BJP savours exit poll projections, Cong, JD(U) dismiss it

May 13, 2014
New Delhi, May 13: Exit polls projections that the NDA would form the next governmment were savoured by BJP but dismissed by Congress and JD(U) which said parties should await the poll results on Friday, citing how such an exercise in 2004 and 2009 went wrong.cong_bjp

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah also dismissed the projections as a "great time pass" while Samajwadi Party leader Naresh Agarwal claimed they are "manipulated". Agarwal further claimed that Narendra Modi will never become the prime minister.

The BJP-led NDA is projected to form the government at the Centre with exit polls last night giving between 249 and 290 seats to the Modi-led grouping, which is close to the half-way mark in the 543-member Lok Sabha. Counting of votes will be taken up on Friday.

An upbeat BJP claimed it will do better than what the exit polls have predicted, stressing that the NDA will cross the 300-seat mark.

BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said NDA will surpass its average tally of 270-275 given to it as the coalition will sweep Seemandhra in alliance with TDP and do better in other places.

Senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley took a jibe at Congress, saying if the ruling party was finding it difficult to accept reality now they should accept defeat on May 16.

Congress while dismissing the exit poll projections of a dismal performance by it, said a sample survey of a few lakh people cannot predict Lok Sabha election results.

"In a country of 800 million voters how can few lakh sample size surveys predict the result? Let's wait for 16th May (when votes will be counted)," Congress leader Digvijay Singh tweeted.

Party General Secretary Shakeel Ahmed said the exit polls were proved wrong in the 2004 and 2009 elections and the party would wait for the actual results.

Downplaying the exit poll predictions, Union Minister Kamal Nath also recalled that in 2004 and 2009 they were far off the mark and failed to foresee the swing in favour of Congress, and said it would be better to wait for the actual outcome.

"The only exit poll that matters is the one that is slated for Friday, the rest are all great time pass," Omar said on Twitter.

Omar also questioned the credibility of the opinion polls in view of the vast difference between two surveys in the number of Lok Sabha seats expected to be won by parties in a particular state.

Citing the example of Rajasthan, the Chief Minister wrote: "So one channel gives Cong only two (seats) in Rajasthan & another gives them 14. Did these channels cover the same election?"

With exit polls showing a poor performance by JD(U) in Bihar, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar dismissed the projections and said the results should be waited for.

"Yah to aap log bol rahe hai (you are saying this)," Kumar told reporters in Patna in reply to repeated questions on exit poll projections in Bihar

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Agencies
July 13,2020

Jaipur, July 13: Amid deepening political crisis in Rajasthan, a crucial meeting of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) will be held at the chief minister's residence here on Monday.  

The Congress has issued a whip to all party legislators mandating their presence during the meeting which will be convened at 10.30 am by Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.

Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot has made it clear that he is not going to attend the meeting.

In a statement issued on Sunday night, Pilot had claimed that the Ashok Gehlot government was in minority and more than 30 Congress and some independent legislators have pledged support to him.  

By doing so, he has openly displayed rebellion against the leadership of Gehlot.

However, All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Avinash Pande has said that 109 MLAs have expressed confidence in the Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government in the state and have signed a letter in support.

Pande said a whip had been issued asking all the MLAs to attend the CLP meeting and that action will be taken against those who skip it.

In the 200-member Rajasthan Assembly, the Congress has 107 MLAs and the BJP 72.

The Congress has the support of 10 out of 13 independents, and other party MLAs like Rashtriya Lok Dal (1), which is its ally. The Congress also considers Bhartiya Tribal Party (2) and CPI(M) (2) MLAs as their supporters.

BJP ally Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) has three MLAs in the assembly.

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News Network
May 3,2020

New Delhi, May 3: Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan on Sunday said that India's COVID-19 mortality rate of 3.2 per cent is the lowest in the world and over 10,000 coronavirus patients have been discharged from hospitals after recovering from the disease so far.

"Today more than 10,000 COVID-19 patients have been discharged. Those still admitted at hospitals are on the road to recovery. If in last 14 days doubling rate was 10.5 days, then today it is around 12 days," the Minister told ANI after visiting Lady Hardinge Hospital.

"Our mortality rate of 3.2 per cent is the lowest in the world," he said.

With 2,644 more COVID-19 cases and 83 deaths in the last 24 hours, the number of people infected from coronavirus in the country has reached 39,980 including 1,301 deaths, said the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Sunday.

Currently, there are 28,046 active cases while 10,633 COVID-19 positive patients have been cured/discharged.

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News Network
May 8,2020

New Delhi, May 8: India's count of COVID-19 cases on Friday rose to 56,342 including 1,886 deaths, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

Currently, there are 37,916 active cases while 16,539 COVID-19 positive patients have been cured/discharged and one has migrated.

Maharashtra has the highest number of cases with 18,120 followed by Gujarat with 7,013 cases and Delhi with 5,980 cases.

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