2019 LS polls: Most NOTA votes in SC & ST reserved seats, Naxal-hit areas

States that saw a direct bi-polar contest between the two main national parties saw a higher NOTA vote-share as compared to states where there was a third alternative.

Lok Sabha constituencies reserved for the scheduled castes (SC) and scheduled tribes (ST), and constituencies in areas affected by left-wing extremism saw a higher percentage of voters choosing “none of the above” or NOTA in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, while states that saw a multi-party contest saw a lower share of votes cast for NOTA, our analysis of polling data has revealed.

Nationwide, NOTA recorded 6.5 million votes--more than the population of Ahmedabad, or 1.06% of all votes polled in the 2019 general election. This was lower than 1.08% (6 million) polled in 2014. Bihar saw the highest vote-share (2%) for NOTA this year, followed by Andhra Pradesh (1.49%), Chhattisgarh (1.44%) and Gujarat (1.38%).

The option to choose “none of the above” was put in place by the Supreme Court in its 2013 judgement following a writ petition by the People’s Union for Civil Liberties, a human rights body. NOTA was envisaged to help voters express dissent while still maintaining the secrecy of their ballot to help achieve greater participation in the exercise of democracy.

“When the political parties realise that a large number of people are expressing their disapproval with the candidates being put up by them, gradually there will be a systemic change and the political parties will be forced to accept the will of the people and field candidates who are known for their integrity,” the then Chief Justice P Sathasivam wrote in the judgement.

On October 29, 2013, the Election Commission of India announced that even if the NOTA votes were higher than any other candidate in a constituency, the candidate with the most votes will be declared the winner.

“This provision made the NOTA option almost redundant,” Jagdeep Chhokar, founding trustee of the Association for Democratic Reforms, wrote in this December 2018 comment in The Hindu. “...the provision clarified that a NOTA vote would not have any impact on the election result, which is what interests candidates, political parties, and voters. Soon after this, candidates began campaigning against NOTA, telling voters that choosing the option meant wasting a vote.”

Business Standard

Elections 2019: Caste, unauthorised colonies key issues in North-East Delhi

The constituency has the highest concentration of Poorvanchalis, Muslims and migrants from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, who play a decisive role during elections.

Business Standard : Caste equations and unauthorised colonies are in focus in the North-East Delhi parliamentary constituency from where political heavyweights - three-time chief minister Sheila Dikshit, BJP's Manoj Tiwari and AAP's Dilip Pandey -will try their luck in the May 12 polls.

The constituency has the highest concentration of Poorvanchalis, Muslims and migrants from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, who play a decisive role during elections.

Keep Reading : Election 2019

The Congress is confident that its vote bank, be it Muslims, Dalits and low income groups, who had shifted to the AAP in the 2015 Assembly polls, will return to its fold after seeing the Kejriwal party's "failure" in fulfilling its pre-poll promises.

The party has fielded Dikshit, who ruled Delhi for 15 years till 2013, against BJP's incumbent MP and party's Delhi unit president Tiwari and Aam Aadmi Party's Dilip Pandey who is making debut in this election.

Pandey is also former AAP's Delhi unit convenor.The constituency has around 23 per cent Muslims, concentrated largely in Mustafabad, Seelampur and Ghonda assembly segments.

There are about 1.43 crore voters in the national capital which send seven members to Parliament. The city goes to polls on May 12.

According to the chief electoral office, there are around 22.89 lakh voters in the North-East Lok Sabha constituency, and of these,nearly 12.52 lakh are male voters while there are over 10.37 lakh female voters.

In the constituency, there are also some sections of people who appreciate the AAP government's works in education and health sectors in the national capital.

Development in unauthorised colonies, bad roads and poor quality of water are also some poll issues on which basis people want to vote.

Sunil Tyagi, a resident of Burari, said roads are in a bad state.

"The supply of contaminated water is a regular affair. One cannot drink tap water.Roads in Burari area are not in a good condition. Dust here is the main source of bad air quality," Tyagi said.

There are nearly 270 unauthorised colonies and more than 46 slum clusters across 10 assembly constituencies falling in North-East Delhi.

Check on black money in polls futile if identity of donors is not known: SC

When the bank issues the electoral bond, does it have details on which bond was issued to 'X' and which bond was issued to 'Y'?, asks Supreme Court Bench.

Business Standard : If the identity of the purchasers of electoral bonds meant for transparent political funding is not known, then the efforts of the government to curtail black money in elections would be ‘futile’, the Supreme Court said Thursday.

The Supreme Court made the remark as Attorney General (AG) K K Venugopal, appearing for the central government argued before it that the voters do not need to know the source of funding as political parties also have a right to privacy. The source of the funding should not be in question as long as it was legitimate, Venugopal said.

The apex court was hearing a petition moved by non-government organisation Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) challenging the validity of electoral bonds and its usage for political funding in the ongoing general election. The Bench, comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna, reserved its verdict on the plea for Friday.

Defending electoral bonds, Venugopal told the Bench that the launch of the instrument was a policy decision for which no government could be faulted.

The Bench asked Venugopal as to whether banks know the identity of purchasers at the time of issuing electoral bonds. He answered in affirmative and then said banks issue bonds after ascertaining KYC which is applicable for opening the bank accounts.

