Jharkhand results to determine fate of Raghubar Das, BJP in state

News Network
December 23, 2019

Ranchi, Dec 23: The counting of votes for 81 Jharkhand assembly seats began at 8am on Monday in all the 24 district headquarters amid tight security.

The state went to polls for 81 assembly seats in five phases from November 30 to December 20.

The Jharkhand assembly election results 2019 will be announced today to determine the fate of the Raghubar Das-led Bharatiya Janata Party government in the state.

BJP, JMM, Congress, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), All Jharkhand Students' Union (AJSU) and Jharkhand Vikas Morcha - Prajatantrik (JVM-P) are the main political parties in the fray. The primary fight is between the BJP and the Congress- Jharkhand Mukti Morcha alliance.

Raghubar Das took oath as chief minister in 2014 after the BJP won 37 seats and stitched an alliance with AJSU, which had won 5 seats. However, AJSU broke ties with BJP and is contesting the current elections solo.

Under the leadership of JMM chief Hemant Soren, Congress and RJD have come together to oust BJP from power. While the JMM has fielded candidates in 43 seats, the Congress and the RJD are fighting for 31 and seven seats, respectively.

The ruling party has fielded its candidates in 79 out of the 81 seats. BJP has not fielded any candidate against All Jharkhand Students' Union's (AJSU's) Sudesh Mahto and is supporting a candidate in the remaining one constituency.

Raghubar Das is contesting the polls from Jamshedpur East against his ex-cabinet colleague Saryu Rai (who is fighting as an independent) and Congress candidate Gourav Vallabh.

Former chief minister Hemant Soren is contesting from two seats — Dumka and Barhet. BJP has pitted women and child development minister Louis Marandi in Dumka against Soren.

Among other big leaders are AJSU president Sudesh Mahto, who lost the 2014 Assembly polls and is trying his luck again from Silli seat and former chief minister and JVM-P chief Babulal Marandi who is fighting from Dhanwar Assembly seat.

In Lok Sabha elections held earlier this year, BJP bagged 11 seats out of 14 in the state.

The exits polls have indicated a marginal advantage to the JMM-led alliance and have pointed towards a hung assembly.

According to the ABP/C-Voter exit poll, JMM, Congress and RJD will retain 35 seats. It has, however, given 32 seats to the ruling BJP, 5 to AJSU and three to the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) and six to others.

India Today-Axis My India shows that the BJP is going to trail behind the Congress. It has given JMM-led opposition between 38 and 50 seats and the BJP between 22 and 32 seats. It has predicted 3 to 5 seats for the AJSU, 2 to 4 seats for the JVM-P, and 4 to 7 seats to others.

In case of a hung assembly, AJSU and Jharkhand Vikas Morcha -Prajatantrik could be calling the shots.

According to the Election Commission of India, the approximate voter turnout for all the 81 assembly constituencies across the five phases was 65.17 per cent as compared to the 66.53 per cent recorded in the 2014 elections.

The tenure of the current assembly ends on January 5, 2020. This is the fourth assembly election in Jharkhand since the state was carved out of Bihar in 2000.

In 2014, the BJP, which won 37 seats, formed the government along with AJSU, which had won 5 seats.

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Agencies
July 24,2020

Lucknow, Jul 24: The Congress in Uttar Pradesh on Friday protested against what it dubbed as deliberate and systematic deletions of chapters dealing in freedom struggle and the party's role in it from the syllabi of Classes 10 and 12 of the Secondary Education Board.

Congress leader Anugrah Narain Singh said: "The deletions effected in Class 12 syllabus clearly has political overtones. Chapters dealing with the freedom movement and the Congress role in it have been cut out. The BJP has no role of its own in the country's history and, therefore, wants that the new generations should not learn about the Congress contribution as well."

A Congress delegation submitted a memorandum to UP Eduction Board Secretary Divya Kant Shukla to demand restoration of the deleted chapters and topics.

BJP MP Rita Bahuguna Joshi accused the opposition Congress of "turning every occasion into a political opportunity during the pandemic".

"The Congress is unnecessarily making an issue out of this. Only some portions have been deleted from the syllabi due to shortening of the academic session due to the nationwide lockdown. People already know about the Congress and the cut in the syllabi is only temporary. The Congress is unnecessarily trying to create a political controversy," she said.

Prof Yogeshwar Tiwari of the History Department in the Allahabad University dubbed the changes made in the syllabi as "unfortunate". "The history is not of the Congress alone -- it is the history of the nation and every student must know about it," he said.

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Agencies
June 26,2020

New Delhi, Jun 26: The Road Transport and Highways Ministry has issued a notification to enable citizens with mild to medium colour blindness to obtain a driving licence.

An official release said that the Ministry has been taking measures to enable divyangjan citizens to avail transport-related services, especially driving licence.

It said the ministry received representations that the colour blind citizens are not able to get a driving licence due to requirements in the declaration about physical fitness (Form I) or the medical certificate (Form IA).

The release said that the issue was taken up with expert medical institution and advice sought.

The recommendations received were that mild to medium colour blind citizens be allowed to drive and restrictions should only be on the severe colour blind citizens.

"This is also allowed in other parts of the world," the release said.

The notification seeks to amend Form 1 and Form 1A pertaining to Central Motor Vehicles Rules 1989.

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Agencies
June 21,2020

New Delhi, June 21: Diesel prices rise to record high after 60 paise hike in rates, petrol up 35 paise; rates up by Rs 8.88 and Rs 7.97 in 15 days.

Petrol price in Delhi was hiked to Rs 79.23 per litre from Rs 78.88, while diesel rates were increased to Rs 78.27 a litre from Rs 77.67, according to a price notification of state oil marketing companies. 

In Bengaluru, petrol will be costlier by 37 paise at Rs 81.81 per litre, while diesel will cost 57 paise more per litre at Rs 74.43.

Rates have been increased across the country and vary from state to state depending on the incidence of local sales tax or VAT.

The 15th daily increase in rates since oil companies on June 7 restarted revising prices in line with costs after ending an 82-day hiatus in rate revision, has taken diesel prices to a new high. The petrol price too is at a two-year high.

Over 63 per cent of the retail selling price of diesel is taxes. Out of the total tax incidence of Rs 49.43 per litre, Rs 31.83 is by way of central excise and Rs 17.60 is VAT. 

Petrol in Mumbai costs Rs 86.04 per litre and diesel is priced at Rs 76.69.

Prior to the current rally, the peak diesel rates had touched was on October 16, 2018 when prices had climbed to Rs 75.69 per litre in Delhi. The highest-ever petrol price was on October 4, 2018 when rates soared to Rs 84 a litre in Delhi.

When rates had peaked in October 2018, the government had cut excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 1.50 per litre each. State-owned oil companies were asked to absorb another Re 1 a litre to help cut retail rates by Rs 2.50 a litre.

Oil companies had quickly recouped the Re 1 and the government in July 2019 raised excise duty by Rs 2 a litre.

The government on March 14 hiked excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 3 per litre each and then again on May 5 by a record Rs 10 per litre in case of petrol and Rs 13 on diesel. The two hikes gave the government Rs 2 lakh crore in additional tax revenues.

Oil PSUs Indian Oil Corp (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL), instead of passing on the excise duty hikes to customers, adjusted them against the fall in the retail rates that was warranted because of a decline in international oil prices to two-decade lows.

International oil prices have since rebounded and oil firms are now adjusting retail rates in line with them.

In 15 days of hike, petrol price has gone up by Rs 7.97 per litre and diesel by Rs 8.88 a litre.

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