Rekha Gupta was sworn in as Delhi’s Chief Minister at a grand ceremony at Ramlila Maidan on Thursday, marking the BJP’s return to power in the national capital after 27 years. The event was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, and BJP Chief Ministers from various states.
Gupta becomes Delhi’s fourth woman Chief Minister after Sheila Dikshit, Sushma Swaraj, and Atishi. Her cabinet is expected to include six ministers, with key figures such as Parvesh Singh Verma, Ravinder Indraj Singh, Ashish Sood, Manjinder Singh Sirsa, Kapil Mishra, and Pankaj Kumar Singh taking the oath alongside her.
Parvesh Singh Verma made headlines by defeating former Delhi CM and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal by over 3,000 votes in the recent elections.
Following her swearing-in, Gupta’s cabinet is expected to convene its first meeting at the Delhi Secretariat around 3 PM. Key policy implementations, including the Mahila Samriddhi Yojana, which provides women beneficiaries with Rs 2,500 per month, and the rollout of the Ayushman Bharat health insurance scheme, are expected to be on the agenda.
Hyderabad-based businessman Sarath Chandra Reddy, the man whose revelations led to the arrest of BRS MLC K. Kavitha and Delhi CM Aravind Kejriwal over the past week, also paid Rs 55 crore to the Bharatiya Janata Party through electoral bonds, the data released on March 21 reflected.
Sarath Chandra Reddy won licences for five liquor retail zones under the excise policy that was implemented in Delhi from November 2021 to July 2022. He was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on November 11, 2022 and four days later, Aurobindo Pharma, in which he is a director, paid Rs 5 crore to the BJP through electoral bonds, reports said.
After his bail in May 2023, Reddy turned approver and his firm paid another Rs 25 crore to the BJP through bonds on November 8, 2023. Also, two other companies connected to Aurobindo Pharma — Eugia Pharma Specialities Ltd and APL Healthcare Ltd are wholly-owned subsidiaries of Aurobindo Pharma — donated Rs 25 crore to the BJP.
The Enforcement Directorate has alleged that the “South Group”, which includes Reddy and others from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, gave Rs 100 crore to AAP leaders, which it said was used by the party in 2022 Goa Assembly elections. ED further said that the loss to the Delhi government under this excise policy amounts to Rs 2,873 crore in revenues.
In Andhra Pradesh, Aurobindo Pharma donated to the Telugu Desam Party and In Telangana to BRS, according to the data available on Electoral Bonds.
The Election Commission of India announced on Saturday that Andhra Pradesh will hold simultaneous elections for the state Assembly and Lok Sabha in a single phase on May 13, involving over four crore eligible voters across 175 Assembly and 25 Lok Sabha seats.
According to the election schedule, notification for the polls will be issued on April 18, with the deadline for nominations set for April 25. Scrutiny of nominations will take place on April 26, while the last date for withdrawal of candidature is April 29. Vote counting is scheduled for June 4.
Of the 175 Assembly constituencies, 29 are reserved for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and 7 for Scheduled Tribes (STs). Additionally, four Lok Sabha constituencies are reserved for SCs and one for STs.
Chief Electoral Officer Mukesh Kumar Meena stated that the poll schedule was crafted considering various factors such as climatic conditions, academic calendar, board examinations, major festivals, law and order situation, availability of security forces, and ground realities.
The state requires 1,14,950 civil police personnel, 58 companies of Special Armed Police (SAP), and 465 companies of Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) for the election process.
Chief Electoral Officer M.K. Meena of Andhra Pradesh
As of March 16, 2024, Andhra Pradesh has 4,09,37,352 voters, including 2,00,84,276 males, 2,08,49,730 females, and 3,346 third gender individuals. The state boasts 46,165 polling stations, with 34,120 in rural areas and 12,045 in urban areas, averaging 887 electors per polling station.
The Election Commission plans to set up 179 polling stations managed entirely by women, 63 stations run by persons with disabilities, and 50 stations operated by youth. Additionally, 555 model polling stations will be established.
To assist voters, Voter Information Slips containing details like polling station, date, and time will be issued without photographs but with a QR code. These slips will be distributed to all enrolled electors at least five days before polling day.
Regarding Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), a total of 1,43,037 Ballot Units, 1,15,410 Control Units, and 1,37,190 Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines will be used, with 3,82,219 personnel deployed for polling duties.
The Commission plans to deploy 50 general observers, 115 expenditure observers, and 13 police observers to oversee the electoral process.
CEO Meena disclosed that authorities had seized cash, liquor, drugs, precious metals, and other items worth over Rs 164 crore until March 11, with inter-state check posts established along borders to curb malpractices.