“When the bank issues the electoral bond, does the bank have details on which bond was issued to ‘X’ and which bond was issued to ‘Y’?” the Bench said.

On getting the response in negative, the Bench said, "If the identity of purchasers of bonds is not known then there will be greater ramification on the Income Tax law and all your (government's) efforts to curtail black money will be futile".

During the hearing on Wednesday, the central government and the Election Commission of India (EC) had taken opposing stands. The government had defended the scheme and said that electoral bonds could be used to curb black money. The EC had said that while it was not opposed to the use of the bonds as an instrument, it did not want the donations via them to remain anonymous.

Appearing for ADR, senior advocate Prashant Bhushan had on Wednesday told the court that it should either stay the use of the bonds or ensure that there is transparency by asking either the bank issuing them or the political party receiving the donations.

Congress played a major role in Independence, gave many leaders: Bhagwat

Bhagwat says India's diversity must be respected, celebrated and it should not be a reason for any discord in society.

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) does not seek domination and is indifferent to who comes to power, the Hindutva organisation’s chief Mohan Bhagwat said Monday, as he launched an unprecedented outreach in a bid to allay apprehensions about its ideology.

In his nearly 80-minute speech on the first day of the three-day conclave, Bhagwat also asserted that RSS is “most democratic” and not dictatorial, insisting that it neither imposes its ideology nor remote-controls its various affiliates, apparently rejecting criticism that the BJP is controlled by it. Almost all major Opposition parties gave the conclave “Bhavishya Ka Bharat — An RSS Perspective” a miss though the RSS had invited them, even as many BJP leaders, Union ministers, Bollywood actors, artists and academicians attended it.

ALSO READ: Mohan Bhagwat's speech didn't attract any non-BJP politician of note

Bhagwat also said India's diversity must be respected, celebrated and it should not be a reason for any discord in society as he extensively talked about evolution of the nearly nine-decade old RSS and its vision for an inclusive India.

Bhagwat insisted that "Hindutva binds us together and our vision of Hindutva is not to oppose or demean anyone".

The mega outreach programme comes at a time when the Congress-led opposition has been ramping up attacks on the RSS, accusing it of promoting divisive ideology and attacking minorities.

Talking about various ideologies that worked during the freedom movement, the 68-year-old RSS leader acknowledged the role of the Congress, which has been among the organisation's biggest critics.

"In the form of Congress, a big freedom movement had started in the country which gave many great personalities," he said. "Who will be in power, what policy the country will accept is something to be decided by the society and people. There are mechanisms in place for that... We are not concerned about that, what we are concerned about is the conduct of the society," he said adding that RSS does not believe in publicising an individual's work and wants to remain faceless.

The comments assume significance as it is believed that the RSS had a key role in the victory of Modi-led BJP in 2014 and is widely expected to play an important role in the next year's Lok Sabha polls as well....Read More

Article Source BS

BJP needs 'Vajpayee's touch' with allies to win 2019 polls: Naresh Gujral

He was speaking at the launch of book "Newsman: Tracking India in the Modi Era" written by veteran journalist Rajdeep Sardesai.

The present BJP government needs a "Vajpayee touch" to come up with a winning pre-election coalition in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Naresh Gujral said on Thursday.

Gujral, who is a Rajya Sabha member from Punjab, was speaking at the launch of book "Newsman: Tracking India in the Modi Era" written by veteran journalist Rajdeep Sardesai.

"The success of the NDA will depend on the kind of a pre-election coalition that they are able to stich up. If they are able to carry their existing partners and some more. It is important that the BJP treat their allies with kid gloves. This is where a Vajpayee touch is required."

"I am sure the Shiv Sena will stay with them, provided they do not demand more seats from them. I am sure Nitish Kumar would want his number of seats, and I am sure we will refuse if they ask us (SAD) even one more seat," he said.

Though the topic of discussion was 'Who will win 2019 elections?' Gujral, while recounting the NDA's 2014 comprehensive win in the general elections, said it was the last-moment coalition with Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu that made the BJP touch the 282 mark.

"Last time, at the last moment, we were able to bring in N Chandrababu Naidu and he was a force multiplier. Personally, I think the BJP would not have been able to touch the 282 mark had Naidu not joined the coalition," the SAD leader said.

Naidu's Telugu Desam Party (TDP) had on March 16 ended its four-year-long alliance with the BJP and walked out of the NDA over the Centre's refusal to grant special category status to Andhra Pradesh.

The debate, which had panellists from different parties including Rajasthan Congress President Sachin Pilot, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi and BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia, among others, saw many expressing their opinions on the question of Prime Minister Narendra Modi versus who in the 2019 general elections.

While Owaisi argued that "regional parties" will counter the Modi juggernaut in 2019 and not Congress's Rahul Gandhi, according to Pilot, the upcoming elections would be about issues and not individuals.

"BJP will try its utmost best to have a contest between Modi and Rahul , and if that happens then Modi is on a very stronger wicket. Once the regional parties come forward... and they are coming forward, Modi will definitely lose," Owaisi said.

However, arguing that this time issues will surmount the personality-centric elections -- the one that the country saw in 2014 -- Pilot said today more important question is not who is going to win the election but who is losing this election, and that is the "NDA and the BJP".

Article Source BS