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Archives for December 2022

Dalits, Muslims at heart of HDK’s ’23 Karnataka polls vote hunt

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HD Kumaraswamy (Photo | Shriram BN, EPS)

BENGALURU:  JDS leader HD Kumaraswamy, who has embarked on the Pancharatna Yatra to better party’s chances in the 2023 Assembly polls, is trying to woo Muslims and Dalits by planning to camp in their localities and dine with them in the Old Mysuru region, where the party has a strong base.

Having CM Ibrahim as state party president will only help him attract Muslim voters. “Why cannot Ibrahim become a chief minister? Is he untouchable,” he had asked, triggering a controversy. But he later clarified, saying his intention was not to hurt the feelings of Dalits and to pacify the Dalit community, he will now stay at Dalit-dominant Dibburu area of Tumakuru on Thursday. “He will have breakfast at the house of JDS SC wing city president DN Bhyresh,” said JDS leader Nagaraj. On Wednesday, he visited the Muslim-dominated Lakkuru at Thyamagondlu in the Nelamangala constituency in Bengaluru Rural.

“Vokkaligas stand by JDS as they have a sense of belonging and hold party patriarch HD Deve Gowda in high esteem. Kumaraswamy is now on a mission to keep the Muslim and Dalit voters with the party. JDS won seven seats, including Nelamangala and Malavalli that are reserved for SCs, in 2018,” said a JDS leader.

As Mallikarjun Kharge, a Dalit stalwart, has been elevated as AICC president, JDS has a task at hand to ensure that its traditional Dalit voters stay with the party, he said. “Kharge cannot personally meet the Dalit community, while Kumaraswamy can interact with them which will have a better impact,” he added.

Voting begins for 1st phase of Gujarat Assembly polls; 89 seats up for grabs, 788 candidates in fray

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AHMEDABAD: Polling began at 8 am on Thursday for the first phase of Gujarat Assembly elections in 89 out of the total 182 seats across 19 districts of Saurashtra-Kutch region and southern parts of the state to decide the fate of 788 candidates.

The voting is being held across 14,382 polling stations, of which 3,311 are in the urban and 11,071 in rural areas, the office of the state Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) said.

Live webcasting is being done from 13,065 polling stations to keep a close eye on the process, it said.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has ruled Gujarat for 27 years, is trying to retain power in the state for the seventh term in a row.

If it succeeds, it will equal the record of the Left Front government which won the West Bengal elections for seven consecutive terms till 2011.

This time, the BJP faces competition not just from its traditional rival Congress but also the new poll entrant Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which has tried to position itself as the main challenger of the ruling party.

The BJP and the Congress are contesting in all 89 seats. The Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP is contesting in 88 seats.

Its candidate from Surat East constituency had withdrawn his candidature, leaving the party with one less seat to contest in the first phase.

Apart from the BJP, Congress and AAP, 36 other political outfits including the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Samajwadi Party (SP), Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) and Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) have also fielded candidates in various seats up for grabs the first phase.

The BSP has fielded 57 candidates, BTP 14 and CPI-M four candidates. As many as 339 independents are also in the fray in the first phase. In the 2017 elections, the BJP won 48 out of these 89 seats, the Congress won 40, while one seat was bagged by an independent candidate.

Of the total 788 candidates in fray, 70 are women including nine fielded by the BJP, six by the Congress and five by the AAP.

Out of the total 4,91,35,400 registered voters in Gujarat, 2,39,76,670 are eligible to cast their votes in the first phase.

There are 5.74 lakh voters in the age group of 18-19 years, and 4,945 above the age of 99 years who are eligible to cast their votes, the state CEO’s office said.

The election body has set up 89 ‘model polling stations’ and as many eco-friendly polling stations. There are 89 stations run by differently-abled and 611 by women.

A total of 34,324 ballot units, an equal number of control units, and 38,749 Voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) machines are being used for the election in the first phase, the release said.

It also said that 2,20,288 trained officers and employees have been deployed for the smooth conduct of the election process.

Besides, 27,978 presiding officers and 78,985 polling officers are also on duty, it said.

The AAP has anchored its campaign around a host of “guarantees” such as free electricity up to 300 units a month, unemployment allowance and government jobs.

The Congress has made a similar pitch while promising a cooking gas cylinder for Rs 400, free electricity and English medium schools, among others.

The BJP seems firm on the ground with its development and Hindutva agenda, the promise of 20 lakh jobs, setting up of an ‘anti-radicalisation’ cell, and implementation of the Uniform Civil Code in the state.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi campaigned extensively for the BJP in the run-up to the election.

The first phase of election will decide the fate of AAP’s chief ministerial candidate Isudan Gadhvi, who is contesting from Khambhalia seat in Devbhumi Dwarka district.

AAP state unit president Gopal Italia is contesting from Katargam in Surat. Rivaba Jadeja, the wife of cricketer Ravindra Jadeja, is another prominent contender from Jamnagar (North).

BJP MLAs Harsh Sanghavi and Purnesh Modi (both contesting from different seats in Surat) as well as five-time legislator Parshottam Solanki (Bhavnagar-Rural) are also contesting in the first phase.

Sitting Congress MLAs like Lalit Kagathara, Lalit Vasoya (both from seats in Rajkot) and Mohammad Javed Pirzada are also in the fray in the first phase from seats in Saurashtra region.