Lok Sabha elections will be held in Tamil Nadu in a single phase on April 19. All 39 seats in Tamil Nadu and one seat in Puducherry will vote in a single phase on April 19 and the counting of votes will be held on June 4.
Ahead of the April 19 Lok Sabha polls, Tamil Nadu’s ruling DMK appears to be confident after implementing several welfare measures including the Rs 1,000 per month assistance to women.
Led by Chief Minister M K Stalin, the DMK and its other key constituent of the INDIA alliance, the Congress are approaching the polls in good humour with full confidence to win at least 35 out of 39 seats of the Lok Sabha in Tamil Nadu, and Congress retain its lead in Puducherry’s single seat.
Since the major regional rival AIADMK, shadowed by infighting, walked out of the BJP alliance, it’s likely to split the NDA-vote seen in the 2019 elections. The BJP is, however, hopeful of reversing the fortune under an aggressive K Annamalai who is the state BJP head.
Since the Congress’ alliance with DMK and other Left parties under INDIA bloc is going strong in the state, the results may upset all other rival candidates in the state.
The electoral bonds data published by the Election Commission of India on its official website reveals the donor side and the political parties but not connect who received from whom. However, initial data interpretation showed that political parties received more than Rs 12,769 crore as donations from corporates and individuals since 2019.
A total of 20,421 electoral bonds were encashed since 2019 and of these, 12,207 bonds were of Rs 1 crore each; 5,366 bonds (Rs 10 lakh each); 2,526 (Rs 1 lakh each); 219 bonds (Rs 10,000 each); and 103 were of Rs 1,000 each.
The BJP received a maximum Rs 6,060 crore as donations and encashed 5,854 bonds of Rs 1 crore each and 1,994 bonds of Rs 10 lakh each. Apart from bonds of Rs 1 lakh and Rs 10,000, it also encashed 31 bonds worth Rs 1000 each.
The next recipient was Trinamool Congress which redeemed 3,275 electoral bonds of about Rs 1,609 crore of which 1,467 were of Rs 1 crore each and 1,384 bonds were of Rs 10 lakh each.
The Congress came third with 3,141 encashed electoral bonds of about Rs 1,421 crore, which included 1,318 bonds of Rs 1 crore each and 958 bonds of Rs 10 lakh each.
In all, there were 1,260 companies and individuals who purchased electoral bonds worth ₹12,769 crore. Ms SN Mohanty is the biggest individual donor on the list with total donations of ₹45 crore, followed by Lakshmi Niwas Mittal who donated ₹35 crore.
Former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan joined the Bharat Jodo Yatra of Rahul Gandhi in Rajasthan on Wednesday as many celebrities have joined the 3,500-km long Yatra in the course of last 98 days. But Rajan was singled out first time when BJP’s IT Cell chief Amit Malviya said the former RBI governor “fancies” himself as the next Manmohan Singh.
Raghuram Rajan was the 23rd Governor of the RBI and served his term between 2013 and 2016. He joined Congress leader Rahul Gandhi during the Yatra on Wednesday, December 14. He was shown having a discussion with Rahul Gandhi while marching as the Congress’ yatra resumed from Bhadoti of Sawai Madhopur in Rajasthan this morning.
Soon after Congress tweeted about his participation stating, “BharatJodoYatra Shri Raghuram Rajan, former Governor of RBI, shaking steps with @RahulGandhi ji… The increasing number of people standing up to unite the country against hatred shows that we will be successful,” the debate on social media kicked off as he was known for his opposition to Demonetisation and other economic policies of the country.
Otherwise, several personalities ranging from joined the Bharat Jodo Yatra from activist Medha Patkar to actor Swara Bhaskar but did not evoke reaction the way Rajan’s participation did.
“Just that his commentary on India’s economy should be discarded with disdain. It is coloured and opportunistic,” Malviya tweeted. He was soon joined by BJP national general secretary CT Ravi who said Raghuram Rajan joined Rahul Gandhi’s yatra to “repay his debt” to the “dynasty” that had made him the RBI governor. “Raghu Ram Rajan was glorified as a great economist by the Liberals. But he turns out to be just another jewel in the court of the Fake Gandhis,” CT Ravi tweeted.
Rajan, with Lionel Barber (left) and Lloyd Blankfein (right), at the FT and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award ceremony in 2010.
As an internationally renowned economist, Rajan was averse to the risks of both unnecessary government intervention as well as unregulated financial markets. He advocated more freedom for financial markets in the economy. In his book, Saving Capitalism from the Capitalists: Unleashing the Power of Financial Markets to Create Wealth and Spread Opportunity, he argued that deregulated financial markets facilitate access of the poor to finance and he was known for making the first move as RBI Governor who provided microfinance institutions become minibanks in the country for a greater financial inclusion.
