DND Election Special: Mahayuti in Maharasthra, INDIA in Jharkhand | Top News of Nov 23, 2024

[00:00:08] Hello, this is your daily dose of news from Onmanorama. I'm your host Vishnu and today we bring you an election results special.

[00:00:15] Voters in Maharashtra gave the BJP-led Mahayuti Alliance a Lancelot win over a tottering Mahavikasa Ghadi while the opposition India bloc was set to return to power in Jharkhand.

[00:00:25] As votes were accounted for the assembly elections in the two states, the BJP celebrated with the party poised to win 125 of the 149 seats it contested in the powerhouse state of Maharashtra.

[00:00:36] Together with its partners the Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party, the ruling Mahayuti Alliance was poised to win at least 219 of the 288 seats in the state, leaving the Congress Shiv Sena UBT and CPSP tie up with just 51 seats.

[00:00:51] As the opposition reeled under the impact of the decisive mandate against Sitan Maharashtra, Jharkhand offered some consolation with voters in both states going for continuity rather than change.

[00:01:01] Voters in the politically significant Western state, which sends 48 MPs to the Lok Sabha and gave the Mahavikasa Ghadi a decisive 30 seats, clearly decided to go against the trend of that parliamentary victory just five months ago.

[00:01:13] Their mandate gives a fillip for the BJP which won an unprecedented hat-trick in Haryana last month and helped the party overcome some of its reverses in the general elections where it bagged just 240 seats.

[00:01:24] The Maharashtra verdict, which gives primacy to the BJP within the Mahayuti Alliance and opens up the possibility of a shift in power with Devendra Fadnavish as Chief Minister again, was a stuff of sober introspection too for the Congress and Maratha strongman Sharath Pabar.

[00:01:38] At 5pm, the BJP was ahead in 125 seats, close to the halfway mark of 144 on its own, while the Shiv Sena had leads in 56 and the NCP in 35.

[00:01:49] In contrast, the Congress was ahead in just 21, the Shiv Sena UBT in 17 and the NCPSP in 13.

[00:01:56] In Jharkand, the performance of the BJP-led NDA which was confident about its prospects in the state after an aggressive campaign was poorer than its expectations.

[00:02:05] The BJP's pole plank was driving out infiltrators from the Santal Parganas region but it seemed to have fallen flat in front of the Adivasi card paid by the Jharkand Mukti Molcha which also sought the people's sympathy over the arrest of Chief Minister Hayman Soreyn.

[00:02:20] Also, bickering within the BJP over giving nominations to turncourts seemed to have cost the party.

[00:02:25] According to the election commission figures at 5pm, the Jharkand Mukti Molcha was leading in 33 of the 43 seats it contested.

[00:02:31] The Congress was ahead in 16 of the 30 seats where it fielded candidates.

[00:02:35] The Rashtri Janda Dal pulled a surprise and was leading in 5 of the 6 seats it fought, while the CPI ML Liberation was ahead in 2 of the 4 seats it fought.

[00:02:44] Priyanka Gandhi's win in the Vainad Lok Sabha bi-poll was a proverbial silver lining in a dark cloud for the Congress.

[00:02:49] She surpassed the 3.64 lakh lead achieved by her brother Rahul Gandhi in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls earlier this year as she comfortably cruised towards her maiden electoral win from the Vainad seat in Kerala.

[00:03:01] According to election commission figures, Priyanka had a lead of 4.1 lakh with 6.2 lakh votes.

[00:03:06] LDF's Satyan Mukherdi was behind her with 2.1 lakh votes and NDA's Navya Haridas was in the third spot with 1.09 lakh votes.

[00:03:13] In Palakad, Youth Congress State President Rahul Mamkutatil emos victorious in the by-poll.

[00:03:19] Mamkutatil secured a decisive win, defeating his closest rival BJPC Krishnakumar by a margin of over 18,000 votes.

[00:03:26] The lead is the highest ever recorded in the constituency, surpassing the previous mark set by Shafi Parambil in 2016 when he won the election with a margin of 17,483 votes.

[00:03:36] Dr. P Saran, the LDF-backed independent who had stirred controversy with a sudden defection from Congress, ended up in third place.

[00:03:43] In Selakarab, the LDF's UR Pradeep secured a thumping win in the by-poll.

[00:03:47] He polled 64,827 votes and defeated his nearest rival UDF's Ramya Haridas with 12,021 votes.

[00:03:55] Ramya, who lost two elections in a row in one calendar year, secured 52,626 votes.

[00:04:00] India's K. Balakrishnan got 33,609 votes.

[00:04:04] In West Bengal, the Trinambool Congress swept the by-polls, retaining five seats and wresting Madari-Hud from BJP,

[00:04:10] further cementing its political dominance in West Bengal, even as the ongoing protests over the R.J. Kar incident failed to sway voters.

[00:04:18] In other news, Adani Group founder and chairman Gautam Adani and his nephew Sagar have been summoned to explain their stand on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission allegation of paying Rs. 2,200 crore

[00:04:29] in bribes to secure lucrative solar power contracts.

[00:04:33] Gautam Adani and seven other defendants, including his nephew Sagar, who is the director at the group's Renewable Energy Unit, Adani Green Energy Ltd,

[00:04:40] allegedly agreed to pay about $265 million in bribes to Indian government officials between approximately 2020 and 2024

[00:04:47] to obtain lucrative solar energy supply contracts on terms that are expected to yield $2 billion of profit over 20 years,

[00:04:54] according to an indictment unsealed in a New York Court on November 21st.

[00:04:59] The European Union, U.S. and other wealthy countries at the COP29 summit agreed to raise their offer to $300 billion per year by 2035

[00:05:07] to help developing nations deal with climate change, after a previous proposal was dismissed as insultingly low.

[00:05:14] The summit had been due to finish on Friday but ran into overtime as negotiators from nearly 200 countries,

[00:05:19] who must adopt the deal by consensus, tried to reach agreement on a climate funding plan for the next decade.

[00:05:25] A powerful airstrike killed 11 people in central Beirut on Saturday, the Lebanese civil defence said, shaking the capital as Israel pressed its offensive against the Iran-backed Hezbollah group.

[00:05:35] The attack destroyed an eight-story building and caused a large number of fatalities and injuries, Lebanon's national news agency said.

[00:05:42] Israel used bunker-buster bombs in the strike, leaving a deep crater, the agency said.

[00:05:46] Beirut smelled strongly of explosives hours after the attack.

[00:05:51] India openers Yashiswi Jaiswal and KL Rahul wore down Australia's bowlers on Saturday to take their team to 172 without loss at Stamps on day 2 of the first test in Perth,

[00:06:00] extending the touring side's lead to 218 rounds.

[00:06:04] The hosts were skittled for 104 in the morning session courtesy of a sublime haul of 5-for-30 from stand-in captain Jasprith Bumrah,

[00:06:12] after India were bowled out for 150 on day 1 in conditions ideal for seam bowling.

[00:06:17] Jaiswal and Rahul ended the day unbeaten on 90-62 as the home team failed to take a wicket in two sessions,

[00:06:23] a dizzying change of pace from day 1 when 17 wickets stumbled.

[00:06:28] That brings us to the end of this episode. Thanks for listening to Daily News Tours.

[00:06:32] Hosted and produced by me Vishnu Muridharan.

[00:06:34] Follow www.onmanorama.com for detailed updates on the latest news and be sure to come back tomorrow.