oppn parties Results Sans Victory Celebrations

News Snippets

  • Supreme Court questions the continuing relevance of two-child norms. The Court observed that falling fertility rates have weakened the population-control rationale behind laws disqualifying people with more than two children from contesting local body elections. It referred the issue to a larger Bench for consideration
  • Supreme Court declines to shift Tirupati laddu case outside Andhra Pradesh. The Court rejected a plea seeking transfer of the trial, despite arguments that political statements by Andhra Pradesh's Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister could affect the fairness of proceedings
  • Supreme Court transfers Azam Khan's fresh ED bail plea to Allahabad High Court. The apex court declined to consider the Samajwadi Party leader's bail request in a fresh Enforcement Directorate case and directed that it be listed before a division Bench of the High Court on November 16
  • Two killed in Delhi building collapse; contractor booked. Two bodies were recovered after a building collapsed in Chawri Bazaar. Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said the contractor had been booked and the concerned junior and assistant engineers suspended
  • Uttar Pradesh voter rolls show a 2.4-crore discrepancy. A difference of approximately 2.4 crore names has been reported between the state's panchayat and rural Assembly voter lists. The Election Commission has ordered the two sets of rolls to be matched
  • Gujarat announces 3% dearness allowance hike. The state government announced a three-percentage-point increase in dearness allowance for government employees and pensioners ahead of Diwali
  • Sensex and Nifty post their strongest single-day gains in months. The Sensex surged 2,008.61 points, or 2.60%, to close at 79,310.01, while the Nifty 50 climbed 576 points, or 2.40%, to 24,536.60. Financial and automobile stocks led the rally, supported by falling crude prices and renewed foreign investor buying
  • Maaya Rajeshwaran reaches WTA-level quarter-final. The 17-year-old Indian defeated Poland's Weronika Falkowska 6-4, 6-3, becoming the first Indian woman since Sania Mirza in 2012 to reach a quarter-final at a WTA Tour-level singles event
  • Tanvi Patri reaches Youth Olympics badminton final. The 15-year-old defeated Japan's Yuzuno Watanabe in the semi-final, assuring India of a medal and becoming the first Indian badminton player to reach the girls' singles final at the Youth Olympics
  • India beat Pakistan 3-2 in SAFF Championship. India defeated Pakistan in a closely contested match, having led 3-0 before conceding two late goals. The victory was reported as a significant result for India's second-string side
  • India beat Japan 4-1 to win a record sixth Asian Champions Trophy. India recovered from an early deficit to defeat Japan in the final at Mohali, extending its record as the tournament's most successful men's team
  • The Supreme Court issued notice to the Centre and the Election Commission on a petition challenging Section 16 of the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023, which grants the CEC and Election Commissioners protection from legal proceedings for acts performed in their official duties. The petition argues that such blanket immunity could leave citizens without an effective remedy for alleged wrongdoing by the Commission
  • The Supreme Court told voters whose names were deleted from Delhi's draft electoral rolls not to be apprehensive about seeking re-enrolment through Form 6, after the Election Commission assured it that such applicants would not be prosecuted merely because their names had appeared in earlier rolls
  • Congress leader Rahul Gandhi opened the party's campaign for the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections with an Insaaf rally in Sangrur, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's home district, accusing the AAP government of failing to control drugs, gangster violence and corruption. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge outlined six commitments, including a drug-free Punjab, protection of farmers, employment for young people and action against corruption
  • Rahul Gandhi accused the AAP government of running Punjab through a remote control from Delhi and questioned Bhagwant Mann's ability to tackle drug abuse, making personal allegations about the Chief Minister's conduct during their time together in Parliament
Stock markets on fire due to US results, Sensex gains 2008 points to reach its highest level in 8 months
oppn parties
Results Sans Victory Celebrations

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2021-05-01 15:07:05

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack

As the nation readies itself for another day of election-related disruption in the form of declaration of results of the recently concluded polls in four states and one UT amidst a surge in Covid cases, it has to be thankful to the courts that have prodded the Election Commission to ensure that counting day did not result in another surge. Hence we will have all Covid protocols like masking, physical distancing, no overcrowding and proper hand sanitizing at counting centres, along with a complete ban on victory rallies (only two persons are allowed to accompany the winning candidate when he or she goes to collect the MLA certificate).

The results of the exit polls are more or less in line with the final opinion polls that were published just before the first phase of the polls. Hence, the BJP-led alliance is expected to retain Assam comfortably, while the LDF is also expected to retain Kerala comfortably, where the BJP is not expected to make any impression upon the voters. In Tamil Nadu, the AIADMK will make way for the DMK and again, the BJP will bite the dust. However, in Pondicherry, the NDA is expected to come to power for the first time. It is in West Bengal that the pollsters are not agreeing with each other.

While some polls give Bengal to TMC by a wide margin, a few give it to the BJP by a thin margin while one gives it to the saffron party by a wide margin. One or two also predict a hung assembly. A poll of polls shows that the contest is wide open and a hung assembly can be the outcome of eight acrimoniously fought phases that sometimes turned violent. If that happens, the numbers being thrown about suggest that it will be a huge deadlock and the Sanjukta Morcha (Left-Congress-ISF) will not be able to play kingmakers. That would be a tragedy as it will result in MLA trading all over again.

But the votes are locked in the EVMs and the voters have always sprung a surprise on the day the results are declared. Hence, one hopes that they will provide a decisive result in Bengal and let democracy win once again. For the new government will have a huge task at hand in tackling the surge in Covid cases due to the eight phases of polling and the thousands of rallies that saw enormous crowds.