Devanagari News

How freelancers are changing the jobs market

The rise of freelance working is transforming the global job market.

Beyond Meat valued at nearly $1.5bn ahead of flotation

The US plant-based meat-maker, which is yet to make a profit, increases its share price ahead of its listing.

Chase criticised for 'mocking' customers' spending habits

US politicians join in the criticism of Chase, highlighting pay disparity and its bailout in 2008.

Ocado warehouse fire in Andover started by battery fault

At the height of the blaze, more than 300 firefighters worked to tackled the flames.

JLR to build new Land Rover Defender in Slovakia

Jaguar Land Rover will build its next-generation Land Rover Defender in Slovakia rather than the UK.

4 Ways to Use Google Tag Manager With Facebook

Wondering how to easily install Facebook features on your website without editing the code? In this article, you’ll discover easy ways to install the Facebook pixel, the Facebook Messenger customer chat plugin, alerts for Facebook comments, and Facebook standard events with Google Tag Manager. Install Google Tag Manager on Your Website Google Tag Manager is […]

The post 4 Ways to Use Google Tag Manager With Facebook appeared first on Social Media Marketing | Social Media Examiner.

source https://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/4-ways-to-use-google-tag-manager-with-facebook/

Vodafone found Huawei security flaws in Italy in 2009

Vulnerabilities in Italy could have given the Chinese firm access to people's home networks.

Four Seasons Health Care facing administration

Four Seasons Health Care is expected to appoint administrators after struggling with its debts.

TalkTalk service at bottom of Ofcom poll for third year running

It's the third year in a row that the broadband provider has come bottom of Ofcom's customer survey.

Trump sues Deutsche Bank and Capital One over Democrat subpoenas

The lawsuit aims to stop Deutsche Bank and Capital One from handing over his records to Congress.

KPMG fined £6m over ‘improper’ audit

The accountancy giant has been "severely reprimanded" for the way it audited an insurance company.

Trump introduces sweeping changes to asylum in memo - Devanagari News

(CNN)President Donald Trump on Monday evening announced a plan for sweeping immigration changes that take direct aim at migrants seeking asylum.

The memo for the attorney general and homeland security secretary outlines a series of measures to address the situation along the border. They include: adjudicating asylum applications within 180 days of filing; requiring a fee for asylum applications and work permit applications; and barring migrants who have entered or attempted to enter the US illegally from receiving work authorization before any relief or protection is granted.

The memo says the attorney general and homeland security secretary are to take action within 90 days. The Department of Justice oversees the nation's immigration courts.

Trump has repeatedly railed against the nation's immigration system, accusing migrants of taking advantage of what he's deemed legal loopholes. DHS has previously reported a 2,000% increase in migrants claiming credible fear, the first step in the asylum process, over the last five years.

The measures outlined in the memo would likely make it harder to apply for asylum by slapping a fee on applications and keeping some from working legally in the US "before any applicable application for relief or protection from removal has been granted." It also notes that work authorization is to be stripped from migrants who are denied asylum or subject to a final order of removal.

"The purpose of this memorandum is to strengthen asylum procedures to safeguard our system against rampant abuse of our asylum process," it reads.

In the memo, the President also cites his national emergency declaration, which allowed him to circumvent Congress and unlock money to build his signature border wall. "That emergency continues to grow increasingly severe," it reads.

Border apprehensions have continued to increase. It's not only the uptick in illegal border crossings that's raised issues for the Department of Homeland Security, however; it's also the shift in population -- from single men to families and children predominantly from Northern Triangle countries.

In March, there were more than 92,000 arrests of undocumented migrants for illegal entry on the southern border, up from 37,390 in March 2018 -- the majority of whom were families, according to data from Customs and Border Protection.

Source :

The Prime Minister made false propaganda: Deuba - Devanagari News

Devanagari News - 4/30/2019

The main opposition leader Sher Bahadur Deewala said that the government has slammed the critical time by disappointing the people that the slogan of prosperity and development of the country has disappointed. Speaking at a meeting held at the meeting of the Federal Parliament on Monday, the Prime Minister claimed that Prime Minister KP Oli was expected to move towards the prosperity of prosperity, even if it was a disappointment in a half-a-year term.

He said that there was doubt about the determination of the government due to murder, rape, and the crime could not be ascertained. In view of the development of 8 months of the financial year, the government gave only slogan slogan, and he could not do any work available.

The Prime Minister also accused the false propaganda that he had done the development program that had begun the government of the past. Deewala said that social security allowance based on the contribution of his government's government, Oli said that he had confusion by propagating false propaganda with himself. Oli revealed that the Oli government has rejected the decision of its leadership to provide a monthly allowance of Rs 5,000 to the victims suffering from diseases related to spinal insulin, cancer, heart and kidney disease. Deuba was also accused of passing the medical education reform bill against the Prime Minister's commitment to the government's lack of responsibility.

He said that the construction of the hydropower project without any point of view was to be handed over to foreigners. "Overseas foreign investment has been reduced only to Olias. Foreign trade has increased. Economic disadvantages and irregularities have increased unprecedentedly, "he said. Deferring the issue given by the President to the institutional evolution of corruption, Devu said that the condition of a serious impact on the infrastructure of economy was created. He also demanded to investigate the Widebird Ship Purchase Case.

He said that Prime Minister Oli has contradicted the spirit of federalism and bringing federal bodies, offices of the Attorney General, office of National Research, Revenue Investigation, Department of Finance. The Prime Minister urged the Prime Minister to release the power of military operations and the state-owned authority on the basis of its power.

Subas Chandra Nembang, a member of the CPN-Maoist parliamentary party, said that the government has constructed more than two laws in the past one year, and claimed to have prepared a foundation for the country. Describing disagreements to Deuba's statement, he said that the people are not frustrated, enthusiastic. It is wrong to say that the people are disappointed, "he said," Now the head should be stirred and say, the people are happy. " Pointing to the sandwich case, it was good to raise questions about the encroachment of public land and committed to stop it. He said, "The government prevents such encroachments."

'Land Case Investigation'
Former Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai remarked that the contemporary issues of the country could not be discussed in the Parliament. In disagreement with the statement of Nimbang, he argued that the conflict of rights in society was contrary to the rules. He said that there was doubt about the relation between the executive and the court, he said that there was a serious mistake in the Human Rights Commission Bill. "What kind of democracy we are practicing," he added, "It is wrong to keep Human Rights Commission under the office of Attorney General." He said that the right to target the Security Council Bill will not be prospered only by capturing one place.

"Development is not possible in the way the party and the government are taken together," he said. He expressed dissatisfaction with the government and counterparts at the Widebird Ship Purchase Case. In connection with the land encroachment of Baluwatar, he said while addressing former Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai and Madhav Kumar Nepal's name, he asked for the investigation. 'Baluwatar should be fairly investigated in the land case, I am ready to be punished.' He said that he was caught in a naked manner after being worried about trying to encroach the open place in the country.

'Do not be forced to go on the road'
Anil Kumar Jha of the National Janata Party Nepal President Mandal said that the government had neglected the issues raised in the Madhes movement and urged its party to go into street struggles. Bara, Parsa and Dhanusha requested proper arrangements for the damage caused by the wind. He urged the state government and the local level to make the house for dissatisfaction due to the responsibility of making the house of the injured victim. Federal Samajwadi Forum leader Rajendra Shrestha expressed dissatisfaction over the court's verdict on the same issue regarding citizenship. He ignored the demand for constitution amendment, warned that the government could get involved. MP Durga Poudel said that only the center was centered in the development city. She said that the citizenship bill would be in danger of the same passage as passed. MP Rajendra Langden also accused of corruption in the government of the powerful government.

