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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News Network
April 13,2020

Apr 13: The Supreme Court of India has said Indian expatriates stranded abroad cannot be flown back immediately. All petitions before India's apex court which sought directions or orders to 'bring back Indians stranded in various countries abroad' has been deferred for four weeks, according to Indian media reports.

The Chief Justice of India Sharad Arvind Bobde led bench took up matters pertaining to evacuation of Indian citizens stranded abroad amid the Covid19 pandemic.
Supreme Court today deferred for 4 weeks, all the petitions before it which sought directions or orders to 'bring back Indians stranded in various countries abroad'.

A total of seven petitions seeking directions from Court on the immediate evacuation of Indian nationals from UK, US, Iran and Gulf countries were taken up simultaneously.

Bobde said, "Stay where you are. People in other countries cannot be brought back right now"

Foreigners stuck in India granted visa extension

Furthermore, the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has announced a visa extension for all foreigners who are stranded in in India due to ongoing travel restrictions imposed by the government.

Regular visa,e-visa or stay stipulation of such foreigners stranded in India due to travel restrictions by Indian Authorities&whose visas have expired/would be expiring between 01.02&30.04, would be extended till 30 April on gratis basis,after online application by foreigners:MHA

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News Network
July 16,2020

Noida, Jul 16: A key aide of 1993 Mumbai blasts case convict Abu Salem who worked in his illegal property business in NCT of Delhi has been arrested by the Special Task Force (STF) of the Uttar Pradesh police, officials said on Thursday.

Gajendra Singh, who was also close to gangster Khan Mubarak, was nabbed in Mumbai late Wednesday night by the Noida unit of the STF, they said.

"Gajendra Singh had taken Rs 1.80 crore from a Delhi-based businessman in 2014 in a property-related case. When he was pressured to return the money, Singh had Khan Mubarak's shooters open fire at the businessman in sector 18 of Noida," Additional Superintendent of Police, STF, Raj Kumar Mishra said.

The businessman was in his car when the attack took place, and he narrowly escaped, the officials said.

Mishra said Singh had paid the shooters Rs 10 lakh, and the agency has cracked the money trail of the transaction.

"Gajendra Singh also invested Abu Salem and Khan Mubarak's money into properties in Delhi-NCR," the officer added.

Singh was wanted in a couple of cases registered at a police station in Noida where he has been lodged now for further proceedings, the STF said. 

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July 18,2020

Washington, Jul 18: The government of India has agreed to allow US air carriers to resume passenger services in the US-India market starting July 23, the US Transportation Department said on Friday.

The Indian government, citing the coronavirus, had banned all scheduled services, prompting the US Transportation Department in June to accuse India of engaging in "unfair and discriminatory practices" on charter air carriers serving India.

The Transportation Department said it was withdrawing an order it had issued requiring Indian air carriers to apply for authorization prior to conducting charter flights, and said it had approved an Air India application for passenger charter flights between the United States and India.

A group representing major US airlines and the Indian Embassy in Washington did not immediately comment on Friday.

India's Ministry of Civil Aviation said on Twitter it was moving to "further expand our international civil aviation operations" and arrangements from some flights "with US, UAE, France & Germany are being put in place while similar arrangements are also being worked out with several other countries."

"Under this arrangement," it added, "airlines from the concerned countries will be able to operate flights from & to India along with Indian carriers."

The US Transportation Department order was set to take effect next week. The Trump administration said in June it wanted "to restore a level playing field for US airlines" under the US-India Air Transport Agreement. The Indian government had banned all scheduled services and failed to approve US carriers for charter operations, it added.

The US government said in June that Air India had been operating "repatriation" charter flights between India and the United States in both directions since May 7.

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