Seven-time MLA and veteran tribal leader Chhotu Vasava is contesting from Jhagadia in Bharuch.

With 54 seats, the Saurashtra-Kutch region is crucial for Congress as it seeks to improve its performance. In the region, the Congress won 30 seats in 2017 compared to 16 in the 2012 election.

The BJP, on the other hand, was reduced to 23 seats in 2017 as against 35 won by it in the previous election.

In south Gujarat, the Congress in 2017 improved its tally to 10 compared to six in the previous polls, while the BJPs tally dropped to 25 in the last election from 28 earlier.

South Gujarat also comprises Surat city with 12 seats which have remained the BJP’s bastion since a long time. Voting for the second phase in 93 seats will be held on December 5. The counting of votes will be taken up on December 8.

Economic growth slows to 6.3 per cent in Q2, RBI spot on

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NEW DELHI: India’s economic growth is in line with the Reserve Bank of India’s projection, government data released on Wednesday showed. However, GDP growth at 6.3% in the three-month period of July-September slowed when compared with the 8.4% growth registered in the same quarter a year ago and 13.5% during April-June 2022. 

A relatively slower GDP expansion notwithstanding, India continues to remain the fastest-growing major economy ahead of China which registered an economic growth of 3.9% in July-September 2022.  
“Real GDP or GDP at constant (2011-12) prices in Q2 2022-23 is estimated at Rs 38.17 lakh crore, as against Rs 35.89 lakh crore in Q2 2021-22, showing a growth of 6.3% as compared to 8.4% in Q2 2021-22,” the National Statistical Office (NSO) said while releasing the data for the second quarter on Wednesday.

The latest GDP growth data is impressive, according to  Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran. He said India is very much on track to achieving 6.8%-7% growth in the current financial year. The country has managed to maintain robust growth momentum despite challenges in the global economy, he added. This, he said, can be gauged from various economic indicators including festival sales, PMI (purchasing managers’ index), bank credit growth and auto sales data.

According to the data released by the CSO, the manufacturing and mining sectors dragged the growth rate, contracting 4.3% and 2.8%, respectively. The data also showed that private consumption eased sequentially (0.5% in the September quarter vs 0.8% in the June quarter) due to high inflation and uneven recovery impacting rural consumption demand. Government consumption momentum continued to contract, though investment in asset creation witnessed robust sequential growth of 5% against 1.0% in the previous quarter due to lagged effects of easier monetary policies and the government’s capex push.

Sensex sizzles
BSE Sensex settled above the 63,000-level for the first time on Wednesday, backed by continuous foreign fund inflows and positive trend in global markets

Factory output slows
The growth rate in the production of eight key sectors slowed down to a 20-month low of 0.1% in October on account of contraction in the output of crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, and cement

Fiscal deficit widens
Fiscal deficit the difference between expenditure and revenue touched Rs 7,58,137 crore during April-October 2022, which is 45.6% of full-year target of Rs 16.61 lakh crore 

Jaipur Diary BJP to hold Yatra before Rahul enters Rajasthan

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KC asks for report on leaders’ conduct
Congress general secretary KC Venugopal has managed to bring together CM Ashok Gehlot and former Deputy CM Sachin Pilot, till Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra is in Rajasthan. Venugopal also asked PCC Chief Govind Singh Dotasara to prepare a report on leaders who have made offensive remarks since his warning in September and share it with him in two days. Since Gehlot and Pilot are among the leaders who have made sharp statements against each other, political circles are abuzz on whether Dotasara will prepare a report including Gehlot-Pilot’s rhetorics and send it to the high command. Besides, several ministers will be under scrutiny

BJP to hold Yatra before Rahul enters Raj
Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra will enter Rajasthan on December 4 but in response, the BJP will hold Jan Aakrosh Yatra from December 1. The Rajasthan BJP will give a message of public anger and solidarity in all 200 assembly seats to protest against the completion of four years of the Gehlot government. This yatra is seen as a big opportunity for BJP state chief Satish Poonia, who heads the camp opposing former chief minister Vasundhara Raje who along with her loyalists is missing from the Sardarshahar bye-election campaigning. The growing distance of Raje from the state BJP is fueling speculations of an intrnal rift.

Gyanvapi mosque row: Allahabad HC to hear AIM plea challenging Varanasi court verdict on Dec 5

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Allahabad High Court (File photo| EPS)

LUCKNOW:  The Allahabad High Court on Wednesday fixed December 5 as the date for further hearing on a civil revision petition filed by Anjuman Intezamia Masajid (AIM), the Gyanvapi mosque management committee, challenging the Varanasi district court order that had allowed the hearing in the suit filed by five Hindu women plaintiffs seeking right to worship Goddess Shringar Gauri and other deities on mosque premises. 

The Varanasi court had ruled that the suit filed by Hindu plaintiffs was maintainable,  and turned down the objections filed by AIM to its maintainability under Order 7 Rule 11 of Civil Procedure Code (CPC) on September 12, 2022. 

The AIM had then filed a civil revision petition in Allahabad High Court. The hearing was resumed on Wednesday, and Justice JJ Munir posted the matter for December 5. Meanwhile, during the hearing of a related petition, the Allahabad HC on Wednesday gave time to the Archaeological Survey of India for filing its response on whether the carbon dating of the purported Shivling found on the mosque premises would damage it or safe evaluation of its age could be done. It fixed January 18, 2023, as the next date for hearing.

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