'All the fields failed' In
Congress National Congress Surendra Pandey claimed that the government has failed in all sectors. Speaking at the National Assembly meeting on the first day of the first session of the year convention, he said that the security of the government is disappointing all the peace, development and social activities. "There is a lot of disappointment and dissatisfaction," he said. He said that despite the majority of the two parties, the political stability and the prime minister's sufferings, the government could not fulfill the responsibility of public opinion.

"There is a government role with the seven states and most local level, the antagonist has played a constructive role, but the government has not seen speed on the journey of prosperity," he said, "not the same year." Pandey alleged that the smell of corruption was felt at all, saying limited tolerance against corruption was limited only to the speech. He said that adding that the demand for unnecessary resources in different times, the government has increased the amount of money stopped by the bank.

Leader Pandey also criticized the saturative expression that came from Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli by the time. "We heard a lot of speeches and speeches, but it did not work," he said, "The dream of railways coming from India and the railways coming from China could not be the peace of the country. The arrest of the Nirmala massacre has been blacklisted by the government. He urged the Prime Minister's words to reduce self-confidence in the post. Tarashesh Chandra Lal, leader of the antagonist, National Janata Party, accused that the government did not try to collect and address all of them. The ruling party leader Dinanath Sharma said that there should be no power and impartiality in the National Assembly.

Mobile drive instructions
National Assembly President Ganesh Prasad Timilissa has directed the government to take away the meeting. When the MPs started mobilizing the meeting, Timlisina gave such instructions.

'Honorable members, while sitting in the meeting room, mobilization, mobilization has been repeatedly seen, and today there will be no mobile phones in the living room. President Tilsilina said, "It will be in Silent that the switch will be off." I will direct this.

Source : KantipurDaily

Government school fees - Devanagari News

Devanagari News - 4/30/2019

Gangadavaram Yadav, resident of Rautahat, trades clothes by selling them in Bhaktapur area. His four children are studying at Padma Mavi of Bhaktapur. The school is taught in Nepali and English medium.

Yadav, who is a temporary resident in Srinagaragar, 'We are a poor man, can not teach children in boarding,' says three of my children in government school. It was very difficult to pay three times each. "

Yadav said that after starting the academic session 2076, the daughter-in-law, who studied Class 9, had paid Rs. Dhiren, who was studying in class 7, said that he was paying Rs. 5,5 5 billion and Arabian rupees of Class 5 and Anisha was paying Rs. 460. After paying the money, the school has given a bill. "The daughter reads the English medium," referring to sending the school for two years, saying, "Teaching a separate book should be read through English medium. I can read and read in Nepali medium.

Compulsory and free education law, unlike 2075 community schools have been paying fees to the parents. Padm Mavika Principal said that Ram Hada School has taken annual assistance to the parents' consent for management of teachers from private sources to improve the quality of education. According to the education rules, we have taken annual support, "he said.

The Bhageshwar Mavi valley of Bhaktapur must be the most student. Principal Krishna Prasad Dhanna, head of the local school, said that the school has not been teachers in the proportion of student numbers because of the help of the local level to manage from internal sources.

"If the constitution is free till Class 8, the teachers have got the help of teachers from the government," said the principal. He said, "We have taken an examination from the guard for help related additional teachers, computer teachers, examination management, dental care." In the school, more than 3,500 students are studying from child to class 12. The donkey did not give the information about how much help was taken to the guardian.

Nitikaji Maharjan, head of the head of the University of Balfel, said that the help of teaching of special class, Gyanwad Maville is to be taught. By class 12, 2,500 students read. The school has 24 teachers and employees from 52 inland custody and private sources. "We will get monthly assistance from the guardian for a maximum of six hundred rupees," said Principal Maharjan.

Hebraj Kendel, Chief of the World Bank of Tripura, Tripileshwar, said that the annual financial assistance was passed by the guardian assembly for confirmation of justification.

Classes 1 to 3 thousand 500, Class 6 and 7 in 1000, 4 and 5 classes have been taken to 1000 thousand. Likewise, Class 8 has been given 2,550 and Class 9 and 10 to 2525. According to the annual schedule, the government does not provide sufficient resources, "the source said." According to the annual schedule, the principal source management does not achieve the achievement of the teachers, should be given grade deductions, such as scarcity.

Similarly, Sanskrit Mavika Principal, Badri Dahal, said that the guard will take assistance from the guard for annual examination management. He has taken classes in class 6 and 7, 950 and class 8 to 10 thousand rupees. 'Then, the students get id card, school logo, a box, a calendar, if the teacher feeds mineral water,' said Principal Dahal.

Sarojaj Acharya, Principal Sull Mavika, head of Lalitpur, said that the minimum number of Rs. 5000 to Rs. He said that the government has got the help of the teacher's teacher, and said that there is 24 teachers in the private sector.

Article 20 of the Essential and Free Education Act states that the secondary level education will be free of charge. 'Every citizen will have the right to get the secondary education from the state free to education,' in the sub-section, 'when obtaining free education, every citizen should follow the terms and conditions of this law and other laws. Other arrangements related to free education will be done accordingly.

Source : Kantipur Daily

Pokhara University: Examination at police station - Devanagari News

Devanagari News - 4/30/2019

Lakhanth - Examiner No. 544. Security personnel at least a half. On Monday, students of the Pokhara University central campus presented the examination in the police circle. After three times the examination started at the university's sexually-related college.

The protesters and the police were beaten down Sunday demanding students not to join the examination 'D Plus'. One student was injured in the clash. The students of the 'D Plus' student, who did not have to join the examination, were on the rally in the examination center from Sunday. The university operated a large number of security personnel from the morning after the protesters saw the obstacle in the examination of the students. The armed police also gave security to the examination center.

Students have been in movement since a few days, saying that the Supreme Court should not implement the order that students brought 'D Plus' to 42 campuses under Pokhara University.

Although there were four faculty examinations examined, there were 10 subjects of undergraduate level examination of Sunday management, health sciences and humanities and sociology. Students who reached the examination center once, declined. After finding the obstacle in the examination, the police went ahead. The police arrested 11 students and started the examination. The examination called at 7 o'clock began in the mid-seven.

Student Vinayak Timilisa said that there was no such trial even during 10 years of conflict. "It is not just a matter of examination," he says, 'It is also important for the environment to be examined.' He said that there will be mental stress on the student inside the examination while the movement goes out. He alleged that the university, who was affiliated with 'D Plus' student, had to use the University of Uttar Pradesh to regulate affiliated colleges. BPHH student of the second year, Prvivan Rana University, said that the examination of gunfire was conducted. "Justify the examination of the gun at the gate?" Civil engineering, first year student, Roshan Timilsina, told that the examination would be examined.

Registrar of the University, Govind Sharma says that the future of 30 thousand students is compelled to conduct the examination. "Even the examination has been done," he says. "Due to the Supreme Court verdict regarding D Plus, we can not violate it." Previously, the examinations will start from Phagun 30, Chhat 15 and Vaashakh 6 as well as due to the movement.

The University has announced that the examination will be peaceful as the vacuum test is conducted in all the examination centers by publishing the announcement on Monday.

44 Exit by Student

The 44 boy boycotted on Monday, saying that the test could not be held between the movement. Under the Health Sciences Faculty of Health Camp, 40 of the first year and BPL students of the first year have boycotted the examination. BPH did not give the examination of anatomy and physiology by the entire student of the first semester. They claim to be deprived of their own examination.

The BPH, who was going to give the exam, became the first person of the first year, seeing the stressful situation of the University of Asmita. After he became unconscious, other examinists declined to say that they could not test the police circle. "Police were more than student," said Shweta Ranabhat, "The student is outside, how to test it inside?"