He hols the view that “healthy and competitive financial markets are an extraordinarily effective tool in spreading opportunity and fighting poverty. ”
Known for his research work on banking and at IMF, Rajan early this year said even sanctions work as strongly as weapons of mass destruction. “When fully unleashed, sanctions, too, are weapons of mass destruction. They may not topple buildings or collapse bridges, but they destroy firms, financial institutions, livelihoods, and even lives. Like military WMDs, they inflict pain indiscriminately, striking both the culpable and the innocent,” he wrote in his article titled “Economic Weapons of Mass Destruction“, Project Syndicate.
Otherwie, the yatra will enter its 100th day on December 16 and move to Haryana next. The yatra started from Kanniyakumari on September 7 and has so far covered Tamil Nadu, Kerala, AP, Karnataka, Telangana, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. It will conclude in Jammu and Kashmir in early February 2023.
Hyderabad, Sep 14 (IANS) A CBI court here on Wednesday sentenced former Member of Parliament from Andhra Pradesh, Kothapalli Geetha, her husband P. Ramakoteshwara Rao and two bank officials to five years imprisonment in a bank fraud case.
Geetha, a former member of Lok Sabha from Araku, and others were arrested and shifted to Chanchalguda Central Jail.
Sentencing them for cheating the Punjab National Bank to the tune of Rs 42.9 crore, the court also imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh each on Geetha and her husband.
The former MP was charged with cheating the bank by submitting false documents to obtain loan for Visweswara Infrastructure Pvt Ltd (VIPL).
Arrested
Ramakoteshwara Rao is Managing Director of the company. The company also diverted the loan for purposes other than it was sanctioned for.
The CBI had filed the charge sheet against them in 2015.
The others convicted and sentenced are B.K. Jayaprakasam, then branch manager of Mid Corporate Branch of PNB, and K.K. Aravindakshan, then general manager, PNB head office.
Geetha was elected to Lok Sabha from Araku in 2014 on the ticket of YSR Congress Party (YSRCP). In 2018, she floated political party Jana Jagruti.
She later joined the BJP and merged her party with it.
The Election Commission has extended the hours of poll in the Karnataka elections citing the sub-section (2) of section 15 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.
The polling time earlier mentioned under Section 56 of the said Act notified hours of poll to begin from 7.00 am and to complete by 5.00 pm as the hours of poll during which the poll shall be taken in all the assembly constituencies of the state.
Keeping in view the changed prospects for BJP and Congress owing to the emergence of a third player JD(S), the political parties with cadre strength will benefit from the extension of one hour in the evening.
Under the new notification, elections to Karnataka Legislative assembly will be held on May 12 from 7.00 A.M. in the morning to 6.00 P.M. in the evening.
"The Commission considers that in view of the extreme heat in the State of Karnataka at present and also due to the introduction of VVPAT, it is necessary to extend the hours of poll to facilitate all the voters to cast their votes even in the late hours," said a statement issued by EC.
Going beyond administrative reasons, the extension of one hour of polling time usually benefits the major parties which have huge number of cadre members who engage in electioneering and facilitating the polling for their party till 5 PM. After the poll, most of them have either no time or forget to vote.
Since the poll is on Saturday, usually a weekend holiday, it should not make much difference for the ordinary voter. It remains to be seen whether this step helps BJP or Congress.
Following news reports from Dubai about the United Arab Emirates government seizing the properties of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim worth Rs.15,000 crore, BJP has gone to the street basking on its new accomplishment.
In a tweet, the Bharatiya Janata Party said the credit goes to PM Narendra Modi’s "major diplomatic success". It has also claimed that a dossier provided by the Indian government played the trick to narrow down the properties in UAE which allegedly belong to Dawood Ibrahim.
"Major diplomatic success of PM Modi: One of India’s most wanted criminals, Dawood Ibrahim’s properties worth Rs. 15,000 crore seized in UAE," the BJP tweeted on its official social media site.
The Mumbai don who was the most wanted criminal in India for his alleged Mumbai riots in 1993 in which 257 people were killed, is believed to be entering his 60 years of age and hiding in Pakistan’s Karachi.
Already termed a terrorist by the UN, he is accused by India and the US of financing al Qaeda and Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist groups. Last year, the UN sanctions committee made changes to its entry on Dawood making it easier to impose sanctions such as blocking wealth and accounts, ban on travel and arms on the person.
