VMR shows that the NDA will come back to power with 279 seats. It projects 149 seats for the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and 115 for other parties and candidates. The BJP and its allies are expected to win 267 of the 543 parliament seats at stake, the CVoter polling agency said, just five short of the halfway mark required to rule. The latest estimate is down sharply from the alliance’s current tally of 330 seats secured when Modi swept to power in 2014, promising to transform India. “ In the immediate aftermath of the Balakot strikes the percentage of those strongly satisfied with the government rose to a recent all-time high of 52 per cent,”...

India’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party said on Monday it would remove decades-old special rights for the people of Jammu and Kashmir, making an election promise that could provoke a backlash in the country’s volatile only Muslim majority state. “ Nationalism is our inspiration,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at the release of the BJP’s election manifesto at the party headquarters in New Delhi. Modi’s BJP has consistently advocated ending Kashmir’s special constitutional status, which prevents outsiders from buying property in the state, arguing that such laws have hindered its integration with the rest of the country. “ We believe that Article 35A is an obstacle in the development of the state,” the BJP manifesto said, referring to the 1954 amendment to the constitution. Political leaders in Muslim-majority Kashmir, where India is fighting an armed insurgency against its rule, have warned that repealing the law would lead to widespread unrest. Read More ...

In a bid to reach out to voters, especially the young one, the ruling TMC and the opposition BJP in West Bengal have extended their fight to the social media with innovative ideas and catchy jingles. Dedicated teams comprising hundreds of volunteers are slogging away to ensure that the "Jumla metre" and " Pradhan mantri hisab do " campaign of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the "Main Bhi Chowkidar" music video of the BJP reach their target audience. From coming out with web series to catchy online songs to campaigns, both the parties are looking at making optimal use of social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, besides traditional emails and SMS. Attacking the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the TMC has launched a web series "Pradhan Mantri Hisab Do" (Prime Minister, answer this). In this campaign, the party is releasing a short video everyday on twitter and Facebook comparing the "failure...

Did Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi break election rules by addressing the nation on an anti-satellite test recently? Is it right to have a channel dedicated to the leader? Can the country's armed forces be called "Modi's soldiers"? Ahead of a general election that starts next week, the Election Commission of India (ECI) says it is swamped with hundreds of thousands of such questions and complaints of alleged violation of election rules, known as the model code of conduct. Many are coming via ever expanding social media. Opposition parties have accused the ECI of being biased towards the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which they say is giving Modi an unfair advantage in the election. There is even a threat to jail commission officials if Modi is ousted. The BJP denies getting any special treatment from the ECI. The ECI - an autonomous constitutional body tasked with the smooth conduct of the world's biggest democratic exercise with as many ...

PDP president Mehbooba Mufti and National Conference candidate Justice (retd) Hasnain Masoodi Wednesday filed nomination papers from Anantnag Lok Sabha constituency in Jammu and Kashmir. BJP candidate for the south Kashmir seat Sofi Mohammad Yousuf has already filed his nomination papers. Two independent candidates have also filed their nominations since the Election Commission issued notification for the third phase of polls on March 28. "PDP candidate Mehbooba Mufti and NC candidate Justice (retired) Hasnain Masoodi filed their nomination papers in the office of the returning officer for Anantnag Lok Sabha constituency today," an election department official said. Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president Ghulam Ahmad Mir is scheduled to file nomination papers as Congress candidate later in the day. The last date for filing of nominations is April 4, while scrutiny of nominations will be held on April 5. The last date for withdrawal of candidature is April 8....

BSP supremo Mayawati Wednesday termed the Congress manifesto as a "showoff" and an "illusion" and said there was no credibility of the promises made by the party due to its past. Congress and BJP are no different when it comes to non-fulfilment of promises, the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said in a tweet. Congress President Rahul Gandhi Tuesday released his party's manifesto for Lok Sabha polls, making jobs creation, addressing farm distress, bringing a single moderate rate of GST and giving Rs 72,000 per annum to poor families as key focus if the party comes to power. Claiming the BJP was afraid of the SP-BSP-RLD alliance, Mayawati said, "They (BJP) are so afraid that instead of talking of issues, they indulge in unnecessary casteist statements on top leader of (alliance). Read More Article Source -> Business Standard