She said that there was no environment of examination after seeing the police with arms inside the examination center. The other candidates accused Aman Kesi to block the police when he tried to enter the examination center at 7:45 pm. "It is possible to enter Hala before half an hour after the regular examination begins," he said, "We were not allowed to enter into a planned form."

The examination center headed by Arjun Gautam said that the student had not entered the examination center even after requesting the student. He said, 'They have no doubt that they should not be examined first.' He said, 'It is not possible to be broken after the time to enter.' He said that the candidates had not entered the examination center first and demanded time later.

The 40 students of BPH have requested the University to demand the arrangement for examination. The examination test of the rules of examination controller Bharatram Dhungana University said that there will be only one day in the next semester. "It can not be done immediately," he says.

Source : Kantipur Daily

MP seeking 10 million rupees - Devanagari News

Devanagari News 4/30/2019

Kathmandu - Parliamentarians have become the main local government, even if the government should be active in policy making, it has started pressuring to spend the budget spending on its own. Parliamentarians have launched 'lobbying' to provide Rs. 4 million to the budget for the preliminary preference for policy and program and budget.

The CPN-M members of the parliament have collected a signature for the budget on Monday to start the budget session. CPN-MP MP Gha Bhattarai said that the signature collection has started to give Rs. 4 million to Rs. 4 million. The Congress MPs have also demanded that the budget to be directly funded and the proportional MP can also be provided for the scheme.

This program has been criticized due to excessive misuse and parallel mechanism in the development of federalism against federalism. As per the constitution, according to the experts of the local government, because of the local government role in the development of local level, this program will be contrary to federalism.

They had the idea that the Parliament should stop the budget because of the formation of separate committee based on the formation of a separate committee and the development of development based on its decision. From this year, this year, Finance Minister Yuvraj Khatiwada has allocated budget to the tune of Rs. 6 billion. This amount has been spent on the project based on the decision-making of MPs elected from the 656 constituency.

Last year, it was sought to keep this work. After the news of the news, each election came to an action rate of 4 million rupees, "Bhattarai activated in the signature campaign said," This amount was not enough. This time, Rs 100 million should be made. Members of CPN (M) Parliamentary Party and former Prime Minister Subas Nembang have discussed this pressure. 'He has given a positive answer. Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and Minister of State Khatwada are asking for the time, "he said.

Another 35 MP has signed a draft petition to pressure on increasing the budget.

"This is what the CPI (M) secretary and MP Yogesh Bhattarai led. After returning from China, we meet Prime Minister and Minister, "the MP said. 2062/63 After criticizing excessive misuse of this budget is being criticized. The Office of the Auditor General, who audits the government bodies, also questioned the budget of this program, saying that every year is raising questions.

Proportional, nominated and state MPs are opposed to the election process and budget expenditure only in the direct election of the MP and there is no role in its role. They are dissatisfied that the proportional, nominated and Rajya Sabha members have no right to spend the budget in the constituency.

Proportional MP Usha Regmi tied the 'Local Infrastructure Development Partnership Program Rules-2075' on the function of conducting this program in the last phase. According to the present law, the right to the right MP is only the right to vote. Our wish is that we should have a wide range of other MPs too, 'Bhattarai said,' Our second demand is to address the dissatisfaction. '

He said that there is a third demand for improvement in discrimination / discrimination in this program. He said, "We should develop development in the manifesto and develop in the election," he said, "We can not be able to develop after coming up." Therefore, our budget is required with our rights. The budget has been allocated to spend in parliament's decision for two decades ago, that the responsibility of the people's participation is also the development of development. All of the ruling and antagonist groups are unanimous in this program.

In the year 2071, the MPs have raised the budget for each constituency to spend at least Rs. 550 billion. According to the last year, the budget was being implemented by the members of the Constituent Territory Development Workshop, about 20 million (the proportional and elected both) and the Constituent Assembly Infrastructure Special Fund.

Parliamentarians, who demanded strong demand for 100 million rupees, had rejected the program for 20 million rupees, and made arrangements for the budget to be implemented by the representatives of Rs. 4 million.

By citing the center, five states of 7 have also been applying budget for state MPs of similar nature. This has diminished the government's budget cut and its right to build development.

Source : KantipurDaily

19 measles patients found in Morang - Devanagri News

Devanagari News - 4/30/2019

Nineteen measles patients were found in Morang district in the past one month. According to the District Health Office (DHO), 19 children were diagnosed with measles at Bardanga and Dainiya settlements in Sunbarsi Municipality-7.

A team that had reached the settlements to distribute medicines of elephantiasis saw the measles-infected children. “The measles spread in the settlements due to a lack of timely treatment,” said Ramananda Yadav, the immunisation officer at the DHO.

According to him, the guardians did not take their children to health institutions believing that they were cursed by god.

Yadav said the DHO, in coordination with the local representatives, provided treatment to the infected children. Health condition of two children, according to Yadav, is critical. They are receiving treatment at Rangeli Hospital.

Nepal signs deal with China to access seven Chinese sea and land ports - Devanagari News

Devanagari News - 4/30/2019

Nepal and China on Monday signed the Protocol on Implementing Agreement on Transit and Transport and six other agreements in Beijing after delegation level talks between President Bidya Devi Bhandari and her Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Pradeep Gyawali and Minister for Transport of China Li Xiaopeng signed the agreement on behalf of their respective governments, according to the Nepali Embassy in Beijing.

The protocol had been pending since Nepal and China signed the Transit and Transportation Agreement in March 2016 during Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli’s visit to the northern neighbour.

The Transit and Transportation Agreement was signed just months after an undeclared Indian border blockade was lifted, with a view to diversifying Nepal’s trade and paving the way for landlocked Nepal to carry out third country trade through ports in the northern neighbour. But for the third-country trade via China to commence, the protocol was a must.

The signing of the protocol makes it possible for Nepal to use four Chinese sea ports--in Tianjin, Shenzhen, Lianyungang and Zhanjiang--and three land ports--in Lanzhou, Lhasa and Shigatse--for third-country import. It will also allow Nepal to carry out exports through six dedicated transit points between Nepal and China.

Experts and officials have argued that access to China’s sea and land ports will help end Nepal’s complete dependence on India for the third-country trade.

However, Rabi Shankar Sainju, who held a series of negotiations with the Chinese side, said that Chinese ports are not a replacement for Indian ports. “They are additional ports which we can use,” Sainju told the Post.

“First, to execute the protocol, we have to upgrade the infrastructure on our side. Second, the protocol allows us all three kinds of services--inland, road and rail. This will help boost investors’ confidence as well.”

Two separate mechanisms, according to officials, will be formed to review and enforce the protocol and resolve technical difficulties that arise during its implementation. Officials said that due to poor infrastructure on the Nepal side, Nepali traders and businessmen will not able to use these Chinese ports immediately.

Currently, only two Nepali entry points--Rasuwagadhi and Tatopani--are being used for trade and business with China.

After the ceremony on Monday, Bhandari and Xi had a luncheon meeting hosted by Zhao Leji, secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China.

According to the Chinese official news agency, Xinhua, Zhao, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, said the bilateral relations have witnessed rapid development, and the cooperation in various fields has seen steady progress in recent years.

China is willing to work with Nepal to take the Belt and Road Initiative as an opportunity to push forward the China-Nepal comprehensive cooperative partnership with everlasting friendship to a new level, Xinhua quoted Zhao as saying.

Bhandari said Nepal will participate more actively in BRI cooperation, learn from China's experience in state governance, and deepen bilateral cooperation in fields including infrastructure, culture and poverty relief, according to the news agency.

Kathmandu’s proposal of the Nepal-China Trans-Himalayan Multi-Dimensional Connectivity Network, including cross-border railway, was included in the joint communiqué of the second conference of the Belt and Road Initiative, which concluded on Saturday. Even though there are concerns about overcoming the challenges when it comes to bringing the Chinese rail to Kathmandu, the development has renewed optimism in Nepal. On Saturday, Chinese President Xi had expressed his interest to extend cooperation to Nepal.

On Monday, during the delegation level talks, Bhandari extended an invitation to Xi to visit Nepal at a time convenient for him, according to the Nepali Embassy in Beijing.

Bhandari left for China on April 24 in the first state visit by the President of Nepal since the country was declared a republic 11 years ago.

After the meeting, two sides signed six more agreements, according to the Nepali Embassy in Beijing.

Another key agreement was on China’s economic and technical cooperation for Nepal worth Rs16.8 billion (1 billion yuan). Out of the pledged amount, 20 million yuan will be spent for development assistance and to create the headquarters in the 15 northern districts of Nepal. The programme will be executed by the China International Development Cooperation Agency. The rest of the amount will be spent on mutually agreed projects including the expansion of the second phase of the Kathmandu Ring Road.

Revenue Secretary Lal Shanker Ghimire and Wang Xiaotao, chairman of the China International Development Cooperation Agency, signed the agreement on behalf of their respective governments.

Wang had visited Nepal recently and held talks with Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli.

The Nepal government had welcomed the Chinese aid agency to provide development assistance and create capitals in the 15 districts to meet their developmental needs. The districts share the border with China’s Tibet Autonomous Region.

The agency was established in August last year with an aim to strengthen strategic planning and overall coordination of the Chinese aid abroad. Earlier, the Tibetan autonomous government supplied food and other essential goods to Darchula, Bajhang, Humla, Mugu, Dolpa, Mustang, Manang, Gorkha, Dhading, Rasuwa, Sindhupalchok, Dolakha, Solukhumbu, Sankhwasabha and Taplejung.

Other agreements include handing over the certificate of grant-aid for repair and reinforcement of the existing China-aided projects in Nepal, cooperation and mutual administrative assistance in customs matters, cooperation on standardisation between the Nepal Bureau of Standards and Metrology and the Standardization Administration of China and preventing theft, clandestine excavation and illicit import and export of cultural property.

Source : Kathmandu Post

2019 Indian general election - Devanagari News

The 2019 Indian general election is currently being held in seven phases from 11 April to 19 May 2019 to constitute the 17th Lok Sabha. The counting of votes will be conducted on 23 May, and on the same day the results will be declared.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4] About 900 million Indian citizens are eligible to vote in one of the seven phases depending on the region.

Legislative Assembly elections in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha and Sikkim will be held simultaneously with the general election.

Electoral system

Official logo

All 543 elected MPs will be elected from single-member constituencies using first-past-the-post voting. The President of India nominates an additional two members from the Anglo-Indian community if he believes the community is under-represented.^[7]

Eligible voters must be Indian citizens, 18 or older, an ordinary resident of the polling area of the constituency and possess a valid voter identification card issued by the Election Commission of India. Some people convicted of electoral or other offences are barred from voting.^[8]

The elections are being held on schedule and per the constitution of India that mandates parliamentary elections once every five years.^[9]The details of the elections were announced by Election Commission of India (ECI) on 10 March 2019, after which Model Code of Conduct regulations for the elections came into immediate effect.^[10]

Election schedule

The election schedule was announced on 10 March 2019, and with it the Model Code of Conduct came into force.^[11]

Election schedule

The election is scheduled to be held in seven phases, with counting starting on 23 May. In Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, the election will be held in all seven phases. The polling for the Anantanag constituency in the state of Jammu and Kashmir will be held in three phases, the first of its kind, due to violence in the region that had prompted the ECI to cancel a bypoll in 2016, leaving it vacant since then.^[12]

Phase	Date	Constituencies	showStates and Union Territories

Key
Polling held Polling ongoing Polling to be held

hideState/UT	Total constituencies	Election dates and number of constituencies
		Phase 1	Phase 2	Phase 3	Phase 4	Phase 5	Phase 6	Phase 7
		11 April	18 April	23 April	29 April	6 May	12 May	19 May
Progress		91	95	116	71	51	59	59
Andhra Pradesh	25	25
Arunachal Pradesh	2	2
Assam	14	5	5	4
Bihar	40	4	5	5	5	5	8	8
Chhattisgarh	11	1	3	7
Goa	2			2
Gujarat	26			26
Haryana	10						10
Himachal Pradesh	4							4
Jammu and Kashmir^[a]	6	2	2	¹⁄₃	¹⁄₃	1¹⁄₃
Jharkhand	14				3	4	4	3
Karnataka	28		14	14
Kerala	20			20
Madhya Pradesh	29				6	7	8	8
Maharashtra	48	7	10	14	17
Manipur	2	1	1
Meghalaya	2	2
Mizoram	1	1
Nagaland	1	1
Odisha	21	4	5	6	6
Punjab	13							13
Rajasthan	25				13	12
Sikkim	1	1
Tamil Nadu^[b]	38		38
Telangana	17	17
Tripura	2	1		1
Uttar Pradesh	80	8	8	10	13	14	14	13
Uttarakhand	5	5
West Bengal	42	2	3	5	8	7	8	9
Andaman and Nicobar Islands	1	1
Chandigarh	1							1
Dadra and Nagar Haveli	1			1
Daman and Diu	1			1
Delhi	7						7
Lakshadweep	1	1
Puducherry	1		1
Constituencies contested	542	91	95	116¹⁄₃	71¹⁄₃	50¹⁄₃	59	59
Total constituencies by end of phase		91	186	302¹⁄₃	373²⁄₃	424	483	542
Percent complete by end of phase		17%	34%	56%	69%	78%	89%	100%

^a polling in Anantanag scheduled over three days

^b polling in Vellore cancelled (see below)

Rescheduled voting, cancellations

Vellore, Tamil Nadu: Over ₹11 crore (US$1.5 million) in cash was seized in Vellore from DMK leaders – a regional party in Tamil Nadu. According to the News Minute, this cash is alleged to have been for bribing the voters.^[13] Based on the evidence collected during the raids, the Election Commission of India cancelled the April 18 election date in the Vellore constituency. The DMK leaders have denied wrongdoing and alleged a conspiracy.^[14]
Tripura East, Tripura: The Election Commission of India deferred polling from April 18 to 23 due to the law and order situation. The poll panel took the decision following reports from the Special Police Observers that the circumstances were not conducive for holding free and fair elections in the constituency.^[15]

Campaigning

Issues

Alleged institutional undermining

During the election campaign, the opposition parties have claimed that the NDA government is destroying democratic institutions and processes. Opposition party leaders such as Mamata Banerjee have campaigned on this issue.^[16]

In response, Modi termed the allegations "a big joke", commenting that Congress and the communists had themselves undermined institutions including the police, CBI and the CAG, and cited the murder of BJP activists in Kerala and Madhya Pradesh.^[17]

Economic performance

According to The Times of India, the major economic achievements of the incumbent NDA government include an inflation rate less than 4 percent, the GST reform, the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, its programs in recent years that have positively touched many among the Indian masses, programs such as the Jan Dhan Yojana, rural cooking gas and electricity for homes.^[18] According to the IMF, the Indian economy has been growing in recent years, its GDP growth rate is among the highest in the world for major economies, and India is expected to be the fastest growing major economy in 2019-2020 and 2020-2021, with real GDP projected to grow at 7.3 percent.^[19]^[20]^[21] The GDP growth data has been disputed^[18] by a group of Indian social scientists, economists and the political opposition's election campaign, while a group of Indian chartered accountants has defended the data, the GDP calculation methodology, and questioned the motivations of those disputing the recent Indian GDP statistics.^[22]

The opposition's election campaign has claimed that both the demonetization and GST law have "seriously hit small business, farmers and casual labor", states The Times of India.^[18]^[23] The incumbent has claimed that they inherited a country from the previous Congress-led government that was "a legacy of policy paralysis, corruption and economic fragility", and that the BJP-led government policies have placed India on better economic fundamentals and a fast gear.^[24] Modi claims that his government pursued demonetization in the national interest, his government has identified and de-registered 338,000 shell companies, identified and recovered ₹1,300,000,000,000 (US$18 billion) in black money since 2014, and almost doubled India's tax base.^[25]^[26] The Congress party disputes the incumbents claims, and has alleged that BJP offices have "become hubs of creating black money", and seeks a judicial inquiry into the Rafale deal with France and BJP's role in corruption.^[27]

Income tax raids

In April 2019, raids conducted by the Income Tax department found bundles of unaccounted for cash amounting to ₹281 crore, along with liquor and documentary evidence in premises of people with close connections to Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath of the Congress. Modi has highlighted this evidence to attack the Congress in its election campaign, alleging corruption is part of Congress party's culture.^[28]^[29]

National security and terrorism

In response to the 2019 Pulwama attack, the Indian Air Force conducted airstrikes inside Pakistan — for the first time since the 1971 Indo-Pak war. The country's ongoing conflict with Pakistan is predicted to be a significant factor in this election. The opposition accused Modi of politicising the army, whilst the BJP countered their accusations by stating that such allegations raised by them were adversely affecting the morale of India's armed forces.^[30]

According to the Pew Research Center, both before and after the outbreak of recent India-Pakistan tensions, their 2018 and 2019 surveys suggest that the significant majority of the Indian voters consider Pakistan as a "very serious threat" to their country, and terrorism to be a "very big problem".^[31]^[32]

Unemployment

According to the Pew Research Center, a significant majority of Indian voters consider the lack of employment opportunities as a "very big problem" in their country. "About 18.6 million Indians were jobless and another 393.7 million work in poor-quality jobs vulnerable to displacement", states the Pew report.^[32]

A report on unemployment prepared by the National Sample Survey Office's (NSSO's) periodic labour force survey, has not been officially released by the government. According to Business Today, this report is the "first comprehensive survey on employment conducted by a government agency after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced demonetisation move in November 2016". According to this report, the 2017–2018 "usual status"^{[note 1]} unemployment rate in India at 6.1%, a four-decade high.^[33]^{[note 1]} The government has claimed that the report was not final.^[38] According to the International Labour Organization (ILO) – a United Nations agency, unemployment is rising in India and the "unemployment rate in the country [India] will stand at 3.5 percent in 2018 and 2019 – the same level of unemployment seen in 2017 and 2016", instead of dropping to 3.4 percent as it had previously projected.^[39] According to the ILO's World Employment Social Outlook Report, the unemployment rate in India has been in the 3.4% to 3.6% range over the UPA-government led 2009–2014 and the NDA-government led 2014–2019 periods.^[39]

Opposition parties have claimed in their election campaign that the unemployment in India has reached crisis levels. The NDA government has denied the existence of any job crisis.^[40] Prime minister Narendra Modi claimed that jobs are not lacking but the accurate data on jobs has been lacking.^[41]^[42]

The opposition has attacked the NDA government's performance with the NSSO reported 6.1% unemployment data. Modi and his government have questioned this job statistics report, stating that "most surveys that try to capture unemployment rate are skewed since these did not cover the unorganised sector, which accounts for 85-90 percent of jobs [in India]".^[43]

Agrarian and rural distress

The Congress party campaign has highlighted "agrarian distress" as an election issue.^[44] The BJP campaign has highlighted that the Congress party had been in power for five generations of the Nehru dynasty and its past promises and campaign issues have been empty. It claims that the recent farmer loan waivers by Congress have not reached "even 10% of the farmers" nor has it helped the financial situation of the farmers. BJP highlights that its "Kisan Samman Nidhi" helps the small farmers at the time of seed planting through a direct deposit of ₹6000 to their accounts.^[45] The opposition has accused this as being an attempt to lure voters.^[46]

According to The Times of India, a group of farmer associations have demanded that the 2019 election manifesto of competing political parties should promise to "keep agriculture out of the World Trade Organization (WTO)" and that the interests of Indian farmers must not be compromised in global trade treaties.^[47] They have also demanded loan waivers and income support for the agriculture sector.^[47] According to the Business Standard and the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization, India has witnessed record crop harvests in recent years including 2017 when its farmers grew more foodgrains than ever before.^[48]^[49] However, the farmers consider the "low remunerative prices" they receive in the free market to be too low and a need for the Indian government to establish higher minimum support prices for agricultural products. These farmers consider this an issue for the 2019 general elections.^[48]

Social media abuses and fake news

According to The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, the 2019 Indian election has attracted a systematic attempt to spread misinformation through the social media.^[50]^[51]Facebook claims that over a hundred of these social media advocacy accounts spreading disinformation about the 2019 Indian elections have been traced to "employees of the Pakistani military public relations wing".^[50]^[51] Some others have been linked to the opposition Indian National Congress,^[51]^[50] as well as the incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party.^[51]

NaMo TV and Modi biopic

According to The Financial Times and other news sources, on March 31 2019, the cable and satellite operators added a new "NaMo TV" channel to the dozens of news and entertainment channels they already offer.^[52]^[53]^[54] Further, independently, a Bollywood biopic named "PM Narendra Modi" starring Vivek Oberoi was due for release in early April. The NaMo TV channel exclusively focuses on replaying Narendra Modi’s speeches, the live coverage of rallies by Modi and key leaders of the Bharatiya Janata party, and presenting the incumbent government's initiatives and achievements in the last five years to the audience that chooses to tune to the channel.^[52] The election time Bollywood biopic, states The Financial Times, is "adulatory, which depicts his [Modi's] rise from humble origins as the son of a railway station tea-seller to a strongman who vows to avenge Pakistani terror attacks".^[52]

The Indian opposition led by the Congress Party and activists opposed to the incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party have expressed outrage and alleged that it violates India's election laws and the regulations on "broadcast channels" under the Programme Codes of the Cable TV Act of 1994.^[52]^[53] The Bharatiya Janata party and its supporters claim that this is an exercise of the "Right to Free Speech" protected by the Article 19 of the Indian Constitution, a means to address the bias against them and to communicate directly to the voters.^[52]They also claim that the NaMo TV does not violate any regulations or laws, as similar "Direct-to-Home (DTH) operator channels" have already been distributed by cable and satellite operators in the past since 2006.^[53] Others state that the audience has a choice to ignore or tune into the channel, and "only Modi's most devoted loyalists were likely to tune in". However, they state that if the BJP pressures public facilities and commercial establishments to show it exclusively during the elections then that would lead to an abuse.^[52] The Congress Party and activists have filed a complaint to the Indian Election Commission, demanding that the NaMo TV channel be stopped.^[52] The Election Commission announced on April 12 that any content broadcast on the NaMo TV must be pre-approved by its committee, and only pre-certified content can be broadcast.^[54] On April 13 2019, the BJP submitted the contents of NaMo TV to the Election Commission designated "certification and monitoring committee" for its review and pre-certification.^[55] The Election Commission ruled on April 19 2019, that live speeches of Narendra Modi and other BJP leaders can be broadcast on NaMo TV as well as Twitter platform tweets can be broadcast by Rahul Gandhi and Congress leaders during the silence period. However, neither should mention the constituency or candidates covered by the silence period immediately prior to the polling date.^[56]

The Election Commission of India has blocked the release of the Modi biopic while the election is in progress.^[57] The Bollywood movie producers have appealed this "stay on the movie's release" to the Supreme Court of India.^[58]

Dynasty politics

The BJP has highlighted that the Congress party has relied on Nehru's dynasty for leadership since India's independence, its lack of internal party institutions and claimed that whenever Congress has been in power, the freedom of press and Indian government institutions have "taken a severe beating".^[59]^[60] During the election campaign, its leaders have mentioned the Emergency of 1975, the nepotism, corruption and widespread abuses of human rights under the Congress rule in the past.^[59]^[61]^[62] Congress-led alliance leader H. D. Kumaraswamy – the son of a former prime minister of India and the current chief minister of Karnataka, has countered that "India developed because of dynasty politics", stating that "dynasty politics are not the main issue, rather country's problems are".^[63] The Congress has alleged hypocrisy by the BJP, claiming that the BJP itself forms alliances with dynasty-based parties such as the Akali Dal in Punjab, and that family relatives of senior BJP leaders such as Rajnath Singh and Arun Jaitley have been in politics too.^[64]

According to an IndiaSpend report published by the BloombergQuint, the smaller and regional parties such as the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference, Lok Jan Sakti Party, Shiromani Akali Dal, Biju Janata Dal and Samajwadi Party have higher densities of dynasty-derived candidates and elected representatives in recent years.^[65]^[66] While both the Congress and the BJP have also nominated candidates from political dynasties, states the report, the difference between them is that in Congress "top party leadership has been handed down from generation to generation within the same [Nehru Gandhi dynasty] family", while there has been a historic non-dynastic diversity in the top leadership within the BJP. According to the report, while BJP has also nominated candidates from political dynasties, its better public relations operation "can leap to its defence when attacked on the same grounds".^[65] In contrast to the IndiaSpend report, Kanchan Chandra – a professor of Politics, based on his analysis of the 2004, 2009 and 2014 general elections, states that the Congress party has had about twice or more as many percent dynastic parliamentarians than BJP in each of those three recent general elections, and higher than all major political parties in India except the Samajwadi Party.^[67]^{[note 2]} Many of these dynastic politicians in India who inherit the leadership positions have never held any jobs and lack state or local experience, states Anjali Bohlken – a professor and Political Science scholar, and this raises concerns of rampant nepotism and appointments of their own friends, relatives and cronies if elected.^[68] The BJP has targeted the Congress party in the 2019 elections for alleged nepotism and a family dynasty for leadership.^[65]^[69]

Party campaigns

Bharatiya Janata Party

On 12 January 2019, prime minister Narendra Modi launched the Bharatiya Janata Party's election campaign, which sought a second term.^[70]

Indian National Congress

The Indian National Congress Party president Rahul Gandhi launched his election campaign from Gujarat's Lal Dungri site where other members of the Nehru dynasty began their general elections campaign, including his grandmother Indira Gandhi and father Rajiv Gandhi.^[71]

Other parties

On 7 April 2019, two arch rival political parties Bahujan Samaj Party and Samajwadi Party began campaigning together as an alliance (gathbandhan) along with smaller local parties such as RLD.^[72] Their first joint campaign started in Deoband in Uttar Pradesh.^[73]^[74]
On 24 March 2019, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) began its 2019 Lok Sabha election campaign in Delhi.^[75] The AAP had sought to form an alliance with the Congress party in Delhi, Haryana, Punjab and Goa prior to starting its 2019 Lok Sabha campaign, but they could not reach an agreement on the scope and the number of seats.^[76]
On 2 April 2019, the Trinamool Congress party – the ruling party in the state of West Bengal, launched its campaign from Dinhata, Coochbehar.^[77]

Party Manifestos

Highlights of the Congress manifesto

The Congress released its manifesto, titled Congress Will Deliver on 3 April.^[78]^[79] Some of its highlights:^[78]^[80]^[81]

Introduce a Nyuntam Aay Yojana welfare program wherein ₹72,000 (US$1,000) per year will be transferred directly to the bank account of a woman-member in each family in the poorest 20 percent households in India.
Create 1 million "Seva Mitra" jobs in rural and urban local government bodies. Fill all 400,000 central government vacancies before March 2020, and encourage state governments to fill their 2,000,000 job vacancies. Enact a law that requires all non-government controlled employers with over 100 employees to implement an apprentice program.
Enact a permanent National Commission on Agricultural Development and Planning and introduce a "Kisan Budget" (Farmer Budget) in the parliament every year. Waive all farmer loans in all states with any amounts outstanding.
Enact a Right to Homestead Act that will provide free land to every household that does not own a home.
Enact a Right to Healthcare Act and guarantee every Indian citizen free diagnostics, free medicines, free hospitalization and free out-patient care. Double India's spending on healthcare to 3 percent of its Gross Domestic Product by 2024.
Double India's spending on education to 6 percent of its Gross Domestic Product by 2024.
Revise the national GST law from three tax tiers to GST 2.0 law with a single moderate rate of tax. Reduce taxes on exported products to zero. Exempt from the GST essential goods and services that are currently not exempt. Enact a new Direct Taxes Code in addition to this revised GST 2.0 law.
Augment the total length of national highways, increase the pace of construction. Massively modernise Indian railway infrastructure. Promote green energy. Make India one of the top manufacturing hubs in the world.
Increase defense spending to strengthen Indian Armed Forces.
Enact a National Election Fund, wherein public funds will be distributed to recognised political parties to run their campaign
Preserve special status and special rights to natives of Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 and 35A of the Indian constitution.^[81]
Amend the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act of 1958 to remove immunity for "enforced disappearance, sexual violence and torture". End the Sedition law (Section 124A) because it has been misused and has become redundant.

Highlights of the BJP manifesto

The BJP released its manifesto called Sankalp Patra (lit. "Letter of Promise") sub-titled Sankalpit Bharat, Sashakt Bharat on 8 April.^[82]^[83] Some of its highlights:^[84]^[83]^[81]

Double farmer incomes by 2022 by completing all major and micro-irrigation infrastructure projects, opening adequate markets and modern farm produce storage centers, implement minimum price supports for farmer produce, farmer loans and all-weather rural roads. Introduce a pension bill for small and marginal farmers to provide social security after 60 years of age.
Bring all secondary schools under the national board quality preview. Invest ₹1,000,000,000,000 (US$14 billion) in higher education, open new and increase seats at existing engineering, management and law schools. Establish skills and innovations center at block-level in every town. Enhance higher education opportunities for women by introducing financial support and subsidies programs. Source 10% of government procurement from companies with more than 50% female employees.
Ensure a pucca (lit. brick-solid, modern) house, safe potable water, toilet, LPG gas cylinder, electricity and banking account for every family. Reduce the percentage of families living under the poverty line to a single digit by 2024.
Double the length of national highways. Improve fuel quality by mandating 10% ethanol in petrol. Scale renewable energy capacity to 175 GW.
Electrify and convert to broad gauge all Indian railway tracks.
Establish 150,000 health and wellness centers across India. Start 75 new medical colleges. Raise doctor-to-population ratio to 1:1400. Triple childcare facilities in India. Achieve 100% immunization of all babies in India.
Raise India's ranking further in "ease of doing business". Double India's exports, introduce single-window compliance procedures for all businesses.
Reduce air pollution by eliminating all crop residue burning in India.
Digitize paperwork and proceedings, modernize the courts in India.
Launch and promote a National Digital Library with e-books and leading journals to provide free knowledge access to all students. Launch a "Study in India" program to bring foreign students to institutes of higher education.
Zero tolerance for terrorism, fund resources to strengthen national security, guarantee veterans and soldier welfare, modernize police forces.
End special status and special rights to natives of Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 and 35A of the Indian constitution because these provisions have prevented the development of the state.^[81]

Other parties

Other national and regional parties have released their manifestos too:

The Tamil Nadu-based regional parties, and arch rivals AIADMK and DMK released their 2019 election manifesto on March 18 2019, with each promising to release the seven Tamils jailed after being found guilty for their role in the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, a former Congress party leader and prime minister of India. The AIADMK has promised to press for the political rights of the Tamil people in the Eelam region of Sri Lanka, while the DMK has promised Indian citizenship to all Sri Lankan expats. According to the Deccan Herald, the AIADMK has promised a cash transfer of ₹18,000 (US$250) per year to "all families below the poverty level, destitute women, widows without income, differently-abled, landless agricultural labourers, rural and urban manual labourers and destitute senior citizens". The AIADMK has also promised to raise the tax exemption limit, and revisions to the GST tax law. The DMK has promised a probe into Rafale fighter jet deal between India and France, and a plan to distribute free sanitary napkins to working women along with starting martial arts schools for girls.^[85]
Biju Janata Dal (BJD) released its manifesto on April 9 2019. It promises a ₹100,000 (US$1,400) zero-interest crop loan to farmers every year, a ₹500,000 (US$7,000) zero-interest loan to women-run self-help groups, 75 percent jobs reservation in Odisha-based companies to Odisha youth, free education to all girls and a marriage assistance grant of ₹25,000 (US$350) to daughters of poor families. It also promised to complete an expressway connecting the state's north to its south, as well as another expressway to connect its east to its west.^[86]
Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPIM) 2019 election manifesto promises raising the minimum wage to ₹216,000 (US$3,000) per year, an old age pension of ₹72,000(US$1,000) per year and universal public distribution of 35 kilograms of foodgrains per family. CPIM's manifesto states it will restore inheritance tax, and raise the taxes on individuals and corporations.^[87] The manifesto also promises spending 6% of India's GDP on education, enacting a Right to Free Health Care with 3.5% of GDP on health in the short term and 5% in the long term, introduce price controls on essential drugs, break monopoly of drug multinationals, as well as enact a Right to Guaranteed Employment in urban areas.^[88] According to the news channel CNBC India, the CPM manifesto promises "subsidies, more state control of the economy, strengthening of public sector behemoths and monopolies" and "bring back the memories of the socialist era which bred monopoly and wasteful state subsidies" in India.^[87]
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in its manifesto promised to open talks with Pakistan on terrorism. The party also promised to significantly expand India's trade and political relationship with Russia, and seek to weaken Russia's ties with China and Pakistan.^[89]
Samajwadi Party has promised an annual pension of ₹36,000 (US$500) to poor families in a form of a cash transfer to women. It has also proposed a new property tax of 2 percent on homes valued above ₹25,000,000 (US$350,000) as well as raising income taxes on the affluent. The party's manifesto promises creating 100,000 new jobs every year in India.^[90]
Telugu Desam Party released its manifesto on April 5 2019. It promised zero-interest loans to farmer without any caps, a grant of ₹15,000 (US$210) per year to each farmer as investment support, a grant of ₹100,000 (US$1,400) to each family with a daughter in the year of her marriage, an unemployment allowance of ₹3,000 (US$42) for any youth who has completed intermediate education, and free laptops to all students at the intermediate level.^[91]
AITMC's manifesto was released on March 27 2019. It promises a judicial probe into demonetization, a review of GST law by experts, and that it will seek to bring back the Planning Commission. Its manifesto also promises free medical care along the lines that the Trinamool's state government has been implementing in West Bengal. AITMC will seek to expand the "100-day work scheme" currently operating in India to "200-day work scheme" along with an appropriate pay increase.^[92]
Aam Aadmi Party released its manifesto on April 25 2019 titled ‘Lekar Rahenge Poorn Rajya’ (English: We will take full statehood) primarily focused on the demand for full statehood for Delhi. The manifesto states that with full statehood, the Delhi government will have control over land, law and order, police, officials and decision-making. The party has also said that it can fulfill its promises only if Delhi is granted full statehood.^[93]

Campaign finance

Several organizations have offered varying estimates for the cost of 2019 general elections in India. The Centre for Media Studies in New Delhi estimates the 2019 election campaign could exceed $7 billion.^[94] According to the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), an election watchdog, in the financial year 2017-18 BJP received ₹4,370,000,000(US$61 million), about 12 times more donations than Congress and five other national parties combined.^[94] Between January 1 and March 31 2019, donors bought ₹17,100,000,000(US$240 million) worth of electoral bonds and donated them to the party of their choice.^[95] According to The Economic Times, India's business community has predominantly donated to BJP and are set to vote for Modi's party overwhelmingly again, even though they are less enthusiastic about Modi in 2019 compared to 2014, because they fear that a Congress-led coalition could put a halt to much-needed economic reforms.^[94]

The biggest change in India’s campaign finance laws has been the electoral bonds introduced by the Modi government. A donor can buy an electoral bond from a national bank such as the State Bank of India, in denominations ranging from 1,000 rupees to 10 million rupees ($14 to $140,000). These bonds are then donated to a political party of the donor's choice. The bonds don’t carry the name of the donor and are exempt from tax.^[96] According to Arun Jaitley, the finance minister of India, compared to cash donations of the past, the electoral bonds "help improve transparency because they are banking instruments, every political party has to disclose how much it received", and the bank records can be traced.^[96]^{[note 3]} Factly – an India data journalism portal, traced the electoral bond donations for 2018 under India's Right to Information Act. According to Factly, electoral bonds worth about ₹10,600,000,000 (US$150 million) were purchased and donated in 2018. According to Bloomberg, this accounted for 31.2% of political donations in 2018, while 51.4% of the total donated amount were each below ₹20,000 (US$280) and these too were from unknown donors. About 47% of the donations to Indian political parties were from known sources.^[96] The spending in general elections boosts India's GDP, and the 2009 election spending contributed about 0.5% to its GDP.^[100]

Candidates with criminal allegations

According to the Association for Democratic Reforms – an Indian advocacy group, 464 of the total 2,856 contestants in the first two phases of the election have disclosed criminal cases against themselves in their nomination papers, as required by Indian election disclosure laws.^[101] In the first two phases of elections, the Congress Party topped the list, having nominated 23 candidates with pending criminal cases to compete in the parliamentary elections. The BJP and BSP ranked next, each with 16 candidates.^[101]

For the third phase of the election, all major national and regional parties had at least one candidate with a pending criminal case. The Congress party topped the list for the third phase, having nominated 90 candidates of which 40 have pending criminal allegations, with 27 accused with serious allegations such as rape, murder or attempted murder. The BJP has nominated 97 candidates with 38 who have criminal allegations pending, with 26 accused with serious allegations. The National Congress Party has the highest percentage (60%) of candidates facing serious charges which could result in imprisonment of five years or more. After the National Congress Party, the parties with the highest percentage of candidates accused of serious crimes are the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Samajwadi Party and the All India Trinamool Congress, claims the Association for Democratic Reforms analysis.^[102]

Parties and alliances

More than 50 parties are contesting these elections. Most of them are small with regional appeal. The main parties are the Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) and the Indian National Congress (INC). With the exception of 2014, no single party has won the majority of seats in the Lok sabha since 1984, and therefore forming alliances is the norm in Indian elections. In the 2019 general election, there are four main national pre-poll alliances. They are the NDA headed by the BJP, the UPA headed by the INC, the grand alliance of regional parties, and the left front of Communist-leaning parties. Given the volatile nature of coalition politics in India, alliances may change during and after the election. 2019 General Election is the first time when BJP (437) is contesting more seats than Congress (423) in the Lok Sabha elections.^[103]^[104]

The INC has not formed alliance in states where it is in direct contest with the BJP. These states include Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. It has formed alliances with regional parties in Jammu and Kashmir, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Jharkhand, and Kerala. The party has not been able to form alliance with other parties in Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Northeast, Delhi, Punjab, Haryana and Goa. ^[105]

Early in the campaign in January 2019, Mayawati (president of the Bahujan Samaj Party) and Akhilesh Yadav (president of the Samajwadi Party) announced an alliance to contest 76 seats out of the 80 in Uttar Pradesh and the alliance will not fight in four seats, namely Amethi and Rae Bareli which they left for Congress and another two for other political parties. The alliance did not include Congress, with Mayawati stating, "Including Congress in the alliance will hurt SP-BSP prospects as Congress's votes do not get transferred" and "the policies of both these parties [BJP and Congress] have been mostly the same". The alliance was the second of its kind with a similar coalition formed 25 years ago in 1993.^[106]

Party		States/UTs contested	Seats			showAlliance

Voting

According to the Election Commission of India, 900 million people were eligible to vote, with an increase of 84.3 million voters since the last general election in 2014,^[133]^[134] making this the largest-ever election in the world.^[135] 15 million voters in the age group of 18–19 years are eligible to exercise their right to vote for the first time while 38,325 transgender individuals will be able to vote for the first time as members of the third-sex and not as male or female.^[136]^[137] 71,735 overseas voters have been enrolled in the electoral rolls for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

In 2015, an India-Bangladesh boundary agreement was signed, in which the two countries exchanged their enclaves that were entirely surrounded by the other's boundaries. As a result, it will be the first time in which residents of these former enclaves vote in an Indian general election.^[138]

Final voters list for Indian General Election 2019
S.No	Group of voters	Voters population
1	Male	468 million
2	Female	432 million
3	Third gender	38,325
	Total voters	900 million

Electronic voting machines

As in recent elections, the 2019 voting has relied on EVM – electronic voting machines. The Election Commission of India deployed a voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) system which enables electronic voting machines to record each vote cast by generating the EVM slip. Tried in previous elections on a sample basis, VVPAT system is being used in all 543 Lok sabha constituencies for the 2019 election.^[139]^[140]

The electronic voting machines were tested immediately prior to the election day, where a sample number of votes for each political party nominee was entered into each machine, in the presence of polling agents. At the end of this sample trial run, the votes counted and matched with the entered sample votes, to ensure that the machine is operating reliably and that there were no hidden votes pre-recorded in each machine.^[141] Machines that yielded a faulty result were replaced. For example, in South Goa, the Election Commission's office found during a mock poll run in April 2019 that while each candidate was given 9 test votes in the machines, the EVM in a particular polling booth recorded 17 votes for the Congress party and less for the other political parties. The faulty EVM were replaced.^[142]^[143]

The Election Commission officials deployed a total of 1.74 million VVPAT units and 3.96 million electronic voting machines in 1,035,918 polling stations across India during the 2019 elections.^[144] Approximately 270,000 paramilitary and 2 million state police personnel provided organizational support and security at various polling booths over the seven-phased elections.^[145] On 9 April 2019, Supreme Court of India ordered the Election Commission of India to increase VVPAT slips vote count to five randomly selected EVMs per assembly constituency, which means Election Commission of India has to count VVPAT slips of 20,625 EVMs before it certifies the final election results.^[146]^[147]^[148]

Turnout

Phase 1 (11 April)

In the first phase of the general election, 69.50% of the 142 million eligible voters cast their vote to elect their representatives for 91 Lok Sabha seats.^[149] This was slightly higher than the 68.77% turnout in the same constituencies in the 2014 general elections.^[149]

State/UT	Seats	showTurnout (%)^[149]

Phase 2 (18 April)

In the second of the seven voting phases 156 million voters were eligible to vote to elect their representatives for 95 Lok Sabha seats.^[149] The average turnout for the second phase was 69.44% in 2019, compared to 69.62% for the same seats in 2014.^[149]

State/UT	Seats	showTurnout (%)^[149]

Phase 3 (23 April)

In the third phase of the general election, 176 million voters were eligible to elect 116 Lok Sabha representatives at 20,116 polling booths.^[150]^[151] The estimated average turnout for Phase 3 was 65.71%, according to The Election Commission of India.^[152]

State/UT	Seats	showTurnout (%)^[152]

Phase 4 (29 April)

In the fourth of seven phases, 64% of the eligible voters cast their vote to elect 72 representatives to the Indian parliament. The turnout for the same seats in the 2014 election was 61.48%, according to Election Commission of India Turn Out report^[153]

State/UT	Seats	showTurnout (%)^[154]

Phase 5 (6 May)

In the fifth of seven phases, eligible voters will cast their vote to elect their representatives for 51 parliament seats.

State/UT	Seats	showTurnout (%)

Phase 6 (12 May)

In the sixth of seven phases, eligible voters will cast their vote to elect their representatives for 59 parliament seats.

State/UT	Seats	showTurnout (%)

Phase 7 (19 May)

In the last of seven phases, eligible voters will cast their vote to elect their representatives for 59 parliament seats.

State/UT	Seats	showTurnout (%)

Opinion polling and seat projections

Opinion polling

Line graph showing number of seats projected in opinion polls per alliance over time.

Various organisations have carried out opinion polling to gauge voting intentions in India. Results of such polls are displayed in this list. The date range for these opinion polls is from the previous general election, held in April and May 2014, to the present day.

Date published	Polling agency	NDA	UPA	Others	Lead^{[note 4]}	Majority
Date published	Polling agency			Others	Lead^{[note 4]}	Majority
8 April 2019	Times Now-VMR	279	149	115	130	7
6 April 2019	IndiaTV-CNX	275	126	142	149	3
1 Feb – 4 April 2019	Jan Ki Baat	310	122	111	188	38
Mar 2019	Times Now-VMR	283	135	125	148	11
Mar 2019	News Nation	270	134	139	131	Hung
Mar 2019	RepublicTV–C voter	264	141	138	123	Hung
Mar 2019	IndiaTV-CNX	285	126	132	159	13
Mar 2019	Zee 24 Taas	264	165	114	99	Hung
Feb 2019	VDP Associates	242	148	153	94	Hung
Jan 2019	Times Now-VMR	252	147	144	105	Hung
Jan 2019	ABP News -Cvoter	233	167	143	66	Hung
Jan 2019	India Today -Karvy	237	166	140	67	Hung
Jan 2019	VDP Associates	225	167	150	58	Hung
Dec 2018	India Today	257	146	140	111	Hung
Dec 2018	ABP News – C Voter	247	171	125	76	Hung
Dec 2018	India TV – CNX	281	124	138	157	9
Nov 2018	ABP News – C Voter	261	119	163	142	Hung
Oct 2018	ABP News	276	112	155	164	4
Aug 2018	India Today- Karvy	281	122	140	159	9
May 2018	ABP News-CSDS	274	164	105	110	2
Jan 2018	Republic-CVoter	335	89	119	246	63
Jan 2018	India Today	309	102	132	207	37
April–May 2014	General election results	336	60	113	276	64

Exit polls

The ECI banned the release of exit polls from 11 April to 19 May, the last phase of the elections.^[155] The commission also banned predictions made by astrologers and tarot card readers.^[156]

Results

The vote counting and the official results announcement will start on 23 May 2019.

Source : Wikipedia

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Tuesday, 30 April 2019

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